Wow, whale shark, wo wo wow........

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What a week! After finishing the Open Water course, and having nothing better to do, I thought I would go ahead and take my Advanced Open Water diving course. Good choice. more dives, less classroom and most of the same people. We had our last instructor again and two new ones so that we could split up into three groups. The first day we did two dives, one of which was a navigation dive requirement. After that was done I swam off with one of the instructors, Shirly, to check out the site. The visibility was good and we saw Barracudas, a Giant Puffer fish and a Blue Spotted Ray. I was so excited. The puffer fish was huge and it was my first ray, so I had a good dive.

The second day was a long one, with three dives including a night dive. We headed out at noon to Chumpon Pinnacle where it is normal to see Reef Sharks and lots of big fish. I was very nervous about the sharks but Mario was adamant that it was fine and they wouldn't bother with us. Despite my trepidation I was also kind of looking forward to seeing them and almost excited to get over my fear. Two days before, three Whale Sharks had been spotted at the site so Mario, Tise and Shirly (the instructors) were hoping that we would see one this time. After we went down to 30 meters to complete our deep dive requirements and do our Nitrogen giggle tests, we started looking around the site. There was a lot of tank clicking behind us, and when we looked back we saw a baby Whale Shark heading right for us, with 7 divers in tow! I had to sink a bit to get out of it's way and then we followed it around for the next five minutes. At about 3 meters long (one fourth of it's mum's size) it was so big. Despite the many divers swimming around it, trailing it's every move, it was calm and just kept slowly soaring through the blue. Wow. Only 2000 left in the whole ocean and we saw a baby one. Shirly and Tise have been diving for three years or more and this was their first Whale Shark! They kept saying how lucky we were when we got back on board, and Shirly was bouncing out of her wetsuit in excitement. I still don't fully believe it. We didn't see any Reef Sharks and I found myself a bit disappointed at that, but because of the Whale Shark we stayed at that site for our second dive and this time we got to go in without the instructors. We took so many pictures but no more sharks, whale or otherwise.

Then we headed back for a quick dinner, and back on the boa for our night dive. This meant that we dove with big flashlights and got to see animals that weren't out during the day. We got in saw two more Blue Spotted Rays, loads of big camouflage fish and a Porcupine Puffer Fish.

I felt so tired when we got back, but being so wound up about the day, Ruth and I (a friend from class) went in search of food and celebrations. Most people have left today but I will stay on here for a while. This island is so beautiful and calm, I can read my books and dive for the next couple of weeks. Not bad I think.

Enjoy the pictures, they are all taken yesterday (except a couple) and will give you a taste of the amazing views under water here.

xoxo
S

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Photos

Reef
Taken by Mario

Baraccuda's
Taken by Mario

Black Tip Reef Shark.......we didn't see any of these
Taken by Mario

Comments

[Gerry]

Wow indeed ....
Staying there a couple of weeks doesn't sound hard to take. Keep safe and well,

[Susan Charnock]

new depths
Great photos -- glad to see what you're up to ... or down to... Think of you often, and relieved to hear your next dive is hopefullly into a good book. Love, Sue

[PJ Polo]

wowie zowie
Amazing photos. I am very happy for you. (and really jealous) You have some conversation starters for years to come. "So I was swimming next to this whale shark last week...."

[anonymous]

Hope all is well.

[Rory McGon]

Really awesome photos. I just came back from Belize and tried to take some photos of the Reef, but used a little disposable camera. Did you take a underwater photography class by any chance or a special camera? Thanks! Rory

[Sarah and Carlie]

Hi Rory, I used a digital camera with an underwater housing for those shots. It was a rental from the dive company but if you want good underwater shots you need a good camera, housing and filters to get the colour back (you start losing red almost right away under water). Jealous about Belize, it's on my list. S