"Honey, DON'T put your feet down". That's what I heard just before putting my face in the water and watching a bus-sized whale shark swim about a foot beneath the feet I had just pulled up.
That's not me in the photo, as I was cowering behind the canoe that brought us out to see these amazing giants. But I get why all of the people there were vying for a chance to have their photo with a big fish. It's unbelievable how enormous they are and hard to swallow (yeah , that's intentional) that they really aren't interested in gobbling us up. Wikipedia says so. They apparently only want plankton and maybe some small fish, but looking at the size of the mouth on these guys, it seems questionable that they wouldn't try to scarf down the taker of one too many selfies.
Anyway, after being warned not to go within 4 meters of the fish (it was impossible to stay that far away in the small circle of canoes that had been set up) we were paddled out to the spot where the official whale shark people of Oslob, Philippines feed the sharks daily, many times a day in fact, for the enjoyment of eager divers and snorkelers. Three or four fish sustain probably a hundred employees and their families. The half hour spent with these amazing gentle sharks is not something to be forgotten.
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| That's our whale shark photo--tail, maybe? |
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| An old fashioned selfie |
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| Oslob's Vital Statistics |
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