I had been expecting to see it in the distance, but it came close along the wall from the right, right in front of me. It was so close I could have reached out and nearly touched its pectoral fin from where I was waiting. And it was huge. I was so surprised I forgot to raise my camera. It was almost past before I recovered from the shock and started to move. As the tail passed me I began to get up speed.
Deliberately over-breathing to avoid getting out of breath, I chased after the whale shark. I slowly started to overtake it. It was only then that I remembered my buddy, was he still with me? I looked back to see him chasing behind me and waving me to go on.
I was beginning to get tired, but eventually I managed to draw level with its head and started to take pictures as fast as I could.
I was still swimming forward, but losing ground while I worked the camera. I got what I thought was my last shot of its remora covered tail when it turned round and swam back past me, along the wall in the opposite direction. I didn’t have the energy to give chase again, but managed a few more shots before running out of film.