The Largest Sharks in the World

I have now checked a major item off of my bucket list! Recently I was asked to photograph whale sharks off the coast of the Yucatan with National Geographic Executive V.P., Melina Bellows. What an incredible experience this was! Whale sharks migrate from South America all the way up the coast line, past Central America, to the Yucatan where the Caribbean meets the Gulf of Mexico and the cold ocean currents intersect with warmer waters. After traveling for two hours at full throttle out into the open ocean, we met up with our spotter boat who had located a school of over 100 of these magnificent creatures over a stretch of about one mile of deep blue sea. With reports of them growing up to 75 feet long, they are gigantic animals to witness! And seeing them glide beneath the boat with their head on one side and their tail still on the other side gives you a tangible sense of scale… the largest shark in the world. It goes against everything in our DNA to jump into the water when you see shark fins piercing it’s surface, but they are as gentle as they are huge. Being in the presence of these massive giants was one experience I will never forget.