As you've come to find from reading this blog, Thailand is home to elephants, knock-off clothing, scam artists, and lady boys. However, there is a softer side to Thailand, and it exists off the coast in the sea. Filled with tropical fish, colorful corals, and much more, it's no wonder that scuba divers and snorkelers flock to Thailand to immerse themselves in its crystal clear waters.
So we found ourselves in Thailand, perhaps for different reasons than some (see: sex tourists); and while it was not our primary goal to scuba dive, it'd be a bit ridiculous for us not to right? So we walked into Easy Divers with a large Singha beer in hand, which did not seem to alarm the two Germans who greeted us. At some point, I glanced over at the wall of the shop to see a poster with the image of a whale shark...it looked something like this:
It's a bit ironic that the largest fish in the sea is also one of the most elusive. With not one, but two of the coolest names to be bestowed upon a fish, the whale shark's name is enviable in itself. Whale sharks are so cool that they have a posse of fish that constantly follow them, just feasting on their leftovers. These massive fish are whale-ish in size but they are in fact sharks, frequenting the depths of the sea; very rarely do they venture near enough to the surface (to where divers can see them). But of course, when you step into any dive shop they'll hype up the possibility of plunging into the water and swimming with one, no matter how far fetched it may be.
Our dive master was more realistic about our chances: first, he admitted he'd seen only 5 whale sharks in over 1500 dives and prior to our second dive, at Shark Island, when someone asked the obvious question, "will we see any sharks?" he responded, "there are no sharks at Shark Island!" Oh well, we jumped in anyway.
The water was disturbed that day: full of floating crap, including invisible jelly fish spores that would sting for a second before fading away...just in time for the next one to hit. We swam for thirty minutes with butterfly fish, barracudas, and incredible corals. Late in the dive the sun disappeared from above us, almost as if it had hidden behind a cloud. I turned my head up to investigate, and saw the silhouetted figure of a whale shark gliding through the water above me. I instantly lunged and grabbed Lauren, spinning her around to reveal the sight. She explained later that her first reaction was horror, like one would expect if they saw a shark swimming a few feet away. But the fear faded away and we swam along in awe. Once the shark had disappeared from view, we celebrated in the only way we knew how, with an underwater high five.
For five more minutes we swam along in our less impressive surroundings, with smiles filling our masks. The dive was coming to an end and I couldn't wait to reach the surface where we could finally break our silence and discuss what we had seen. I looked back for a routine buddy check to see Lauren squirming out of the way of a tail the size that was as large as her. Attached to the tail, was a whale shark 7.5 meters in length and as it turns out, the mother of the tiny shark we had just seen (only 2.5 meters). The shark was so huge, we couldn't see from one end to the other, so we never even saw it's face. It seemed the whole dive group, nearly 40 people, had discovered this shark and was now swimming along slowly with her.
We all emerged from the water to the startling commotion on the surface. It was a celebration; every diver, from those just getting certified, to the most experienced dive master, was amazed. We had not only witnessed a whale shark & its baby, but we had swam along with them. We had discovered sharks, at Shark Island...go figure.
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