00:00Dawn was peeking over the hills of West Noosa-Tingara as we approached the Begons of Salie Bay on our latest old and bold freediving adventure in Bali and beyond.
00:15Three hours earlier, eight bleary-eyed freedivers gathered around the communal table of Moyo Island Resort to wait for the boat that would take us to Salie Bay.
00:35It was a long, bouncy ride with waves slapping the hull like a mad jazz drummer, but we divers mostly slept through it all. We tried to.
00:49Finally, the four traditional fishing platforms in Salie Bay where the whale sharks congregate.
01:10Whale sharks are attracted to the Begons by the fishermen tossing leftover bait into the water.
01:35The sharks feed on planktonic organisms such as krill, jellyfish and crab larvae, which they strain from the water through a fine mesh of gill rakers.
01:56A unique relationship between the fishermen and the sharks has developed over time and they now feed the sharks to keep them in the area of tourism.
02:14Harmless to man with no known natural predators, while sharks can grow up to 18 metres in length, weigh over 10 tonnes and live for more than 100 years.
02:32The ones based on the whale sharks.
02:44Tourism seems to be getting a bit out of hand in Salie Bay.
02:48But when the whale sharks turned away from the Begons, we freedivers were able to swim with them and they were truly magnificent.
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