The Payoff

The whale shark we swam with – you can see the plankton it was feeding on.

While everything about our visit to Coiba was lovely, there was one undisputed highlight: we got to swim with a freakin’ whale shark!

While we knew this was a possibility, there were no guarantees. Whale sharks are known to frequent the area, but they don’t congregate. It’s a total craps shoot whether you happen to be in tour group that’s lucky enough to spot one.

We were told that some scuba divers search for years to no avail – so we weren’t exactly confident we’d wind up the chosen ones. I mean, it’s not like we would be able to stay submerged for hours on the prowl, reliant as we were on simple snorkel gear.

We didn’t really go looking for one until it was nearly time to head back to the mainland. The sharks don’t come close to the shallow areas where we had spent our time snorkeling, so if we were going to see one it would only be from the boat, out in deeper waters.

There had been some recent sightings near Wahoo Rock – an outcropping about 20 minutes from the main beach at Coiba – so our guide instructed the pilot to head off in that direction and we all kept our snorkel gear handy…just in case.

On our way, we were overtaken by a boat carrying a group of scuba divers. They were in a faster boat and ours was having a little trouble, with water in the gas line causing us to stall a bit. That seems like bad luck, but things aren’t always as they appear.

Because we were on a slower boat (and because we kept stalling) our pilot had more time to play lookout. And as luck would have it, a few minutes after we were overtaken, the pilot spotted a shark feeding in open water off our starboard side.

Our guide, Javier, pointed excitedly and said, “There’s one! Check it out, guys!”

We all dumbly stood up to peer over the side of the boat.

“No, no,” Javier said, “I mean JUMP IN and check it out!”

We all snapped out of our reverie and it became a race to see who could get their fins on fastest. It didn’t take long before we all hit the water, flailing our way over to the beast.

Seriously, it’s shocking that the thing didn’t flee – but honestly it didn’t seem to give us a second thought. It just kept moving along, slowly eating the plankton floating just below the surface.

And once we were in place, we all relax our pace and just marveled at the size of the thing. Seriously, it was as long as a dump truck – and this was evidently a SMALL one!

What struck me most, aside from the shark itself, was just how blue and beautiful the surroundings were. To be out in this deep blue space, with this gentle giant swimming beside you, and nothing else around you (aside from a few others from our group) – it was incredibly peaceful, even if my heart was racing.

When the shark started to dive down, we figured that was the end of it. Only, he didn’t go out of sight. He turned and began another pass, rising up from the depths to skim another meal.

It’s hard to say how long we were in the water together. My perception of time might be off because I was concentrating so hard on trying to take everything in. It felt like maybe 3 to 5 minutes. It was awesome.

It left us after that second pass.

We bobbed in the water for a bit, hoping for one more show but over the moon that we had gotten so lucky. What an experience! We all climbed back in the boat and everyone was speechless.

Well…for a few seconds.

Then we all erupted. We began to whoop and holler, chattering in excitement at what had just happened.

It was the highlight of the trip. In fact, Junkii and I both list it among our top all time travel experiences!

Luckily, our co-traveller had his camera with him and was able to snap a few photos. The experience is etched in our minds, but it’s nice to have this little reminder.

That’s me in the top right corner! Thanks, Pius, for sharing your images.

It’s hard to get a sense of scale when you’re underwater with nothing around. This picture makes the shark look smaller than I feel it was.