One thing that I have always wanted to do, almost since arriving in Mozambique, is swim with whale sharks. The huge sea mammals are fairly common along this coast line, and there are a few companies in Tofo, about 200km south of us, which offer tours. Finally, last weekend, I got the opportunity to go with a few friends to check it out.
On Saturday morning, I got up at 5 to drive with my friends down to Tofo. Jay was working, so he didn’t come. The drive takes about 4-5 hours, and we had booked to go on an ocean safari with Liquid Dive at 10:30. We made it down in good time, and after a quick briefing, we were off to get our gear - snorkels, flippers, and masks - and hop onto the boat.
The ocean safari is a two hour cruise around in a small boat to, as the name suggests, look for marine life. June through October is the season for humpback whales to migrate, so in our first half hour we saw many humpbacks leaping and breaching in the distance and a few closer ones coming up to blow their sprays of air near our boat. I had just been on a whale watching trip here in Vilankulo, so while I love watching humpback whales, I was really hoping to see whale sharks. As you can likely tell already from the photos, we were successful!
Here is the first one we saw, in less clear water near the bottom.
As we drove slowly around a bend in the coastline, the skipper suddenly pointed to the left - a large, dark shape had appeared near the surface of the sea. It was a whale shark. We quickly pulled on flippers and masks and dove in as quietly as possible. The whale shark seemed unbothered, carrying on his slow cruise near the sandy bottom - we weren’t in very deep water. His huge tail swished slowly back and forth as we floated around him.
The whale sharks we saw were juveniles, and so measured about 3-6meters long. The bigger ones are apparently generally spotted farther out to sea or up the coast, between us in Vilankulo and Tofo. Still, swimming near a 5 meter whale shark is a truly magical experience! I had never before been in the water with such a big animal.
After a few minutes, we all climbed back into the boat and set off to see what else we might find.
This is the second whale shark, in much clearer water and nearer to the surface. Next to him is a jelly fish.
Soon, we spotted a second whale shark. This one was much closer to the surface, and we could see the distinctive white pattern on his dark grey skin clearly. At one point, I was floating above him as he swam, and had a slight moment of hesitation at the thought of him coming up with me on top of him, but all was ok. It was amazing to be able to swim slowly along, matching the speed of the whale shark as he went along his way. They are such peaceful animals, and really did not seem to mind our presence at all.
We spotted two more whale sharks on the rest of the ocean safari, jumping in again twice more to swim alongside each of them in the warm clear waters of the Indian Ocean. It was a truly unique and memorable experience, and we are so lucky to live in this part of the world where it is possible to see such amazing animals.