Whale Shark from Surface
In 34 years of diving, I have only ever seen four Whale Sharks: two in the Red Sea, one in the Indian Ocean, and one here in Bahia Concepcion in May this year. That is until this past November.
There were tales of Whale Sharks just outside San Bruno, a small fishing village just 42 kilometers/26 miles north of Mulege. This is where we keep Daedalus, our boat. Some reports had stated that there were as many as ten or twelve of these magnificent fish simply hanging around in the waters between San Bruno and Isla San Marcos. More or less the same area as we had the Fin Back Whales earlier in the year.
The head end!!
So our Divemaster candidate, Danya, a great ex-pat friend, Ed and myself went out, camera in hand to dive a virgin sea-mount that we have found. On the way to the sea-mount, we got in the water with four Whale Sharks, and played with them for about an hour. Then it was off to the sea-mount and the main dive. It was a lovely dive, sheer walls and drop offs, and a mega amount of fish life.
We then went out to the local Sea Lion colony where we had been a few days previous, but the water was running so hard, we bailed on that score. We decided to take pictures another time when conditions were far better.
Giving it a tickle...
So, instead, we returned to see if we could pick up the Whale Sharks again. We did, oh we certainly did!!
We spent the next three and a half hours taking the boat ahead of a shark, dropping in the water, swimming alongside, and returning to the boat. My strobe unit decided it did not want to play after a few shots, but I did get a few. The majority are surface shots from the boat, but it will give you some indication of what we had. We counted as many as eight or nine individual fish half way out, and there were four more, at least, just outside the harbor entrance to San Bruno in only 5m/15ft of water.
Off the port side.
Danya and I were exhausted at the end of the day, having spent a good five hours or so playing and diving. There are also stories of Whale Sharks starting to make a return to this part of the Sea of Cortez now on a more regular basis. As always, one can only hope. I look forward to next spring when these animals, the worlds largest fish, start their migration back up into the waters that are right on our doorstep.
I can only hope that 2010 will offer more encounters with as many as a dozen Whale Sharks once more!!
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