Swimming with Whale Sharks in La Paz, Mexico

The idea of swimming alongside “gentle giants” slowly unraveled into something much less calm. I could suddenly picture a massive mouth opening wide, far wider than it needed to be, and me somehow ending up in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time.

In my mind, I was accidentally sucked in, immediately rejected for not being plankton, and then launched back out with enough force to send me flailing through the water like a very confused sardine.