SALTWATER COUNTRY
AS I SLIP INTO THE OPEN OCEAN, my heart pounds. I’m searching the depths for a mighty creature. But I’m searching too deep and now, looking along the glassy surface, I see a fin is advancing towards me. I pop my head back under and startle; a wide, open mouth is just metres from me and I swim-scurry aside. The harmless whale shark is eight metres long, and my brain struggles to compute its sheer size and ethereal presence.
Rejoining the rest of the swimmers in my group, I fin alongside this muscular, mottled being, while a photographer snaps photos for an identification database.
Climbing back on our boat, we’re all euphoric. Every one of us had come to Exmouth on the Coral Coast (1250 kilometres north of Perth) hoping to see a whale shark, and the experience has exceeded my expectations. But while I’m here, I’m discovering that the whole Coral
