YESSSSSSSSS!

Whale Sharks! Whale Sharks! Whale Sharks!

What a day yesterday...so amazing I don't even know where to begin and I'm finding it hard to remember the actual details! We headed off at lunchtime as normal, the sea was particularly calm which was a good sign. Captain Willy and Dr Rob were in charge. We headed southeast, went up the east coast then began searching the ocean almost directly north of Pumpkin Hill. We saw a few mini boils but they kept disappearing, apparently there wasn´t much food in the water. You could tell because the water was so clear! And you need the plankton to attract the small fish which attract the larger ones!

We find a decent boil, get ready at the back of the boat and suddenly the shark is there. We slide in and no kidding was he there! He was mere feet away! This vast gentle giant, upside down right under the boat. A huge male about 35 feet in length. He may have thought the boat was a sexy female shark! It certainly seemed that way as he was so close to it, even being vertical in the water his mouth practically touching the propeller. Eventually he turned himself the right way up, swam around us and then began to dive. I remember grinning so hard that water started to leak into my mask, and back on the boat I was almost in tears. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Dr Rob was very excited about the behaviour witnessed too. Best of all I managed to get some fairly decent photos. This is amazing because I couldn´t see the lcd screen at all so was just pointing, shooting and hoping for the best! I am going to try and set up a separate slideshow for the whale shark pics, and maybe add all wildlife-related pics there.

We stay in the same general location in relation to the island but head further north out to sea. We see sharks at the surface a couple of times and the second group even gets in at one point but the shark dived almost instantly. Eventually we take a break and a few of us, me included, slip off the boat for a little blue water snorkelling and a pee break! Barely off the boat Captain Willy yells that a shark is there, I turn around and sure enough there is another (or maybe the same) huge whale shark. We swim towards him and watch him for a few minutes before he slowly dives out of sight. I hadn't taken my camera. Let's face it, it's not normally required when going for a pee! Going to the toilet will never be the same again!

We spend the rest of the afternoon chasing boils that disappear almost as soon as we reach them, until we find one last large boil and smack bang in the middle is a whale shark, perpendicular in the water, mouth at the surface feeding. The second group jump in and get some amazing views of him feeding and then slowly swimming under the boat before diving out of view.

We all gave our photos to Dr Rob and he has promised that we can get a set of everyone's pictures!

Back on the boat heading home I felt such a huge sense of peace and calm. Having seen and achieved something that I have longed for for many a year. What an amazing animal, talk about evolutionary perfection! I really hope that was not the last time I get to experience their grace and beauty.