Swimming off the Mexican coast with the gentle giants

Cancun, Mexico - Skipper Jorge drops anchor 50 kilometres off the Mexican coastal resort of Cancun before shouting over to his partner Jose to usher two passengers with life-jackets, flippers and snorkels to the side of the vessel. Suddenly Jorge lets out a cry of "12 metres" and a huge fish, whose mouth stretches more than one-and-a-half metres across, looms into view. It approaches the boat slowly and swims alongside.

Jose and the two guests let themselves fall into the water before making their way towards the cavernous opening which could easily swallow up both of them. For its part, the whale shark seems to be ignoring the two colourful "objects" within its field of vision and it simply changes course.