Whale Sharks

The engine slowed down and settled in to idle. It was late afternoon and the intense heat of the day had lowered by a few degrees, the sun tingled on my sunburnt face. Our boat bobbed up and down in the waters of the Sea of Cortez; the city of La Paz just off in the distance. My fellow divers and I looked quizzically at our dive guide, mystified as to why we’d suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere.

The skipper of our boat was staring at our guide, who was in turn standing on the bow, gazing fixedly out towards the waters around us; in curious silence we all followed his gaze trying to find the reason for our sudden cessation. Slowly our guide gestured towards the waters beyond; I turned my gaze but could not see anything interesting, until I noticed faint shadows moving in the water. “Get your gear on,” our guide instructed in his thick Mexican accent, “Whale Sharks!” Evan, my dive buddy, a pool digger from Los Angeles lit up and a wide grin spread across his face. “I’ve been trying to see these things for over ten years!” he shouted excitedly, “This is going to be incredible!” We hurriedly put our wet suits and masks back on as the boat circled back around, and on the guide’s instruction we dropped off the side of the small white boat in to the sea below. Mildly disorientated, it took me a second to gain my bearings, then suddenly I recoiled in horror; I was face to face with a monster. Continue reading here.