Sunday, July 1, 2007

Scuba Diving with the Whale Sharks

Makell and I had a rare opportunity today to dive with three Whale Sharks. There are not many places in the world that you can do this. Okinawa happens to be one of them. You can't believe how huge they are. The largest was 28 feet long, with the other two about 18 and 14 feet. They are housed just off the coast of Torii beach. Their net is about 150 x 200 x 80 feet. For their size they could sure move. I tried to keep up a few times but it was not easy. I wish we could have spent more time down there.

Every day they each receive about 50lbs of food. I'm glad that does not include the human type. They are actually very gentle. Much like huge puppy dogs looking for attention.

It didn't cost that much for the experience either. $110 for the boat ride and $13 for the gear for each of us. I don't know what it would cost in Australia, one of the other locations that you can do this. We were only down for about 30 minutes and I had about 1200 psi on the air guage. That could have given me about another 20+ minutes.

Our good friend Kelley took the shots of us with her digital camera. In the first one you can see both Makell and I with the middle size one. The photo to the right here is me chasing the smallest of the three. You can see a few more photos at http://boyd.zenfolio.com/p109485618/.

It is just incredible to see these creatures in the ocean. We will always remember this day.

Love,

Jeremy, Makell and the Family

2 comments:

Michelle said...

This looks pretty cool!! We are glad that you had fun. We would love to see more pictures of the exciting adventures in Okinawa! Michelle, Jeff and Lydia

John and Barbara said...

You all look GREAT! So nice to see all the pictures and to read about your events. Joseph looks so much like Jeremy..I'm sure Jeremys' Mom says the same. Take care of each other. Gods' Blessings, Love, J & B