Gentle Giant Spotted off of Gold Coast

For the first time in over 30 years a whale shark was sighted and photographed off the Gold Coast in Australia.

At the Palm Beach Reef on Sunday the 6 meter (19-20 ft) was photographed by local fishermen Mark Pease and James Bowden. They were about to head home when the whale shark surfaced around 10am.

“He’s just came up and started nuzzling on the burley bucket and rubbing against the boat,” said Mr Bowden.

Mr. Bowden used his underwater camera to capture the shark on film while he played around the boat.

“He was quite friendly, he just wanted to hang around and have a look at us and we obviously had a good look at him.”

Full story on http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/01/21/41241_gold-coast-lead-story.html

Photo gallery of James Bowden’s photos http://tools.goldcoast.com.au//photo-gallery/photo_gallery_popup.php?splash=1&category_id=3665

~ by aumakuablog on January 29, 2009.