Tony Backhurst – A week with the Whalesharks
I was looking forward immensely to the Whale Shark Trip. It came highly recommended by members of the team at Scuba Travel, and I had missed out last season when I was unable to join John McIntyre on the BBC documentary shoot.
The flight out had it’s up and down sides. The routing is over Paris and then direct into Djibouti, you stay on the plane for around an hour in Paris while the aircraft is refuelled and they take on passengers from there. One thing that was immediately apparent is that we would not get much hassle at check in about our dive gear. Compared to the other passengers we were travelling light and easy to deal with! Same story on boarding, I’ve never seen so much hand luggage! Bags on bags from the local Djibouti people having done a years shopping in Duty Free. One lady had a huge bag with footballs. The cabin staff ,new on this route, soon gave up trying to organise people and bags and just let things run their course. The rather tedious night flight was relieved by the excellent cabin crew, who were very friendly and entertaining. My buddy Mark who talks to any one and every one, soon was finding other people on the boat (not hard to spot among the locals), and we soon had a plane aisle familiarisation session going.
The arrival procedure was as chaotic as Egypt in the early days, unfathomable visa processing procedures, lengthy but all with a smile. Luckily all of the guests were seasoned travellers and just let things take their course. The meet and greet was also very relaxed, all done by the owner, manager of the local agency, who eventually in what appeared to be a pretty random operation rounded everybody up. Dive bags were loaded on a truck and guests in a brightly coloured bus reminiscent of those in Kenya or Thailand for the short journey to the harbour.
Djibouti harbour is the only safe international port between Port Sudan and Mombassa, all sea bourne goods into Djibouti and Ethiopia come in here. Huge container ships and local rusting fishing boats, millionaires yachts alongside naval destroyers and half sunk freighters all randomly scattered throughout the harbour area. At the quay side emotional meeting with my old friend Sonia, our guide for the week, and finally getting to meet Momox, the Nemo guide.
Once onboard things got back to the familiar liveaboard pattern of events, cabins allocated, boat briefings and so on, followed by the check dive. We made a couple of dives in the Mucha Island area and I was quite pleasantly surprised by the variety of excellent corals and prolific fish life, despite as expected less visibility than further North in the Red Sea.
Then we travelled West further into the Gulf of Tadura to the area where it was promised we would encounter the whale sharks. Diving in this area certainly was much better than I had anticipated, one favourite dive was an out crop of boulders perpendicular to the coast descending to some 38 metres, washed with a moderate current at times schooling fish, the odd guitar shark, huge barrel sponges, Many Indian Ocean varieties of fish, certainly pleasantly different from the Red Sea, and pretty good visibility. Another good site was the small rocky island in the gap between the main gulf and the inland sea to the West. The current is very strong here, the boats in with the flooding tide and out with the ebb. However this can be dived at slack water and produced some excellent and exiting diving,, schooling barracudas and big eyed jacks, rays etc.
Another aspect of the trip that came as a surprise was the scenery. The Gulf of Tadjura is surrounded by rolling hills that are pleasantly green with hardy flora, dropping down to white sandy beaches giving that wonderful cyan tint to the shallows that we are familiar with in the Maldives. It’s worth a climb up into the hills for some spectacular views over the Gulf.
And so to the Whale Sharks. After a morning dive we climbed into the Feluccas and set off in search. “ Now we’re going to find Whale Sharks” says Sonia in her inimitable way. “Yea right” we thought, We’ve heard that before. But sure enough the other boat soon spotted one and they were in the water snorkelling along side. Everybody here is very careful to limit the number of snorkelers per animal, so we had to go and find our own. Oh no! What if we don’t find one? We needn’t of worried . In a few minutes we were all in the water finning like crazy to keep up with the huge creature who was hardly moving it’s tail and totally ignoring us. Franticly clicking away with our cameras and shooting video, we were soon exhausted to use a polite word. Then along comes another one. And then two. By day two with the whale sharks we realised it was totally unnecessary to fin after them. Just find you own space and hang around until one came by. Click away as they approach, and then just wait for the next one. Often they would just hang in the water feeding, or come two or three together. Several times one of the guests was shooting one and another would mow them down.
The other great encounters were at the end of a regular dive. On most dives someone had an encounter on the shallow reef or on the safety stop. Another great photo opportunity that required some quick camera adjustments!
And the final treat was in the evenings. Whilst enjoying the evening drink the lights of the boat attracted the plankton, which in turn brought the Whale Sharks. For hours at a time there would be two or three around the boat feeding. One of the most amazing sights was seeing them accidentally imbibing a swimming crab and then rejecting it forcibly from it’s huge mouth.
The diving was rounded off by an interesting wreck dive at Mucha Island, a large freighter, the low visibility adding atmosphere to this sizable wreck.
At the end of the trip we were lucky enough to be upgraded to the Kemplinsky hotel, a really excellent establishment on the beach with pool and great service. However this and the Sheraton are subject to availability, we were told the government are liable to take over either hotel without notice. The alternative is Mucha Island which has pleasant but basic accommodation.
We took a taxi into town for an evening visit down town. Djibouti town gives a fascinating insight into what is a reasonably prosperous but still very much a third world African country. The teaming market is a must see in my opinion. We ended up with a very civilised pizza and beer in a place off the main square.
The final day we opted for the Salt Lake excursion, which turned out to be well worth a visit, a really unique opportunity to see nature at work shaping the planet, and at the same time see the interior of the country. I would not have missed it. However it is quite a long trip , 3 hours each way the transportation and food are fairly basic, so perhaps for the more adventurous.
So to sum up a really unique liveaboard trip, different to anywhere else I have been. Very little onboard travelling, and easy diving, suitable for experienced and less experienced divers and non divers. Despite it’s location between Eritrea and Somalia you always felt secure, large numbers of war ships based here, French Military base and constant helicopter patrols. The encounter with the Whalesharks was a never to be forgotton experience.
