The first day of diving at Darwin started as all the other days began - with a wonderful breakfast and a detailed dive briefing.  We did four dives at Darwin's Arch the first day in search of whale sharks.  While we didn't see them the first day we definitely saw our share of all other sharks, eels, dolphin, and more.

The second day of diving at Darwin we hit the motherload!  Patricio (the dive master) got us all up at 5:30 so we could be in the water by sun up.  12 tired divers (two opted to skip the dive) begrudgingly got ready to get in the water.  The early wake up call was soon forgiven as we spotted our first whale shark!  A pregnant female (probably 40-50 ft in length) swam by us with such grace.  Even though she looked like she was barely moving, we were all kicking our tails off trying to catch and keep up with her.  This is what we came to see and it was far more amazing than we ever could have expected.

We did two more dives at Darwin's Arch that day before beginning the crossing back.  We saw 7 whale shark in all (5 on the first dive, 2 on the second) and will not soon forget the amazing creatures emerging from the blue.  What a rush!