Whale Shark Safari
Overview
Available languages
Mobile ticket
Swim with the biggest fish in the sea! This tour is one not to be missed. Whale Sharks make an annual appearance in Coral Bay between March - June.
Additional Info
Wheelchair accessible
Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
What To Expect
Coral Bay Ecotours
Your tour begins at 7:30 am at the Coral Bay Ecotours office, followed by a short bus transfer to the jetty to board the vessel. Then we head out for your first reef snorkel experience in the beautiful coral gardens, where you may encounter numerous fish, reef sharks, and other marine species. After morning tea, we begin our journey to the outer reef. By this time our spotter plane is already searching for our whale sharks and informing us of any other exciting marine life spotted along the way! We will do our best to allow you to experience as much wildlife as possible during our tour. Once our spotter plane has found a whale shark, our boat will make its way there. Guests will be split into 2 groups of 10 and take turns to swim with the whale shark. To ensure that we don’t disturb its natural habits, we are allowed a maximum one hour of swimming time with the whale shark. We stop along the way home for a second reef snorkel at a different site.
What‘s Included
Afternoon tea
Tour escort/host
Lunch
Photo Package
Glass of Champagne
Coffee and/or Tea
Additional DPaW fee payable prior to departure ($20 per adult and $10 per child)
Options
Whale Shark Safari
Reviews
140 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
Awesome experience
marklU4902LB,Apr 14, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Awesome experience and great crew. You can tell they are all passionate and care deeply about this very special place and all the wildlife within. We were very lucky to get a day with perfect conditions and a whale shark who was friendly enough to let us swim near. Highly recommend this experience!
Above and beyond!
olskia,Apr 13, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00We had the most amazing day on the water with Coral Bay Eco Tours. From start to finish, the staff kept us informed, entertained, and very well fed! The tour was incredibly informative, and the team’s dedication really shone through—even though the water was still a bit churned up following the cyclone, they worked so hard to find a whale shark for us. We were lucky enough to be the first group to see one since the cyclone hit, and it was an experience we will never forget. The boat itself was extremely comfortable and well-organized; I loved the dedicated tubs for our belongings to keep everything dry. The modern marlin board also made getting in and out of the water very easy. Thank you, Eco Tours, for a truly unforgettable time!
Amazing experience
macca282,Mar 24, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Amazing experience. Friendly guides and boat staff. Unforgettable range of sealife. We didn’t see whale sharks but got to swim with humpback whales.
Fantastic 10 stars plus
Alexander A,Mar 20, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Great day with an absolutely fantastic and professional team, went whale shark hunting on March 18th and finally got very lucky and could experience it oily. In addition, miners of the reef were tasted and tested, already there great pictures over the corals, and ultimately also manta rays accompanied. Great professional pictures of Laura! Every penny is invested absolutely right, but you should bring some snorkeling experience, although the beginner is safe too. Great team, just have the experience yourself. Brit and Alex from Berlin
Excellent tour tinged with disappointment
Y7457PRdebbiem,Mar 9, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
4.00Firstly I would like to say the staff on this experience were exemplary! Everyone was incredibly knowledgeable of sea life and made every effort to ensure we had the best diving opportunities and experiences but sadly on this day we did not find any whale sharks. I realise you can’t dictate nature and the staff did give us other diving opportunities but I had basically flown to Exmouth specifically to swim with the whale sharks so it was not only a personal disappointment but an extremely costly one as well. I feel there was a great deal of uncertainty about finding any so early in the season (which is why many operators don’t start until late March) and several of the participants were young so $650 is a great deal to not receive the result you are essentially paying for. Perhaps there could be some potential financial allowance made for this early in the season. Overall it was very professional and the staff were brilliant!
Fantastic experience highly recommend!
jill s,Dec 28, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00The team is Amazing and we had a fantastic experience. Our only regret is that we didn’t have more days to spend with this company. I highly recommend them.
Best birthday ever
solmP1605WK,Jun 10, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00I made the whale shark for my birthday, it was the most magical thing in the world. I highly recommend the tour, it is a little more expensive than others but includes absolutely everything. It's worth 100%
A great day
826trentg,May 28, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Staff and tour was great, our disabled daughter joined us on the boat and while she didn’t swim the staff went out of their way to ensure she was ok and enabled us to do as many dives as possible. An amazing experience
10/10 would do again!!
nekog824,May 25, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00support for my disabled sister was amazing, food was great, and the photos were amazing!!! great organisation and super nice/ friendly staff.
Bucket list experience!!!
Victoria G,Apr 30, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00This trip was incredible!! We started off by heading to a beautiful snorkelling site inside the reef where we saw reef sharks, turtles and tonnes of beautiful fish and coral. Then we headed out of the reef and the spotted plane started to look for the whale sharks whilst we had a delicious lunch. We had the opportunity to swim with 3 whale sharks in total which was such a bucket list moment. The staff on board were incredible, always happy to help and super friendly and knowledgeable!! We had a lovely journey back to shore and were greeted by some dolphins whilst we had some champagne and chocolates!!! Couldn’t have been more of a perfect day. Thank you so much to all the staff on board, all the added extras, constant snacks and offering drinks, it definitely did not go unnoticed! I would recommend this trip to anyone considering it, we had the best time!!!
Related Experiences
Operated by Coral Bay Ecotours