Travel true. Be you!
Travel true. Be you!
I love the ocean and its creatures. I generally try to do my homework and choose tours that are ethical and do not cause harm to what I love.
It had been a dream of mine for a long time to snorkel with a whale shark, and the Maldives seemed like the perfect place for it. I stayed on the local island of Dhigurah, which is known for year-round whale shark snorkelling tours. I researched the place I stayed at, and it had fabulous reviews. Guests raved about the wonderful tours and the experiences they’d had.
When I asked about the available tours on arrival, I was further assured that they never feed any fish on their trips, as they care about the animals. To me, that was a good general indication.
What I didn’t know was that I actually had no choice when it came to switching tour operators once I was on the island – the locals don’t compete. On Dhigurah, you go with the tour operator your accommodation is affiliated with, or you don’t go at all.
The group on my boat was relatively big, and everyone was in pairs except for me, as I was travelling solo among all the honeymooners.
Generally speaking, it’s good practice to have a snorkel buddy for safety. I’m not a very skilled snorkeller – I swim okay, but I wasn’t confident with snorkelling gear, as I had lost fins in the past and didn’t want to be left behind. I told one of the guides, and he said he’d look out for me. At first, I didn’t believe him, but he kept his word.
The entire snorkel, he held my hand and made sure I was going in the right direction and keeping up, which enabled me to see the shark. I’m still very grateful to the guide for going the extra mile for me.
It took us hours by boat to find a whale shark. This was time that could have been used to teach us about these gentle, harmless giants that feed on plankton. However, there was no real safety briefing and absolutely no information about the biology of the largest fish on Earth.
I had read a few things beforehand, but I had hoped to learn from the experts – our guides. All they said when we found the shark was: we’ll swim against the current, try not to get left behind, don’t touch it, stay three metres away, and don’t swim in front of it. That was it.
It was very hectic. We all jumped in – with no instructions to slide into the water gently to avoid creating bubbles. A few boats were already there, and more kept arriving, as the guides were sharing the location via smartphones.
When I first jumped into the water, I wasn’t even sure where the shark was. Everything was hectic, but then the guide appeared out of nowhere, grabbed my hand, and pointed it out. It was the size of a large car – they said just under six metres, which means it was still a juvenile, as they can grow up to three times that size. Yet it felt gigantic compared to us.
I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t an impressive sight or that I wasn’t stoked to see the whale shark. It was amazing, terrifying, and sad all at once.
Amazing, because I realised how much respect and feeling I have for this species of gentle giant.
Terrifying, because the whole tour felt unsafe for the snorkellers – I’m not sure anyone would have noticed if I’d gone missing had I not been with the guide. The water was so rough I had to stop every minute or so to clear my snorkel. The next day, my calves were sore from all the power-snorkelling to keep up.
We later picked up a couple of snorkellers who had ended up on other boats in the chaos, which shows how easily it could have gone wrong if no one noticed.
I felt bad about the whole encounter and told the tour operator that I thought there were too many people and not enough information. I also donated to a local group fighting to push for legislative changes in the Maldives to better protect whale sharks from tour-driven greed – but that doesn’t undo the fact that I was part of it.