A WHALE OF A TALE: From Destin to Navarre, whale shark thrills anglers (UPDATED with NEW PHOTOS)

Although Rebecca Driver had a nice grouper in hand, the story of the day was what they saw while fishing aboard the Silver King with Capt. Mike Parker.

In addition to the grouper, six king mackerel and the dozen red snapper, the group from Houston, Texas, spotted a 30-foot whale shark.

To see photos of the shark sighting, click here.

Capt. Parker said they followed the whale shark for about 45 minutes giving the Texas folks time to take plenty of photos.

"It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime things," he said.

Later, what was likely the same whale shark was spotted in Navarre. Pandora Beal offers this report:

"Whale Shark Sighting while drift fishing very early Tuesday morning, Aug. 4th. We sighted a Whale Shark l0 miles South of Navarre. The large whale shark was as big as our 20-foot boat "Liquid Prescription", owned by Cory Holland of Navarre. The Whale Shark approached the boat and seemed to be fascinated with the outboard motors, he repeatedly nuzzled the motors for several seconds and then would slowly circle the boat and nuzzle the motors again. The Whale Shark stayed very close to the boat for approximately 45 minutes and was relaxed enough to let all of us pet him. He was very curious! "WHAT A FISHING DAY TO REMEMBER"

To see photos from the Navarre sighting, click here.

According to the Dictionary of Fishes, the average whale shark is about 20 feet. They are brownish or greyish in color. The head and body is covered with round white or yellow spots. It has a marble appearance and is the largest fish in the sea.

A whale shark is a surface swimmer and feeder, but is not harmful to man.

For catch-of-the-day photos on Thursday, click here.