4 Whale Watching Worth Getting Wet For

1.Swim with Whale Sharks in the Ningaloo Reef: 3 Island Shark Dive

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 919 reviews · from $444Our pick

Spend about eight hours on Ningaloo Reef with Three Islands Whale Shark Dive. A spotter aircraft helps locate whale sharks, while the boat crew leads reef snorkels and repeated swims. Lunch, snacks, drinks, photos, equipment, hotel pickup, and a safety tender are included.

“This is one of the best tours! Hats off to the ALL female crew, they were amazing, funny and knowledgeable. We felt spoiled, they were always feeding us and we saw 5 whale sharks as well as 3 manta rays and did a nice snorkel swim on the reefs at the beginning and end of our tour. We really enjoyed the flow of the day, picked up from our resort and got a cool history lesson about Exmouth on the way to the boat ramp, started with a 30 min or so reef snorkel, was nice to ensure that all our gear was a good fit and we were comfortable…”

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2.Swim with Humpback Whales – Ningaloo Reef – 3 Islands Whale Shark Dive

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 120 reviews · from $430

From Exmouth, Three Islands Whale Shark takes you into Ningaloo Marine Park for a full day on the water. A spotter plane helps locate humpback whales, while crew members including Sarah, Mel, Amy, Nos, and pilot Tif may guide you through whale, reef, turtle, manta ray, and dolphin encounters.

“Amazing day! The crew were helpful, enthusiastic and ready to treat us to what was a fantastic day. We were lucky enough to be in the water to see both humpback whales and a whale shark-a rarity, so thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”

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3.Gansbaai: Shark Dive & Whale Watching Combo Boat Trip

★★★★★★★★★★4.6 · 22 reviews · 6 - 12 hours · from $292

From Kleinbaai, you head by boat toward Dyer Island and Shark Alley for a cage encounter with great whites or bronze whalers, then watch southern right whales from Gansbaai. The two outings can run on one long day or separate days, with Cape Town pickup available.

“Shark Diving was absolutely great, the driver arrived on time and the drive to Gansbaai was smooth. They gave us breakfast and briefing before heading to the boat. We went in the cage for two dives of about 15 minutes each. We saw so many bronze whaler sharks. When we came back lunch was waiting for us and then we got back to Cape town. We couldn’t do the whale watching due to the strong wind in the afternoon, it got canceled. We got a refund. Totally worth it”

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4.From Cebu City: Scuba Diving with Whale Sharks Trip in Oslob

★★★★★★★★★★4.2 · 14 reviews · from $172Best value

Leave Cebu City at 5:00 AM in a private car for Oslob. After a safety briefing and gear setup, an English-speaking instructor guides you through a 30 to 40 minute scuba session beside whale sharks. The trip suits first-timers and licensed divers, with hotel or airport pickup included.

“Whale shark watching in Oslob starts early at 3am, but you should definitely go. There are many snorkeling tours, but there are a lot of people lined up to board the boat that goes out to sea, so you have to wait quite a while. And the surface of the sea is also full of people. However, with diving, you can enter directly from the beach without having to wait to enter, and the water is empty so you can move freely and see well. It's a little more expensive than snorkeling, but diving is definitely recommended. At Sumilon Island, we didn't dive, we went snorkeling. The drivers are very…”

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