Parting Shots

Julian Cohen & Tim Priest & Diggy Desai · Issue 57, Nov/Dec 2010 · pp. 83–85

Products mentioned: Nikon D3, Subal Housing, Sigma 15mm, Reef Photo and Video Zen 9" dome

Parting Shot 1 There are a number of animals on any diver’s “wish to see” list and usually the bigger they are, the higher on the list. One that would make 99% of all divers’ lists would be the whale shark, Rhincodon typus. The largest fish in the ocean these behemoths can grow up to twelve meters long and are the true gentle giants of the seas. The opportunity to see one doesn’t come often, even if you visit the places where they are regularly found, The Maldives, Thailand and Ningaloo, Western Australia. There is one place however where the chances of seeing one is multiplied many many times, and you would have to be extremely unlucky not to see one. Actually I say one, but in fact there are often fifty or a hundred in one place. That place is Isla Mujeres in Mexico, where every year there is an aggregation of whale sharks around late July through August, as the sharks are feeding on t…