Stephane’s thoughts corner…

Stephane Bailliez's thoughts on everything

And here we go again. Whale sharks ! And these are my best shots so far !

This time bonite baitballs were raging a few hundred meters from our diving spot when we came back from our first dive, time to scramble, put on mask and fins, remove the strobes from my housing, change the camera settings and we were dropped next to the whale shark when she came up to the surface to get a mouthfill of fishes. While everyone swam next to it, I put myself from a distance as I saw her starting to turn and dive, I positioned around 3-5m deep, ready for a head shot, the whale shark was coming right into me. I took 2 shots and stopped to look and enjoy the moment where it went past me quietly and effortlessly. I could have touch it by extending my right arm as it was gliding barely a meter from me. A stunning moment !

Two whale sharks were eating around, a small (~3m) and a bigger one (~6m) and we were dropped 4 or 5 times around. I could have stayed hours as it was so intense and rewarding !! I would do wonders with a small zodiac, freediving fins and a spotter but for now I’m very happy with the shots I managed to get !