Whale Shark Riding, Maui, Hawaii

Some scuba divers wait a lifetime to see a Whale Shark - our dive master had logged 1400 dives and had never seen one, but my daughter, Natasha, who was doing her first dive towards her Advanced Open Water Certification (after her initial three day Open Water Certification), had an experience of a lifetime and got to see and swim with a 22ft whale shark in Maui, Hawaii.

The day started early when we met our dive master at 6:30am at the Ma'alaea dock (just near Maui Ocean Center Aquarium) and boarded the dive boat, newly refurbished, to ride to Molokini and do two boat dives - a Wall Dive and an Inside Crater dive. We always use Maui Dream Dives Co. to go diving when we are in Maui as they are fun, friendly, have great dive instructors and the best prices for rental gear, equipment and PADI Certified Courses. (A tip for divers and snorkelers in Maui - always take the first boat out - the winds come up at around noon and the ride back, if you take the later one, can be pretty rough).

Diving or snorkeling at Molokini (an underwater marine sanctuary) is a must, with visibility typically 60-150 feet year round it is one of the best dive sites in the world. You can experience the magnificent marine life, including, reef sharks, manta rays, whales, sea turtles, eels, corals and abundant tropical fish. We did our first dive along the back wall of the tiny crater where the under water currents made for a great drift dive. The wall drops off 300 feet, but we only went to 90 feet for the Deep Dive Course my daughter needed for her certification and we had plenty of opportunities to see sharks, abundant fish and turtles.

When we surfaced, our boat captain was jumping up and down on the boat, yelling at us (above the sound of the ocean) - "...shark, get in..."! Not looking around to locate a shark fin, I swam as fast as I could and hastily clambered on board with the soundtrack of the movie "Jaws" playing in my head. To my immense relief he had been yelling "There's a whale shark, get in the boat and we can go and see it". There were twelve of us on board, including five dive instructors and we all agreed to delay our second dive and make a b-line to the site a few miles away where the 22 foot whale shark had been spotted. That's one of the great thing about Maui Dream Dives - they'll find you the best opportunities for that day and let you decide what you want to do. You don't have to "get back to shore" for some deadline, like other charters. They always want you to have the best experience and that means that time is not the deciding factor when it comes to your enjoyment. One of their motto's is "ALWAYS remember the first rule of diving - HAVE FUN!"

When we got to the location of the whale shark, there was a hurried scramble and a sense of urgency to jump off the back of the boat - who knows how long it was going to stay in our vicinity and this was an opportunity of a lifetime, none of us wanted to miss out! With our snorkels on and our under water cameras ready to capture our adventure of a lifetime, we didn't have to swim far to see this amazing creature. She was a very curious fish, beautiful and graceful in the clear water and we got the opportunity to swim and play with her for over 90 minutes as she swam away and then kept returning to our boat to take another look at us, coming right up to next to the boat in a few feet below the surface of the water, as if she were peering in to try to get a better look at us. Although she was "only" 22 feet (whale sharks are the largest fishes on earth and can grow up to 60 feet in length), she was truly one of the most amazing sea creatures I have ever seen.

Going back to the crater to complete our second dive (an Underwater Photography course), we knew that the sea might be a little rough when we surfaced, and boy was it ever! It took me two attempts to grab hold of the steps in the 5-6 feet waves that were crashing around me and the ride back was rough and very bumpy (we were nearly two hours later heading back than anticipated) but What an Adventure! What a Once in a Lifetime Opportunity! What a Perfect Day!

Published as original post by Oonagh