No Dream Is Too High - Buzz Aldrin Page 0,28

and a human is so small comparatively that the fish might smash right into a diver without missing a stroke or even noticing. If you get in the whale shark’s way, you could get hurt, because the fish would flick you off like a gnat.

The whale sharks are so huge, they can be spotted from the air by a small plane or a helicopter pilot scouting the seas, who then radios the information to a boat captain, who points the craft in that direction.

Prior to entering the water, Ricardo, our indigenous dive master, cautioned us, “Do not touch the sea life, especially the whale sharks.”

Andy gave me a look, as if to say, “And that means you, Dad.” Of course, he knew that if I came anywhere near a whale shark, all bets were off, because I’d want to get as close as possible.

We paddled away from the boat in small Pangas, life rafts a lot like the more common inflatable rubber Zodiacs. Andy carried the underwater camera as he and Ricardo and I plunged into the water. The moment my body was submerged, I was in an entirely new world. The sunshine filtered through the turquoise blue Pacific waters above me, providing plenty of light by which to see. Almost immediately, I spotted a sharp-toothed moray eel easing out of a coral cave below me. I noticed a few small sharks and some large turtles, as well as a spectacular array of brightly colored tropical fish.

We had been underwater for a while, and I was about 75 feet below the surface when I saw a whale shark heading in our direction at an angle, and even from a distance, I could tell that the fish was enormous! Remember Jonah and the whale? This guy’s mouth could have swallowed Jonah and a whole lot more!

I swam right at him, looking him in the eye the whole time. His huge mouth was closed, but I was still careful not to get in his way.

The whale shark was moving fast, so I didn’t have much time to figure out my rendezvous plans, but with a bit of experience in that area, I quickly calculated the direction I needed to swim if I hoped to intersect with the fish. The dive master saw me and began waving frantically, trying to keep me from approaching the whale shark, but I started swimming on a trajectory in which I felt sure I could catch the huge creature’s dorsal fin. Andy saw me, too, and must have instinctively figured out what I planned to do, because he swam as fast as he could with the camera ready.

I intercepted the whale shark, looked the fish in the eye, and then drifted back and above him, to where I knew the whale shark’s dorsal fin would be coming by me in a moment. Sure enough, the whale shark passed below me, so I swam hard toward him, grabbed onto the dorsal fin, and held on for dear life! The whale shark didn’t pay much attention to me. Quite the contrary, he didn’t slow down a bit, swiftly carrying me along with him through the sea.

I could hear Ricardo sounding his alarm rattle, warning me away from the whale shark. I knew Ricardo would not be happy with me, but I continued to hang on. Worse yet, I knew my air supply was running low. I checked my air gauge as the whale shark continued swimming, with Ricardo and Andy chasing us from behind, Ricardo frantically urging me to let go and Andy hurrying to get as many photos as he could. By the time I let go of the whale shark’s fin, I was almost completely out of air. I had to “buddy breathe” with Ricardo, taking a gulp of his air, and holding my breath as long as I could before taking another, sharing his air tank to get back to the surface. Ricardo was furious, though wonderfully gracious, especially considering that I had totally disobeyed his instructions. But how often does an 80-year-old man get to celebrate his birthday by hitching a ride on a whale shark?

Andy got some fantastic photos of me riding the whale shark, and I’m almost as proud of those shots as I am of the ones Neil Armstrong took of me on the Moon. When I met Brad Norman, an Australian scientist who is one of the world’s foremost experts on whale sharks, I was reluctant to show him one of