Swimming with giants

We had hoped to find whale sharks in Bahia Conception, but we were not so lucky. Determined not to miss out we decided to pay the steep fee of $60 USD to swim with thee giants in La Paz on a guided Panga. It was a pretty fantastic, if not slightly chaotic, experience. Whale sharks are huge cartilaginous sharks that filter feed on plankton, using one of two techniques: the lawn mower- where they move through large volumes of water to find enough food, or vertical feed – when the plankton is plentiful the sharks move upright in the water column and effectively swallow huge amounts of plankton and water. The sharks can reach up to 60 feet, but the ones in La Paz are juveniles at only 30 feet.  When we went out the sharks were doing their lawn mower technique and boy could they motor with only the smallest flick of their tails. There was also wind and chop on the surface, making it a challenge to keep up with them. Luckily our guide was basically an olympian swimmer who not only could keep up but also retrieve swimmers who had fallen behind and tow them back to the front. Even at 30 feet the shark was so huge it was hard to grasp it’s size. It’s tail fin was the same length as Kolby. Swimming at the tail it’s head would be obscured by the murky water. It was long and skinny and beautiful. The guides had an interesting technique. They would approach the shark, and have the swimmers ready to go, sitting on the rails. Suddenly the driver would throw the shifter into neutral and yell go. Often you would hit the water while the boat was still moving. Then you had to look around for the guide, who was swimming with his arm up to indicate where the whale was. The visibility is quite poor that it could be hard to figure out, one time I almost swam into the shark as I was looking for it and it had changed directions. Then once you find the shark you swim with it for as long as you can before you give up and wait for the boat to come get you. It was a pretty decent workout, especially at 8 months pregnant. Fynn had fun on the boat – naturally she liked the part where she could push us into the water. Good times all around.