Whale Shark (Poem)

This past June I was able to swim with two whale sharks in Exmouth, Australia. I wrote this poem three days after the amazing experience...

"Spotter in!

Go, go go!"

We jumped on in

Not sure what was below. 

"Stick your mask in.

Look straight ahead."

All went silent

Like life was dead. 

A second or two passed

with no sound.

For a moment I was scared

Of what could be around. 

And suddenly there it was.

This massive creature came in view.

The biggest fish in the ocean

and the most gentle too.

Photo Credit: Exmouth Dive Center

It glided along 

Seemingly not to care

That onlookers jumped in 

And could do nothing but stare.

We swam along beside it

And I reminded myself to breathe.

Snorkeling became simple

The shark was calming. 

Its spots were big.

Its mouth agape. 

It was busy eating.

Nothing could escape.

Photo Credit: Exmouth Dive Center

Suckerfish below it

held on for a ride.

They didn't do much - 

just let the whale shark glide.

And there we still were

Swimming next to it in shock.

It was a whole new world

And time seemed to stop.

Photo Credit: Exmouth Dive Center

I don't know how long it was

How long we shared that space

But the feeling was unreal

Something that can't be replaced.

Dwarfed by its size

I remembered feeling small

But being in its presence

Left me in awe.

But unfortunately for us

The swim had to conclude.

We let it move on

In the ocean blue

The boat came to retrieve us

and we jumped in the rear

I felt exhilarated, alive

and didn't have any fear. 

We dove in one more time

and the story repeated again:

Silence, time froze

Suckerfish and fins. 

But the second time was it.

Only two dives that day. 

I was lucky to experience it

and see life that way.

So now when I look in the ocean

Whether it's daylight or dark

I'll remember my experience

of swimming with whale sharks. 

If you want to read another post I wrote about my Whale Shark experience and a great lesson I learned during it, click here to read: "It's Ok To Ask For Help." And, here are two more poems about my trip to Australia: "There's Another World Out There" and "There are People Out There"

Thanks for reading!
Arin
(@ArinKress)