This past Friday, 4 of us from here in Dothan went down Wes' way and chartered a boat out of Grayton Beach for a half day trip. Didn't know you could do this (I do now) but this guy, and several other charters, backed right down the beach and launched in to the surf. We never went more than 2-3 miles out and caught the limit of snapper within an hour. Trolled about a mile out and loaded up on King Mackeral and Mahi-mahi.
The Captain had been telling us about 3 whale sharks that had been cruising the area over the past week. Whale Shark? I thought you only saw that shit on Discovery Channel or at the Georgia Aquarium. Not a mile off the beach around Destin. But, after we had been out a couple of hours, we spotted one. Drove the boat right up to it and cruised along side of it for a while. Two other boats pulled up as well and this guy and girl jumped in the water with masks and snorkels on and grabbed hold off his fin and rode the damn thing for a few seconds. At first, we were amazed. After they kept pursuing it, we were pulling for the shark to slap the shit out of them with it's back fin.
The boat we were on was 19'. The shark was a little longer than the boat. From what I understand about those things and how big they get, we were looking at a mere pup.