the deep while snorkelling in Hawaii.

He swam into the path of a 30-foot whale shark -- and immediately began taking photos.

"I just couldn't believe it. These whale sharks are incredibly rare,'' Mr.

Gale, of Watlington Road, Devonshire, said last week.

Mr. Gale was with a group of divers when his close encounter occurred off Maui, a small Hawaiian island.

The dive site is an extinct volcano, the crater of which forms a reef.

"The whale shark was a baby one and very gentle. It spent about an hour with us, and some of us even hitched a ride on it,'' he said.

Mr. Gale, who was on holiday with his wife Mrs. Fiona Gale, said he was never intimidated by the huge size of the creature.

Whale sharks grow to 40 or 50 feet, and feed on plankton, he said.

WHALE OF A TIME -- One of Stephen Gale's photographs of the whale shark he encountered off Hawaii.