Up close and personal with giant fish

Face to face with fish bigger than me, maybe 20 of them. Wow. I was swimming along in water about 20 feet deep, and there they were, all around me. Double wow. Not every one bigger than me, but all of them 4-6 feet long, maybe more. Shiny silver tarpon, milling around. They let me come almost within touching distance, then slipped slowly away.

I hung around with them for 5 or 10 minutes as they slowy moved into deeper water and spread out. It was an amazing sight, and a little intimidating.

What else? Just a nurse shark, a goliath grouper (I think) a big jack of some kind, and lots of smaller fish. In warm water, it's a trip to make a Seattle guy happy.

Seems like the fish were bigger than the last two times I was here, more than 5 years ago. Hmmm...I wonder why?

Where was this great trip? I'll award a free lifetime subscription to blogfish to the first correct answer. And another free lifetime subscription to anyone who can name the ocean conservation luminaries I was with, pictured below.