The whale shark is the largest fish in the world - they can grow to be up to 18mtrs in length and weigh over 20 tonnes, with a mouth over 1mtr wide! Ours was a "baby" at just under 10mtrs long, but no less impressive. There are only 2 places in the world where these creatures show up reliably each year, and only ONE where you can actually go swim with them!!!
We left at 7am to make our way to the boat - I went with Kelly and Sara in the picture on the left (I'm the one squinting into the sun far left...). A little dingy took us to the main boat which then pulled up anchor and took us to a snorkelling spot about 30 minutes away to test equipment (and presumably to check that we could swim adequately!) 
Valentina, the photographer on board, had the camera of all cameras - a true monster of a machine. I was snorkelling unsuspectingly when she suddenly appeared before me. What the picture doesn't show is me gasping, grimacing, the water rushing into my mask, forcing me up to the surface to splutter because I still can't breathe under water. I KNEW I should have tried mastering that after sledging in New Zealand...
After this we crossed over the fringing reef into the main ocean, where we waited for the spotter planes to find us a shark! We were all quite happily chatting, having a cool drink, sunning ourselves etc when suddenly the engines revved and we were off chasing through the water. Our boat was the first of 3 dive boats to arrive, so we got to go in first. Now, rationally, I knew all I had been told, the safety warnings, the process of getting in and getting out, when to stop and what to look for... but nothing prepared me for the huge dark shape slowly circling just below the surface of the water about 20 metres from the edge of the boat. My heart was racing, even more than just before my skydive, when I realised I was just about to jump into the ocean with a pair of flippers, a snorkel and mask, and swim ALONGSIDE A 10 METRE SHARK?!?!?!?! Ok, so the shark is a vegetarian, and unless I position myself unluckily right in front of its gaping maw, it won't want to ingest me... but still... having been traumatised at an early age by jaws, my imagination was running amock! However, like a lamb to the slaughter, I dutifully followed the orders to "go go go!!!" and jumped in, spluttered when the mask filled with water, swam after the "spotter" and suddenly caught my first glimpse of the behemoth under water. I'm usually a good snorkeller, but it took me a few moments to realise that I was forgetting to breathe (the whole point of having a snorkel).
The best shots from my crappy underwater instant camera
The Professional's shots...
No contest whatsoever! If you look closely at the middle picture of the professional shots, you can just about see a tiny blip that's someone snorkelling along on the other side of the shark - that's me!!! I was sick of getting flippers in my face from the other divers, so I decided to swim around the shark to the other side... never done anything more freakily scary than trying to navigate around such a huge wild animal out of my element while all the warnings "stay-3-metres-away-from-the-body-and-4-metres-from-tail-one-swipe-of-their-tail-could-seriously-injure-you-don't-antagonise-don't-touch-if-it-changes-direction-try-to-stay-out-of-its-way-if-you-get-into-trouble-surface-and-raise-your-hand-and-the-boat-will-try-to-come-to-you" just rushed through my mind.
In total we got to go in 3 times to swim with the whale shark - its amazing how after the initial FREAK-OUT, it all seems so normal and easy. It was truly amazing, possibly the best thing I have ever done! But then again, plenty more places to see and things to do...
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