Tony if you ever want to be guaranteed to see whale sharks on a trip, go to Belize in spring time (wasn't as expensive as it sounds). My fiancee and I were there about 4 years ago for a dive trip. We actually had no idea the Whale Sharks were there until one of the dive shops just kind of assumed we were there to see them. It was pretty exciting and after the first few minutes, quite relaxing...they are kind of intimidating at first but you realize pretty fast how docile they are.
Plus Belize is amazing for gorgonians which I know you love. Some were many feet tall! Sea fans everywhere.
The best reefs were in Hol Chan canyon just near San Pedro island and they were about the best reefs I have seen other than Australia.
Unfortunately my external HD crashed the other day and I lost all my pictures other than a few I had in photobucket. Need to see if I can get anything back off that harddrive
Visibility was not great that day and actually it was open water to see the whale sharks, so quite dark. I think this was about the best picture I got anyways. Most of them turned out blurry.
