WHALE SHARKS
BY SOPHIA

What's blue, has white spots, is more than 20 feet long and has foot long spines on its back? Whale sharks! I lied about the spines...

Whale sharks definitely look like a cross between a shark and a whale, but they are actually a fish! They spend all of their time eating plankton, literally! I feel sorry for them though, because for the whole day boats are coming in surrounding them, and almost running into them while they try and eat. Their size is intimidating, but they are actually very gentle.

It was super hot that day, so I claimed the front seat in the dinghy, the spot that got splashed the most. When we got about one third the way to where we found them, we spotted some dolphins. The dolphins gradually came closer until they were right next to the boat. At first we thought they could be whale sharks, but then we realized they were just huge dolphins. Cavan tried to get a video, but it didn't turn out very good.

I was pretty freaked out before we got in the water with the sharks, because Mom's description of them didn't sound too inviting. The first sight of one was, well, I'll just say...terrifying. Even with my fins, I felt like I was in one of those dreams where you need to run but can't. He was heading toward me with his huge mouth wide open, and it was so scary I almost screamed in my snorkel.

I wasn't exactly comfortable swimming around, knowing that it was against the law to touch them, because they could just pop up anywhere. But in the end, I was jumping in and swimming along side them. I did get these bad bites though - no, not from the whale sharks, but from some tiny jelly fish that you can barely see. They were like nettle stings, but they stung more and didn't last as long. I got them everywhere, and they ruined the boat ride back.

Swimming with whale sharks was an awesome experience, but surprisingly we did it before we've swum with dolphins. And honestly, I think its sounds way cooler to say that I've gone swimming with sharks than dolphins.