Three Islands Whale Shark Dive

Michael Husband runs small-boat snorkel tours out of Exmouth on the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef, working the season from March to August when whale sharks cruise the coast. Two vessels, Draw Card and Seafari, are backed by tender boats and a spotter plane flown through a Ningaloo Aviation partnership to put swimmers in the water beside the sharks. Later in the year the focus shifts to manta rays on the reef and, from August to mid-October, humpback whales, in one of only a handful of places you can legally swim with them. A long-standing Western Australian Tourism Awards finalist and eco-certified operator.