Member-only story
A Whale Shark, a Bracelet, and a Story That Came Full Circle
Years after swimming with whale sharks, I found one again — on my phone, in the same sea I sailed through long ago
🐋 “Chuck Found Me: From Sailing with Whale Sharks to Tracking One by App”
I once sailed 20,000 miles hoping to swim with a whale shark.
And I did-off the remote island of St. Helena, in the South Atlantic.
It was magical.
I thought that was the end of the story.
Until last week-when a whale shark named Chuck found me.
It started with a gift.
For Father’s Day, my girlfriend gave me a small box with a bracelet inside, black beads, a carved shark charm, and a card that said:
“Each bracelet tracks a real whale shark.”
I opened the card and scanned the QR code, downloaded the app, and as it loaded, a gentle giant named Chuck appeared.
It showed his size, his stats, and-most surprising of all-his location.
Chuck was swimming just off the coast of northern Indonesia.
The same waters where, years ago, I had stopped on my global hitchhiking-by-sailboat…
