With its mouth gaping, scooping up gobs of plankton, the basking shark looks like something straight out of a midnight science-fiction flick. But it’s that behavior that makes swimming along-side Cetorhinus maximus — the second-largest living fish at a max of about 30 feet — and photographing it so special. And if you spot basking sharks — which school as they follow plankton to the Hebrides archipelago off the northwest coast of Scotland — you’ll have the chance to see the slow-swimming fish feeding near the surface of the water. Even if you get skunked, dolphins, seals and whales are also known to frequent these north Atlantic islands.

When to go:
April to October

Where to go:

Basking Sharks Scotland

Bring This

This system cuts down on bulk but still offers a super-fast shooting speed of 11 frames per second.

Camera: Sony a6300

Lens: Sony Alpha 16mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens and fisheye converter

Housing: Nauticam NA-A6300

Dome port: Nauticam N85 4.33-inch fisheye

Price: $3,724.97
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