Rare sighting of whale shark thrills scuba divers off Visakhapatnam

In a rare and memorable marine encounter, a team of scuba divers from Dive Adda spotted a whale shark off the Chinna Rushikonda on Sunday (January 18, 2026) morning. The sighting occurred as a group of scuba diving instructors, accompanied by two students, was returning from a routine diving session in the waters off Visakhapatnam.

The whale shark, the largest fish species in the world and listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, was estimated to be about 10 metres long. According to the divers, the gentle giant was calmly following a school of fish when it came into view, allowing for a brief but close encounter underwater.

Bhadram Rasamsetty, an ex-naval officer and founder of Dive Adda, said that this was the first time a whale shark had been sighted so closely by scuba divers off Visakhapatnam. “It was about 100 m from the coast and appeared unperturbed by our presence. We could view it for about five minutes before it moved gracefully, disappearing into deeper waters,” said Vysakh Sivarajan, scuba diving instructor at Dive Adda. While whale shark strandings have been reported intermittently along the Visakhapatnam coastline over the years, live sightings at sea remain extremely rare.