![\"Whale](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773972805_12_.jpeg\"\/)
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\u201cFirst swim of the season and well worth the wait,\u201d wrote the Ningaloo Discovery team. \u201cAfter taking their time to show up this year, it made the moment even sweeter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The longest fringing reef in the world and UNESCO World Heritage listed since 2011, Ningaloo Reef holds the world record for whale shark encounters \u2013 making it the best place on earth to not only spot, but swim with one of these gentle giants. Last year\u2019s season also saw record numbers of encounters, with over 41,000 swims taking place at Ningaloo. <\/p>\n
The whale shark season normally runs from March through to August, although sightings will often continue until October \u2013 with encounters through to early November for the past two years.<\/p>\n
![\"Whale](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773972806_67_.jpeg\"\/)
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Ningaloo is also the only place in WA where you an swim with humpback whales. Their season normally begins in July and continues through to October \u2013 during which approximately 40,000 humpback whales will make their way along the \u201cHumpback Highway\u201d that follows the state\u2019s coastline. You can also encounter graceful manta rays and curious turtles (green, loggerhead and hawksbill) year-round.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first sightings are always an exciting moment and a great sign that an incredible season is underway,\u201d says Australia\u2019s Coral Coast CEO David O\u2019Malley.<\/p>\n
\u201cNingaloo is one of the best places in the world to swim with whale sharks, and we\u2019re looking forward to another fantastic year. To make sure you don\u2019t miss out on this unforgettable experience, we recommend booking early.\u201d<\/p>\n
Image credits: Ningaloo Discovery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the most magical (or should we say dreamlike?) time of the year! This year\u2019s whale shark season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,17165,128,338],"class_list":["post-551841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-popular","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}