Marina looked across the broad flat back of the whale shark’s body and gently touched its side. She drew her hand back at the surprising coarse sandpaper texture. It looked so smooth!

The shark must have been five or six feet wide. There were several sharklike remora fish no more than a foot or so long attached to the underside of the whale shark. They slid around but stayed suckered on by their mouths—parasites waiting for a free meal. Rhee was on the other side flailing around and trying to stay upright while fiddling to get water out of her snorkel mask.

Marina ignored her and kicked farther up and over the checked pattern of stripes and spots across the whale shark’s three back ridges to inspect the small eye on the side of its head. She laughed out loud in delight, sending a plume of water shooting out of her snorkel tube. She was underwater. In the Caribbean. Looking into the eye of the biggest fish in the world! She grabbed Link’s passing hand and squeezed it. She just had to share the high of the experience. His mouth grinned around the snorkel mouthpiece, and together they kicked up the length of the shark. Her body was tingling from snorkel tube to fin tip.