Last Day! Whale Sharks, after all. Yay!

WHALE SHARKS!

I had to be creative, but I found a guide, a skiff, and a driver to drive my truck to the whale shark beach, about an hour and a half from Djibouti, Djibouti.

We left late in the morning because I HAD to get a Covid test to fly into the US. I was offered to take it a few days early and have it say that I had taken it the day before I left DJ, and even though DJ was not slogged with Omicron yet, I was not going to take any chances. I was given a Rapid PCR, but only after I vouched, I had not had coffee with in the last hour. Coffee skews the test, or so this clinic told me. I rinsed my mouth out several times because I was at the 54-minute mark, and I wanted to ensure I did not get a false positive. But I digress...

It was a heck of a ride to the beach. Again we had to go off-road for about 45 minutes. We went through the French training base. The French do live ammunition practice where we were. They named their base camp after a ten-year girl who was tending her goats and accidentally trekked into the line of fire and was killed. I made very sure no exercises were going on when we drove through the mountain range. In fact, we did not see anyone from the time we passed the base until we came to the coast.

We came upon a small French naval watch and then some local huts. This area is where the Whale Shark spotters live with their families. There were about five skiffs pulled up on the rocky shore. The guide led me to one of the huts to change clothes. The matron of the hut sat outside smoking a hookah, protecting the door from any intruders.

I decided to wear shorts and a long-sleeve sailing shirt for modesty, but I need not have worried- there was a French group, and modesty was not in their vocabulary. Our guide bought life preservers for everyone, and I was very thankful. The waves and wind were high, and the skiff surfed the tops of the waves before falling flat over the top and then rolling up the next wave. (Reminded me of jet skiing through the inlet with my old pal Doug Rogers at Emerald Isle).

I already wrote about Whale Sharks, so I'm going to post my photos from the trip. I believe there were about 15-20 sharks feeding in this area. Our captain would jet to the front of a whale shark(s) and yell, "jump!" We would heave over the side directly into the path of a whale shark, or in several cases, into the path of three or four whale sharks.

The best story I have is this: I jumped into the water, and a giant whale shark was to my left. I started taking photos while I snorkeled next to him. He saw me and zoomed off, but before he did that, I realized a whale shark swimming directly underneath me. I could reach down and pet him if I wanted to, but I was so freaked out that he was going to surface, and I'd be riding him like a bull at the rodeo; I tried valiantly to roll to my right side to get out of his way. I ended up hitting his tail with my fin as this whale shark zoomed off too. As I look back, I'm mad at myself because I know that whale sharks are gentle creatures and won't hurt me, but being that close to this ginormous and beautiful creature shocked me. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world!

These are my photos!!! Enjoy~

Whale shark next to the boat.