Whale Shark Swim

 

It's always a swim. Diving with the whale sharks is not permitted. You are equipped with mask, snorkel, and fins, and those who opt to jump in, will be rewarded with a unique experience. Many others, maybe most, from what I saw, did observe the spectacle from the safety of the boat. When you are in the water, in addition to the whale sharks, you will see sting rays of all sizes, smaller fish, as well as the occasional shark, as I did. Mine came up from the deep, we looked at each other, it may have been about 10 feet beneath my fins, maybe 6-7 feet long, then it turned and dove back down into the darkness.

 

 

The season starts in late May and goes through all of summer. The large migrating fish follow the Gulf Stream, warm and rich in nutrients that in turn feed the small orginisms the whale sharks feed on, such as krill, plankton, and micro algae. On this diet they may grow to a lenght of 46ft, though mostly these are smaller.

 

In an ideal world, were you permitted to dive, this is what you might see. This may have been taken illegaly, or by a specially authorized diver, or with a remotely triggered camera that was suspended below a snorkler. I found this image on the Internet under whale shark images. As much as I liked the crew on my boat, were I to do this again, I would look for a taller ship, so that I could take pictures from a higher vantage point, and I also would be in the water with a waterproof camera.

 

The large fish come by in groups and you can get the idea of the situation from this picture, three snorklers and several whale sharks.

 

 

You can make out the mouth and the nostrils here
I had gotten more than my share of the in water encounter, since only four of the people in my boat went in, and I wanted to take some pictures from deck, and the captain steered the boat next to one of the benign behemoths.

 

The snorkeling guide and the captain and one of the other passengers

 
And, leaving the snorkeling area, two hours later we were almost back in Cancun, but first we made a lunch stop here at the lovely Islas De Las Mujeres, where after a while all of the boats arrived, that were with us at the whale shark swim site. The water was warm, clear, and shallow.

 

Back at the marina, next to the ferry terminal for the Islas De Las Mujeres (you can see it on the horizon), my boat departing to wherever they go, off on the left side, and I was driven to the local ADO station and given a ticket back to Tulum. The end of a fabulous day.

 

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