Best place in the world to see a whale shark October 2012?

[thankfulforlife]

i am not really sure about"properly regulated",i hear,and i have been in the philippines for the last 2 years diving,that they feed the sharks there,and my personal opinion,is that no wild animal should be fed.....
i also hear that the local government is making lots of money doing this,that why they do it......
i also know that southern leyte has whalesharks,i think around november,and up in southern luzon,at a place called donsol,there is a more eco-friendly whale-shark snorkeling time there around march-may...i think....i have been there and it was bad visability,but swam/snorkeled for over 2 hours with about 10 different sharks on one day and the next only 2....
again,oslob feeds their whalesharks,thats why they stay around....have also heard and seen photos of people ontop of them...standing and sitting....not good....

 

[ShaneAdamsz]

Sri Lanka is in the Whaling protected zone in the Indian Ocean. Mainly Mirissa, (Southern coast – Dondra Point), Trincomalee (port city in Eastern Province), and Kalpitiya (North western province) are the highly recommended locations to cite these beautiful creatures in Sri Lanka.
Maldives is a very nice place too.

 

[wsims57]

I would recommend the Socorro's in the Pacific south of Cabo. I was there last year in late Oct early November and was able to"dive" with 8 of them, once with 3 at the same time. I was on the Rocio Del Mar.

Go to this link. it is one of my encounters there.
http://www.scubatraveldude.com/gallery.html

 

[toris1968]

You can guarantee a sighting in Okinawa they have them in an openwater netted "Aquarium" you can dive

---------- Post Merged at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:45 PM ----------

And there are at least 3 of them at a time

 

[thankfulforlife]

You can guarantee a sighting in Okinawa they have them in an openwater netted "Aquarium" you can dive

gee,i don't like the concept of trapping,caging a wild animal...for profit also,its a bad thing,something i and i hope others would not support....
birds in cages,whalesharks in nets.....seeing an animal in the wild is the best way to see a wild animal,even more the better,as its way harder to see them this way.....
try donsol in southern luzon around march till may, in the philippines,or sogod bay also in the phil's in november i think....
plus ningaloo reef north western australia,i think this is march also......

 

[sipadiver]

I just went to Cendrawasih Bay in West Papua - there we dived with 4 whale sharks. As I also dived in Oslob, I think I'll give my comparison about them.

The pro points of Cendrawasih is that its remote and you don't have to battle with dozens and dozens of daytripers to swim with the whale sharks.

Cendrwasih is also 30m deep - so you don't have the danger of the whale shark tail slapping you into coral rock. The feeding area of Oslob is shallow. The arc of the whale sharks can be as wide as 160 degree. Although you exercise caution you can be struck by the tail in open sea. Probably won't hurt much but if there is coral in the equation there may be some serious pain.

The whale sharks of Cendrawasih hang around a fishermen's floating house to try and suck out fish from their nets. To prevent the sharks from damaging the nets, the fishermen will feed the sharks using their surplus fish. I applaud the West Papuan fishermen who have chosen this course of action - as opposed to chasing away or killing the sharks. These fishermen are poor earning less than $1 a day. I really admire that they chose to not kill the sharks and cut off their fins which they can sell for 10 years wages.

The problem with Cendrawasih is that it takes some effort to get there - you fly to Jakarta then catch a commuter flight to Maccassar (Manado) - Sorong (Flores), - Manokwari West Papua. This will take around 12 hours - and cost around $500 (Jakarta - Manokwari).

It takes about two days sailing to get from Manokwari to the whale shark feeding area in Cendrawasih Bay. The Bay is huge - I think its around 200km across.

 

[divewench1]

Malapascua

Dive and Swim with Whale Sharks!

 

[Allison Finch]

I also vote for Cenderawasih Bay in West Papua (NOT PNG!). Not only are the whale sharks almost always there, they mil around so that you don't have to swim to keep up with them. AND, best of all, you can scuba with them. So many areas restrict the scuba and you have to freedive only. That makes getting sunball and sillouette photos so hard. I will be heading there next fall. If there is one place in the world to see whale sharks, this is my vote.