This is not really a dive, but how could I possibly not log this?
Friday morning, 14th May 2010 about 7 AM I jump to the water, not exactly knowing what to expect. I mean yeah, we came here to see whalesharks but still, seeing one coming right at me right away was quite a thrill. Even this was a baby, only about 4 meters long (the grow up to 12 meters) I was stunned. I mean this guy has a tremendous mouth and it was coming right at me!
Nah, whale shark is a plankton eater. It wouldn't eat you even if you tried to get into its mouth. But still, come one, get that thing off me!
Seconds later when the shark was gone I felt stupid having frozed like that. Now I could catch it anymore, I was just feeling silly in the water. Darn it! But yeah, that was my first ever whale shark appointment!
But it was not the last. Only about 10 minutes later, our captain is able to spot one with help of the local fishermen. Everybody from the boat jumps in, but again the shark is drifted away.
Third time to come. People start to get tired after the some hard swimming. Adrenaline pumps in. I can swim I keep thinking. Mike, just relax. Shark is spotted and we jump in and this time I can keep up with it, swimming right on top of it. First hesitating, is it going to worry about me swimming so close to him? All it needs to do is one vigorous slash of the backfin and I will get the message to remember, but really it couldn't care less of my tiny presence. My confidence grows and I concentrate on keeping my swimming and breathing steady. I feel jellyfish burns in my hands, neck and face but go on, no question about it. Only one fellow is swimming with me anymore and together we spend a good ten minutes observing this enormous creature. At around 6 meters it's still a youngster, just feeding plankton and getting bigger. The name "whale shark" comes from the fish's physiology. As large as a whale, it too is a filter feeder. This really is one of the most beautiful I have EVER witnessed in my entire life!
Img from Aims Research
The next morning we come back the same site, but the whale shakrs appear to be gone along with the sun. Some wind breaks the surface of the sea, and the sky being grey, spotting the shakrs become nearly impossible. We spend a good half an hour looking for them, again early in the hours of dawn, tired, but thrilled. A local fisherman directs us closer to the shore, apparently having maube spotted one. We continue, but it seems to be a false alarm. There are no sharks. It's the end of the season and in late May they leave these shores and continue their unknown paths.
We stand on the deck and skim the horizon, when the least expected (maybe most dreamed) happend and an enormoush shadow crosses right under the boat! WTF?? Doesn't it even care about our boat??!? Crossing us from less than 3 meters distance he catches ALL of us by surprise, and we fail to jump into water even we are all geared up. People screaming, we lose the moment, but now we have seen which way it is going and turn the boat. We spot it easily this time against a crystal clear spot of water, and everyone jumps in. Negletting some more jellyfish damage, we get all close and personal with this 7 meter fellow just to realize that a second figure about same size appears from the blue. I mean goddamnit, all those walldives, you stare into the blue hoping (before: fearing) for something like this and now suddenly you are swimming with two fish, weighing about two tons each. We continue swimming vigorously trying to keep up, but the first one gets nervous and fastens it's pace being only barely visible. People are tired after swimming, so again it's just me and a Englsih-Chinese-becum-Filipino fellow diver who can keep up with the pace. It's so enormous, that even when swimming at ease and slowly, it keeps a decent pace in human standards. Wetsuit and fins=mask=snorkel are necessary to keeping up this pace, but there is nothing that could stop us now. I am literally less than 2 meters away, and just follow its every move. A good 10 minutes goes by with both sharks in close visibility now and I could as well swallow those damn jellyfish who tries to put my whale shark encounter in jeopardy.
Img by Ken Knezick, not our shark
I know that after this moment, in diving, nothing will remain the same. Two approximately seven ton fish (biggest ones weigh more than 20 tons) swimming gently and smoothly just inches from you is just awesome. Not all big is scary, as these two gentle giants have reminded me!
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