Kendra gets brave with whale sharks! (Ningaloo, West Australia)

This amazing part of the sea in Ningaloo has never seen commercial fishing or dredging.. Because of this, the ecosystem is thriving! We were told as we went out to dive that being the end of the season, we would be lucky to see any humpbacks.

See that big grin in this picture😄.. That was me about 15min. before our first dive. Happy, confident, I've done this before... Get all the gear on, jump in the water, go to descend and bam! Panic breathing!! 😳 Can't get my breath.. Come up three times and I'm thinking,"Shit.. I can't do this.. I'm having a panic attack" 

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Cory my partner,  looks at me and says," It's all good.. You got this. Just get in a meditative rhythm." 

The dive guide looks at me right in the eyes and says," You've definitely got this.. This happens to so many people." 

Me..." But it's never happened to me, not like this..I'm so sorry."

The guide," You have nothing to apologise for.. You're totally fine. Now find your breath, look into my eyes, we're going to go down together.. Just breathe" 

In my head.."Okay, you've done this before. Calm breaths.. Like a meditation.. In and out... Focus on her eyes and breathe" 

Made it down 🙏🏻 and completely relaxed... My breathing became so calm that I went through my oxygen really slowly... And had the most amazing two dives today!!!! 

I guess why I'm sharing this is because it's not always easy... and if I just shared this photo and said, ' Two Amazing Dives Today' it wouldn't show the fear and will it took to get to the point of experiencing two amazing dives.... I want my boys to know that not all experiences come easy.. Sometimes you've got to be brave.. And what you experience from that bravery can be pretty damn magical💙 

On our 2nd swim attempt out to find the pod we were graced by THREE Humpbacks. Three!!! And they were as curious about us as we were about them.. They were singing so loud and beautifully and one actually rolled towards us to get a better look.. We were within 3meters of them 🙏🏻Such an amazing and magical experience!!!!! The sun was shinning rays of light into the ocean and it was so deep that all you could see was water and light rays ✨ ✨✨✨and humpbacks!!!!! 💙💙💙 The crew said it was their best humpback encounter to date.. Everyone was cheering afterwards, it was such a high!

Next.. Whale Sharks!!!! And yup.. It happened!!!! Had 4 swims with a 7meter long whale shark... The first time he almost swam right into Cory and I. His face was literally a meter away from ours.. We froze and then remembered to quickly swim to the side of him and then swam along beside him!! It was SO crazy!!!! He was HUGE! On our fourth and last swim with him, he just dove down and slowly disappeared.. It was the best fairwell ☺️🙏🏻 
Get this.. While we were eating lunch on the boat a big pod of dolphins started swimming around the boat! 😆🐬 Seriously... No one could believe the luck we were having.. We also saw sea turtles, sting rays, a fish bigger than Cory, and lots of other fish 🐠🐡

On our other swim, the whale swam directly underneath us... It was SO beautiful!!!!!!! 
In the afternoon we did our fourth scuba dive ( you only snorkel with humpbacks as noise can be disruptive to them) 

We dove inside the reef and saw some huge sting rays and tons of coral and fish! 
On the boat ride home we saw a Guitar Shark.. Pretty cool! 
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You'll see a pic of me just laying on the front of the boat... That was literally my favourite whale watching spot!!! ☀️ Once they found a suitable pod, we'd get our flippers and snorkels on and quietly slip into the water... And swim towards the magic!!!!! Life is good xx

READ KENDRA'S BRAVE STORY IN MADE BEAUTIFUL BY SCARS. BUY THE BOOK HERE