IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!
My brother had told me that he planned a surprise for the day. We jumped into the car and made our way to the scuba shop which he works at (because "apparently" he had to fetch something from the shop)(Hmm, my suspicion begins to grow). I looked out onto the ocean. It was another beautiful day in Mexico. "Okay Cait, so for your birthday today, we will be snorkeling with whale sharks!" I didn't believe him at first, this can't actually be happening. And what is a whale shark anyways? A whale? A shark?
Well, neither actually. Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the ocean, weighing in at about 13 tons. These gentle giants are filter feeders, which means that they eat plankton (such as krill and fish eggs). So they are enormous (13 meters in length) but don't have any teeth, and swim on the surface. This makes them the perfect ocean companions to swim side by side with.
In our wet suits, getting ready for the exciting day ahead
We've spotted them!
When you jump into the ocean and you are greeted by this face...
Just to provide some perspective, look how massive this gorgeous creature is-That's me swimming above her!
I was in complete awe. There was a moment when the one whale shark was bottling (which means that they stay stationary in a vertical position, kind of like on the above photo). They do this because it makes feeding a lot easier.
I didn't move, I just watched her, and that's when I knew that this was one of the best, most incredible moments of my entire life.