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Spectacular
whale shark activity in Bay Ternay in August 2005. Photo
Johan Anderson, MCSS pilot |
Lifting my head I look along the surface of the ocean. There, less than twenty meters, away a large triangular dorsal fin is bearing down straight at me. ‘Mother, it’s big!’ I think.
For all intent I could be somewhere off the Southern African Coast, suspended in the cold nutrient rich waters off the Cape, however this water is warm. As I float on the surface my eyes pick up thousands of tiny animals, spinning, whirling and wriggling about; zooplankton and in their own element, a very different and fascinating world! But I am not here to look at plankton. Instead, I am waiting for one of my dreams to appear from out of the gloom, at any second.
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Whale sharks
ram feeding in Bay Ternay. Photo Chris
Thomas |
Straining my eyes I refocus and suddenly its there! A cavernous mouth, stretched beyond description - I have to swim to the side to avoid being hit. In this state of furious feeding they are hardly distracted from gulping down tons of tiny organisms. Spectacular! Magnificent! Surreal! It moves past and I almost sense an acknowledgement from the tiny eye on the side of its head as if to say ‘thank you for getting out the way’. I remind myself: ‘You are looking at the biggest fish on the planet!’
The specimen I am following is just over 8 meters long and while my muscles are starting to burn from all the finning, I get a bit of a relief as another whale shark looms out of the green, heading in the opposite direction.
This time my eyes take in some detail: dark, distinct ridges along its length; white speckles, as if randomly sprinkled, adorn the metallic grey upper side. The belly is covered with a creamy white coat while ten’s of remoras hitch a free ride in the pressure wave. They seem to be everywhere; near the mouth, on the belly, on the head, under the pectoral fins, above the pectoral fins, along the gills, on the side of the body. Some are stuck to the body for a free ride but most just glide along effortlessly, only a few centimeters away.
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| Whale
shark with attendant remoras and two yellow pilot
fish. Photo Lionel Pozzoli |
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Again another whale shark looms out of the green. This time I watch as they almost collide, forcing one of the sharks to accelerate with fast beats of its tail to move out of the way. Almost too late I realize I will be trapped, as I feel the powerful shock waves from the tail fin passing me less than half a meter away!
What a moment! What an experience! After 3 years and hundreds of sightings from the air, my first in-water encounter turns out to be a humdinger!
Thoroughly humbled, I watch as both sharks disappear into the gloom leaving me hanging, listening to my own heart beat in the silence, calming down, drifting and waiting… Waiting for the boat or the next whale shark to come along, which ever comes first!
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