Swimming with the Whales Sharks

I did not take the first photo (thanks Google Images) but that about sums up the experience - although the whale sharks I saw were not quite that large, "only" about 20 feet long.

On 7 December I went on a whale shark trip. It required getting up at 0430 in the morning to make the early roll call but was very much worth it. About 35 of us took a short bus ride to the pier and boarded the "yacht". The yacht was towing a small boat, and another two small boats met up with us later. It was nearly a 3 hour transit at a slow 6 knots. We went west from Djibouti, staying in the Gulf of Tadjourah. During the transit we had a dive brief and then a whale shark brief: don't touch them - it will spook them; don't go in front of them - they won't turn; remain clear of the tail fin - one good kick can cause serious injury. They eat plankton, not fish or people, so becoming lunch was not an issue. Upon arriving at a little cove I went scuba diving (not with whale sharks). It was a beautiful reef with many fish of amazing colors. I bought a waterproof camera, its a cheapy 35mm film camera with a clear pressure shell around it. Not bad for $13, good down to 30m and it stayed dry. I just sent the film back to the states today to get developed so it will be a few weeks.

After the dive we loaded into the last remaining small boat (the non-divers were already out looking for whale sharks in the first two boats) and started the hunt. The scuba gear was gone (too bulky for chasing down the fast swimming whale sharks and the frequent climbing in and out of the boat) but we still had mask, fins, and snorkel. We soon saw some whale sharks, fairly easy to spot: they swim near the coast and close enough to the surface that a fin sticks out - just like in JAWS. The boat gets close and then its a scramble of rolling into the water and trying to chase them down. They aren't fleeing, just moving at thier steady pace which is just about the max speed one can swim with help from fins - eventually they pull away as you get tired. Next bob around in the water looking for a signal from the boat. A few times a whale shark would be coming towards me, allowing a great look up close. I hope my pictures came out well. Climb back into the boat and repeat for a few hours. After the first few times we figured out how to stop kicking each other during the mad dash after rolling off the small boat. An amazing experience to swim up close to the largest fish in the world! We returned to the 'yacht' for lunch, then some people went for another dive, most others went snorkeling near the reef. I had already seen the reef so I just relaxed and read a book.



During the ride back I got this great shot of the sunset. After it was completely dark the boat broke down, dead in the water. One passenger had been puking the entire trip back so they put him in one of the small boats to get back to land. After drifting for a half hour one of the other passengers, I think he was a Navy Seabee, went to try and help the crew. He fixed it and we made it back just before the dining facility closed. A great day.