Juvenile Giants of Djibouti

Morris Gregory · Issue 42, May/Jun 2008 · pp. 41–45

Products mentioned: Nikon D70, Subal ND70 housing, Sigma 12-24mm lens

I jumped out of the boat and finned furiously to maintain pace with the 6m long, white spotted object next to me. After a minute or so I had to give up and let it continue on its leisurely journey sifting plankton in the warm waters of the Gulf of Tadjourah. It was only my second sighting of a whale shark in 15 years of diving, the previous one being a brief encounter at Ras Nas Rani after surfacing from a macro dive with no frames left on my film camera. This time I was much better prepared with a 12mm -24mm Sigma lens in my Subal ND70 housing and plenty of space on my compact flash card. Like Ras Nas Rani this encounter was also short but it whetted the appetite and there were still several diving/ snorkelling days to go. For some others on board it had been their first meeting with a whale shark and there was a great buzz of excitement over the breakfast table at the prospect of furth…