Whale Sharks of Grayton Beach

My special thanks to James Griffith for providing me with the beautiful underwater footage of the Grayton Beach Whale Sharks to make this movie. Without his wonderful video, I would only have...a nice soundtrack.

Five Whale Sharks appeared just offshore from Grayton Beach, Florida in the first week of August in 2009. They remained in the local waters for two days. Many of the people chartering the Grayton Beach fishing boats and one group of divers photographed and swam with the whales during the two-day event. A Whale Shark is not a whale (mammal) but is a gentle, non-dangerous, filter-feeding shark that is the largest living fish species.

James Griffith, a local firefighter/diver in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida captured the beautiful underwater video.The large school of bigger fish swimming with the whale shark are cobia.

Update
The Whale Sharks were back today (8/10/09).
Update
On 8/12/09 after three days of searching I finally saw the Whale Sharks of Grayton Beach live. I saw them, I photographed them and I touched the fin of one of them as it surfaced beside my boat. It was an amazing experience. What beautifully graceful creatures.

Update
8/13/09 The Whale Sharks are still in the Grayron Beach area. Yesterday Cynthia Turner, Leslie Provow, Celeste Cobena and finally me, all had the marvelous experience of swimming with the Whale Sharks. What beautifully peaceful animals. We saw three different whale sharks yesterday and will be back looking for them again today.

What an experience!

Edmond

Edmond Alexander 850 231-4112
James Griffith 850 835-5289
©2009 Edmond Alexander