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Published: April 25th 2010
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“Git in da water when I say go,” Captain Willie bellows from his perch inside of the captain’s nest of the boat. Everyone on the boat is already suited up in their snorkel gear, fidgeting with underwater cameras, and chattering with excitement. “This is it!,” Rory of England says. “I’ve been waiting for this for 30 years,” he announces--to no one in particular--and looks longingly at the water.
I’m on a boat with experienced scuba divers and scientists, so I am feeling a bit intimidated by all of their confidence. In my fins, I shuffle towards the back of the boat and take my place behind a few others. This is our third “jump”--our first was into a boil (a cluster of feeding fish on the surface of the water where large sea life is known to hang out) and our second was to swim with a pod of about 50 spinner dolphins. I was happy enough with our dolphin swim and fairly confident that this was just another false alarm. I had heard that there are dive masters who go out on the water five days per week for two years and never see a whale shark. Why would
we be so lucky? Then again, someone has to win the whale shark lottery.
“SHARK!!! WHALE SHARK!!” Willie calls out and--without the official word from Willie as instructed--we fling ourselves into the water in a complete frenzy. I slide into the water with as much speed as I can muster and with a crash the world before my eyes turns in to a wall of tiny bubbles. As the bubbles part, lazily floating to the surface, I see the legs of another snorkeler, I instinctively flap my hands a little and narrowly avoid her fin. She passes through the frame of my mask and my eyes follow her movement towards the rest of the frantic group. And--without any other introduction--there it is--a whale shark! Distinctively shark-like--boasting a large vertical tail and dorsal fin.
Later, I will learn that this particular whale shark is “only” a juvenile male, so he is a smaller specimen than possible. Still, in the water, a mere 5 feet away from me, he looks gigantic. I will also hear later that this whale shark is about 25 feet in length, but--face to face, underwater--I would have believed 40 feet. Either way, it’s a huge
fish and I suddenly feel very small.
I am briefly suspended there--floating helplessly on the surface of the rocky water--completely mesmerized by this creature. My deep breathing brings me back to a vague awareness of myself. Frantic, choked breaths escape from my mouth and are caught in my ears before they pass to the surface. I pass a few prolonged seconds like this--uncontrollably frantically breathing and sensing--but not comprehending--the vastness of the underwater world.
For a huge guy, he’s so gentle and graceful. He floats a few feet below us, hovering calmly in the darkness. Sunlight forms sloppy circles on his spotted back. Feeder fish swim around his face, catching a free ride across the ocean and searching for bacteria.
I can hear my breathing finally begin to slow down. The panic is over. The profound peacefulness of the ocean washes over me. Breath in. Breath out. Slowly.
I am surprised that I don’t feel in the least bit scared. I mean, come on, it’s a shark afterall--isn’t there something in my DNA that should tell me to flee? Still, I just can’t imagine being afraid of something so magnificent and regal. Breath in, breath out.
Slower still. I want to take this moment in for as long as possible.
The whale shark isn’t too interested in hanging out with us and begins his rapid descent into the deep blue bottomless ocean below--waving his massive tail back in forth--and I watch as a few people from our group free dive after the shark, snapping photos. I don’t follow their lead--partly because I don’t dive--but mostly because I am already content to have simply co-existed with the world’s largest fish, humbled to have been where giants reign.
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Mom and Dad
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a dream come true
Beth, I think you have wanted to swim with dolphins for ever...and now you have also had time with a beautiful shark! This is what memories are made of! Enjoy it!!