A whale shark hits back when a diver tries to grab it round the tail – at about 50 seconds in.

I was on a Best of the Red Sea itinerary, and in the first few days we had seen a few hammerhead sharks and grey reef sharks so were feeling lucky to have done so well.

While at Elphinstone Reef, the boat took a vote on whether to travel to the Brothers as there had been no reports of big marine life at the site for months.

One side of the reef has two plateaus that large animals such as sharks, manta rays and even whale sharks come to from the open sea to be cleaned by the reef’s inhabitants.

However, as it was on the itinerary, I thought we should go and have a look and the majority of the boat thought likewise.

Thank goodness they did.

On the first dive from Little Brother most of divers on our boat saw one or two whale sharks, while others cruised around with a manta ray. Hammerhead sharks, grey reef sharks and and thresher sharks were also spotted.

It was like someone had decided to release the big stuff.

One of our guides had been working in the Red Sea for 30 years and had never seen a whale shark, so he was keen to join us on the next dive.

We opted to jump off the back of the boat again, and as soon as the water cleared around me I saw the above whale shark right below me.

She (I think, as I can’t see any claspers) spent the whole dive with us, checking out each diver: seemingly loving our bubbles against its skin. It was here to be cleaned after all.

While writing this post, I found a video of divers getting harassed by overly playful whale sharks here.

To see more of my videos, click here.

 

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