I saw an incredible clip of a paddle boarder and two whales (in Australia) this week, and it made me recall the underwater photography of Anuar Patjane. His photograph—below—of a humpback whale and her newborn calf around Roca Partida Island in Revillagigedo, Mexico, won the National Geographic Traveler photo contest last year.

When I see divers under the water like this, I think at once how I’d love to be there, too—but recognize that I’d probably be a bit afraid.

“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure… . Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself?”
― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

It’s not the first time that photographs of whales have captured my imagination. Do you remember these life-size photographs from a few years back?

Aron has swam with whale sharks in Australia and the experience sounded incredible. One day I’d like to find myself in Mexico with them, off the coast of the Yucatan: “the waters off Isla Holbox—a 27-mile long curl of sand and mangrove thickets, where the Gulf of Mexico converges with the Caribbean Sea—have been identified as hosting the world’s highest concentration of whale sharks. According to Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas, as many as 600 come to feed here between May and October—and particularly during the month of July.”

Would you? Have you?

P.S. In case you’re thinking about a trip to Mexico…

Road-tripping the Yucatan peninsula (including Tulum, Isla Mujeres, Merida, and Campeche); Tips for Tulum & the Mayan Riviera; and Visiting Mexico City while renting an apartment in Condesa. Friday links coming up shortly!

[Photos by Anuar Patjane Floriuk Photography. Top/Bottom]

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