Whale Shark Jack

CHAPTER 1

Today, they’ll skim over the blue-greenwaves of the Indian Ocean, following a whale shark they’ve named Bruce on part of his migration from Indonesia to the Ningaloo Reef, off the coast of Western Australia.
Dad turns to Mum, who stands in the middle of the boat beside the tall mast that reaches high into the sky. A long pole called the boom sticks out from it sideways, with the mainsail wrapped neatly around it like a giant rolled-upleaf. ‘Captain Nita?
There’s a beautiful northerly coming in. It’d be criminal not to take advantage of it.’
Mum laughs, because Dad is obsessed with the wind. To him, every breeze is like a free ticket across the ocean. If it’s blowing just right, the sails catch it and the boat tears along by itself, saving fuel and making the journey faster. ‘Better for the environment and better for us,’ he always says.
‘I’m good to go, Captain Marcus,’ Mum says. Dad steps on a pedal and the anchor lifts from the sea floor with a mechanical whirring. ‘Anchor’s away.’ Mum tugs on the halyard rope and the mainsail starts to lift, uncurling from the boom and rising up the mast until it’s crisp and clean against the brilliant azure sky. ‘Sail’s out!’
‘Bear away, Captain S!’ Dad calls. Putting her whole body weight into it, Sarah turns the wheel. The sail catches the breeze with a satisfying snap, and Sarah feels the boat come alive beneath her feet, gathering speed as they surge forward. Her sun-bleached hair flies everywhere and she grins into the salty air. Life does not get better than this.
At seven years old, Sarah can tie twelve different types of knots with her eyes closed, hold her breath underwater for two minutes, and recognise over twenty-four whale sharks just by sight. She has swum among tiger sharks, drifted alongside ancient sea turtles, and raced through clear blue water beneath the wings of manta rays.
She’s never been to a shopping mall, a movie theatre or a McDonald’s. But she’s visited coral reefs that look like underwater cities and floated above blue trenches so deep that the ocean floor disappears into nothing but mystery. Sarah lives on a boat called Playground, sailing around the world with her parents, who are marine biologists studying whale sharks.
Playground is a catamaran, which means she looks a bit like two skinny boats joined together by a deck stretched across the top, making her wide and steady. Like all boats, Playground is called ‘she’ because of an old sailing tradition that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years.
Inside, there are two levels. Downstairs on the left, or port side, is Sarah’s little cabin, with its round window overlooking the sea, and jumble of bedclothes and pyjamas that she never quite manages to tidy up, despite the number of times she’s asked. Next to that is the tiny bathroom, where the shower never gets used because why would you shower when you can just jump in the ocean to clean off? Mum and Dad’s cabin is tucked into the other hull on the starboard side, next to their small research nook, which is home to a desk, chair, and a lot of maps, academic papers, and data print-outs. Upstairs, a built-in table takes up most of the space, but there’s also a compact kitchen and lots of storage cupboards, because everything needs to be put away or tied down so it doesn’t go flying when the sea gets rough. Basically, there’s just enough space for Sarah, Mum and Dad to sleep, cook and work. Sarah doesn’t mind sleeping and cooking, but the schoolwork part she could definitely do without.
Outside on the deck they store dive tanks, surfboards, and all the gear for tagging whale sharks. In the middle is the helm, where the captain steers the boat using either the wheel or autopilot, which is like cruise control for the ocean. Nearby is a shaded table where the family eat most of their meals, gazing out over the endless ocean. At the stern, the back of the boat, an aluminium dinghy hangs suspended from metal poles when it’s not in the water. And up the front at the bow, there’s a trampoline net where Sarah loves to lie and watch the water rush beneath her.
Playground might not be the fanciest boat on the water, but she’s the most perfect home Sarah can imagine because she can take them anywhere the whale sharks go. Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the ocean. The ‘whale’ part of their name is misleading though because they’re not whales at all, just enormous sharks. Like all sharks, they breathe through gills and have bendy cartilage instead of bones.
And no, they don’t eat people! Even though they can grow longer than a bus, they are about as dangerous as a goldfish. When they’re hungry they open their huge mouths and drift through the water, filtering plankton and tiny fish. Their backs are freckled in white spots, as if someone flicked a paint brush across them, and they glide through the sea with a slow, steady grace. But here’s the thing: whale sharks are endangered. Every year there are fewer of them. If nothing changes, one day they could be gone forever. That’s why people like Sarah and her parents work so hard to protect them, to make sure these gentle giants can keep cruising the ocean for generations to come.

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The family sail through the day, taking turns at the wheel, and by late afternoon they’ve reached their destination. If you pointed on a map it would look like nothing, just a random spot in the middle of the ocean between Singapore and Australia. But if you ever visited, you’d see tiny islands of pure white sand that seem to float in the water like dollops of vanilla ice cream. And below the surface, that’s where things really come to life. ‘Can we go snorkelling?’ Sarah asks, windblown and restless after the long day sailing. ‘I’ll take you a bit later,’ Dad says. ‘After we’ve set the equipment up.’
‘You can help label the test tubes if you want,’ Mum says.
Sarah often helps them with their research, but the setting up and packing away bits are kind of boring. She likes the stuff where she gets to actually do something. Like dive down with Dad’s underwater camera and take photos. Or help assemble the waterproof trackers that her parents invented so they can better understand how to protect the whale sharks.
Instead, Sarah heads for the back of the boat and sits with her legs in the water. She closes her eyes and lets the sun play patterns across her eyelids as the ocean rolls gently beneath her.
She has no idea that, underwater, something has seen her feet and is slowly making its way closer towards her.