Swimming with the 3rd largest animal on earth!

Today was finally the day we were going to swim with whale sharks! At 8:00am we hopped on a tricycle to go to the whale shark watching area which was only a 5 minute ride away. We luckily got a time slot for 9:00am, but a lot of people line up at 5:00am, waiting for up to 5 hours just to get a chance to swim with the whale sharks!

We first had to check-in, pay then listen to a speech about how we were to stay our distance. They said not to touch the whale sharks but if one touched us it was okay. An hour later it was time to board the bangka boat that would take us to a deeper area where the whale sharks would be.

Right when we got there we saw a very small whale shark that we assumed was a baby! Our guides told us there were 10 whale sharks in the area, he also mentioned that 2 out of 10 of the whale sharks was a mother and baby son! The whale sharks are wild so they can just come into the bay whenever they want and get some food then leave.

Swimming with the whale sharks!

We slowly slid into the water and as soon as we got in there was a huge whale shark! I had to dodge the fins of a whale sharks a couple of times. There was a boat going around dumping krill into the water, it was so cool watching the whale sharks open their huge toothless mouths and gulp down the krill. The whale sharks were so beautiful and are now my new favorite animal!

Whale Shark Facts

These huge animals:

• Are the biggest fish on earth
• The 3rd biggest animal on earth
• Can get up to 18 meters long
• Can live up to 150 years!
• Have unique skin patterns like fingerprints
• Have mouths that are up to 5 feet wide!
• Can dive over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) deep!