14 DAY TRIAL // I don't know about you, but I for one have to admit that, after watching this video, I am seriously considering boarding the first plane to the Philippines and plunging head first in the water hoping to come across one or two whale sharks.
The footage made it online this past May 22 and has already scored tens of thousands of views. Hence, I can only assume that there are a lot of people in this world who find the idea of swimming alongside whale sharks appealing.
The video shows a man by the name Johnathan Guzman and his son Jaden enjoying a quiet dive together and coming across several such marine creatures. Apparently, the footage was shot in the waters off the coast of Oslob, a municipality of Cebu.
Despite their impressive size – they can grow to measure well over 10 meters (nearly 33 feet) in length – whale sharks do not constitute a threat to divers and swimmers. On the contrary, they are fairly docile creatures and don't seem to mind being close to humans.
The bad news is that, according to the specialists with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, whale sharks are currently a vulnerable species. This means that, unless measures intended to protect them and their habitat are soon implemented, they might go extinct.
lau