One of the attractions in St Helena, and we are there, moored in Jamestown, the capital, is swimming with the whale sharks. Very exciting!
However, getting it organized is a different story altogether. At first, I wanted to go diving with the big fish, but the local tourist office had no information on that as a possibility. To the local dive shop I went. And no, they do not dive with whale sharks. The dive guy said they have some good marine life around here, and we do some wreck diving, but no coral around.
No coral around here! He made it sound like an excuse. Don’t get your hopes up too much. Marine life is good, That’s a plus. I don’t care much for wreck diving, but mainly I wanted to see a whale shark. So diving was out. And although nobody came out to say that diving with whale sharks is not allowed, and it probably isn’t allowed, what if they encounter one on a dive? Would they swim away?
Johnny is the captain of the water taxi here. When we want to go ashore, we call him, or his relief captain, Roy, on channel 16, and we then get picked from the boat and dropped ashore. It is next to impossible to take the dinghy to shore. It is way too rough. There is street parking for cars on the seawall. Nobody parks there, because the cars would get doused with water every time a wave hits the wall, it just crashes over it. Not safe to take the dinghy anywhere in that vicinity. It is £1.60 each way, and Johnnie and Roy keep a running tab. I have yet to see anything written down, or for that matter, to see a scrap of paper to write on, but I’m sure there will be a bill upon our departure from this island.
Turns out, Johnny also owns a charter boat and, on occasion, goes out on ‘swimming with whale shark’ tours. There doesn’t appear to be a solid schedule, but Maaike, crew on our boat, managed to make some reservations for a noon departure.
We boarded the boat with about eight other people. It was one couple’s, with two little kids, third time on this tour. She is a doctor, a general practitioner, from Scotland on a three-month contract working on the island. Husband and kids just tagging along.
We went north, with the intention to go around the point, the very same one we had rounded coming into St Helena, putting us in sheltered water. Around that point, we would be 100% exposed to winds from the east, no way we could swim in that. But what do I know? Well, in this case, I did know, and after a quick peak around the point and a wave crashing over the boat, Johnny decided to turn around.
I thought all was lost for the day, and we would try again some other time. Not so, the lady in charge of the tour said they had spotted a shark on the other side of Jamestown a couple of days ago, and perhaps they might still be swimming in that vicinity. So, we motor back, and we are literally less than 150 hundred meters from where Windsong is moored and Johnny spots a shark. Not for the life of it could I see it, but he pointed at some dark spot in the water, very assured of what it was.
Everybody, fins on, masks on, and ready to dive in. I’m the last to get in, and I’m about to put my mask on when I realize I still wore my glasses. Back inside, glasses in backpack, and when I finally dive in, everybody is way ahead of me. I put some real effort into catching up, but there was no need. All of a sudden, right in front of me, she was there. It had to be a she, I don’t know if it was, but so beautiful.
The rules for interacting with whale sharks state, among other things, to remain a minimum of 3m swimming distance away from whale sharks and a minimum of 4m away from the whale shark tale. And I was that close!
The name comes from the fact that this species of shark can get as big as some whales. The one I just encountered was a good 8 meters long, confirmed by the tour operators. The largest ever spotted was 18.8m long. That is just colossal. The largest fish on the planet. The book says they are grey in color, I would have said brownish myself, covered in white spots. And while most other sharks move by just moving their tail, this particular species moves the whole body for propulsion.
And so docile, everything seem to move in slow motion, including the moves of the 13 pilotfish attached to her tail.
Her mouth must be at least a meter wide, and apparently with rows of very sharp, but small teeth, I couldn’t see them, but as one of the only filter-feeding shark species they feed mostly on plankton and fish eggs and the occasionally small fish.
I totally get it that you can’t go diving with these beauties. You’d be surrounding them and, no doubt, that would be very stressful for the animal. While snorkeling, you are just hanging above them, and hopefully, they stay close to the surface, as this one did, but she could easily move away if so desired.
She is big, not just in length, but she is one solid fish. I don’t have much info on the whale shark particulars I’m afraid. I have very limited internet access here. St Helena hasn’t quite made it into the present century yet. More on that in a different post.
I followed her for about 30 minutes. A total interaction time of 45 minutes is permitted with an individual, rule number three. She would slowly move away or sink deeper into the water but then would turn and come up again. Stunning. Occasionally, I saw some legs from other swimmers or a handheld camera, but I very much felt it was just her and me. Best swim ever.
I’ll be posting about St Helena in the near future, I just wanted to share this experience.
