Whale Shark captured on video in Curaçao
Submitted by amysell on Tue, 02/13/2018 - 12:42
On Thursday, February 8th, dive instructor Daan Drechsel of Scuba Lodge Dive Center Pietermaai captured a giant whale shark on video, a rare treat in the waters of Curaçao.
Drechsel was diving with colleagues and tourists at Playa Piskado, just a few miles off the coast of Curaçao at 15 meters/49 feet deep, when he spotted the whale shark.
“This is one of our favorite dive sites as it’s a prime turtle spot. We were looking forward to showing our guests the turtles that are known to swim here, but I did not expect to see a whale shark. It’s just really rare. I can’t believe he swam right past us and that I was able to film the whale shark before it headed back out into deeper waters,” says Drechsel.
In the video made by Drechsel, we see fellow diver Jordy Stolk striking a pose as the whale shark passes right behind him: "It was definitely worth it to get that close to him," Stolk said, adding that he "swam like hell" to reach the whale shark.
Drechsel described the whale shark he saw as being about as long as 8 meters/26 feet. He added that whale sharks are rare to find in waters off the coast of Curaçao.
The video made by Drechsel can be found on the Dive Center’s Facebook page and their YouTube channel.