Cozumel to Holbox (whale sharks) in a day--report

[palisade22]

We just got back from an 8 day trip. We did Holbox, but not through any tour. All the Ops seem to charge around $185 per person to get you from Playa to Holbox and back. If you just do the excursion from Holbox itself locally, it's $80 - $100. So, you can save around $200 if you get to Holbox yourself, and have a much more relaxed time, and of course get to experience Holbox.

We left Cozumel on Friday morning, took the ferry to Playa. We had already set up a rental car for $30 a day from National, about 4 or 5 blocks in town from the ferry. We then drove to Holbox. It only takes between 2 - 2.5 hours to get to Chiquila. I drove 120 km/hour most of the way. It is a fun drive. You see some crazy poverty in some of the towns along the way. We took the ferry from Chiquila to Holbox, and got a nice room from Casa Iguana for $75 for the night.

We explored the town that night, hung out on the pretty beaches, and had fun. Holbox is an interesting place to say the least. I'm glad we got to spend a night there. In the morning, we got up at 7:30 and went right out to meet our party. We left the dock at 8:00am.

We saw numerous dolphins cresting and jumping on the way out, and I think I saw a manta ray jump as well. We only were able to find one whale shark to park with, but he swam with us at the surface for quite a while and I got some great video as I swam along with him. When taking the video, I had to swim as fast as I could (using just my legs -- my arms were holding the camera), but I was able to keep up with him for about 3 minutes before I got tired and fell back. He was about 3ft under the surface, directly below me the whole time. So yes, take your cameras -- you would be remiss not to!!!

Once we were done, we checked out of our room, and missed the latest ferry by a few minutes. We then paid a local fisherman along with some other locals to take us back across. It was faster and just as cheap as the ferry, plus more fun of course. We saved over an hour of time doing that. Got back to Cozumel in time for a late dinner.

We wore our wetsuits. No lifejackets needed for my wife or me. No hassle, no questions asked.

FYI, we went through this Op:
holboxwhalesharktours dot com (sorry, it won't let me post a URL yet)

In the end, we spent $60 for 2 days of car rental, $200 for our tour for both of us, and $75 for our room. So, $335 total, or $35 less than doing the full out tour from an Op from Cozumel. And, we didn't have to get up at 4am to get across to Playa, and we had a fun adventure going to Holbox ourselves. If you're an adventurous soul and can afford the extra day to do that, I would highly recommend doing it that way.

Jeff

 

[PARADISE HUNTER]

Thanks. Very useful information.

Once you found the sharks, how long did you stay with them? Were there any other boats around?

PH

 

[marcus8]

that's odd, we were allowed to use wet suits as buoyancy devices as well. It's so much easier to swim in than a life preserver(at least the 3mm shorty I was using), and you're right, they are faster than they look at first.

Thanks for the report.

 

[1KWIK_69]

Glad you had a great time! I was wondering if the season had ended there yet. We went in late July and did the Isla Contoy day trip with Eco Colors instead of the longer trip to Holbox and there were whalesharks in every direction. The hardest part was deciding which one to try and approach. Our tour from Playa was $185 total and they let us use wetsuits in the water. They only required life jackets while the boat was under way. It was a much longer day for us with the extra early ferry and the ride in the suburban. If we do it again, we might opt for the flight like you did.

 

[Christi]

Hey Christi,
This is something that Peggy and I may be interested in doing on our non-dive day. What would you recommend?

It is getting late in the season already, so by the time you get here it may be too late. I am going to be trying it from Isla Mujeres next week - so I'll let you know how that is vs. Holbox (which I've done a dozen + times).

Best season is July - August - but sometimes they hang around a little longer

 

[jayjoans]

We had to hunt around to find the 2 we saw, we heard reports that even a week ago there were more than you could shake a stick at.

There were probably 6 boats around both sharks, and I'd say you're with them for about 2-3 minutes at a time since they just glide away as you are furiously kicking on the surface trying to keep up. They go up and down about 30' at a time in a slow undulating fashion. If you drop in on one and stay with it, it will descend and then come back up under you again. I've heard that sometimes they are moving much slower, we just happened to hit a couple of speedsters.

 

[Tjack]

Can you do SCUBA with the Whale Sharks off of Isla Mujeres? Or is it snorkel only like Holbox?

 

[jayjoans]

In the end, we spent $60 for 2 days of car rental, $200 for our tour for both of us, and $75 for our room. So, $335 total, or $35 less than doing the full out tour from an Op from Cozumel. And, we didn't have to get up at 4am to get across to Playa, and we had a fun adventure going to Holbox ourselves. If you're an adventurous soul and can afford the extra day to do that, I would highly recommend doing it that way.

Jeff

Jeff- Sounds like a nice trip! To make sure you're apples to apples though, you left out gas for the car, ferry fare to and from Cozumel and Chiquila to Holbox, and 2 days worth of food. I'd guess you went through almost a tank of gas for $30, $48 of CZM-PDC ferry fare, $X ferry fare from Chiquila to Holbox and maybe 3 meals out at $20 each/$60? That $335 becomes $475 pretty easily all things considered, and $175 more than attaching to an early morning tour from Cozumel if your only goal is to swim with the sharks.

Certainly there is value to driving it yourself if that interests you, and certainly there is value in staying in Holbox for the night if that interests you.

I just noticed this provider that is offering a flight to and from Cozumel to Holbox combined with a whale shark tour for up to 5 people for only $625, that looks like a SCREAMING deal at only $125 per person if you have 5 in your group. Heck, even if you had 3 on the plane it's less expensive than what I paid...
Whale Shark Tours by Holbox Tours & Travel
(that's the link that Jeff couldn't post above)

 

[palisade22]

Jeff- Sounds like a nice trip! To make sure you're apples to apples though, you left out gas for the car, ferry fare to and from Cozumel and Chiquila to Holbox, and 2 days worth of food. I'd guess you went through almost a tank of gas for $30, $48 of CZM-PDC ferry fare, $X ferry fare from Chiquila to Holbox and maybe 3 meals out at $20 each/$60? That $335 becomes $475 pretty easily all things considered, and $175 more than attaching to an early morning tour from Cozumel if your only goal is to swim with the sharks.

Certainly there is value to driving it yourself if that interests you, and certainly there is value in staying in Holbox for the night if that interests you.

I just noticed this provider that is offering a flight to and from Cozumel to Holbox combined with a whale shark tour for up to 5 people for only $625, that looks like a SCREAMING deal at only $125 per person if you have 5 in your group. Heck, even if you had 3 on the plane it's less expensive than what I paid...

Well, ferry to/from Cozumel isn't included in any of the packages that I saw. They expect you to get your butt to Playa by 5:45am on your own. So ferry wise, it was just $18 extra to/from Holbox for 2 (assuming the package tours cover this for you). Gas wise, it was $18 even (just over half a tank, believe it or not). We had a late breakfast before we left, then had dinner in Holbox. That was $25 total I think. We were given breakfast and lunch on the tour, then had dinner back in Cozumel. But you have to eat regardless, don't you? Whether you're in Cozumel or Holbox, unless you're doing AI I suppose.

Anyway, so I guess that's $36 - $61 more tops, depending on how you value food.

Had we had a group to make it affordable, the plane scenario sounds like a lot of fun too.

 

[diving-community-site]

Dear Jayjoans (using your forum nickname instead of your name hope is OK)

I would like to thank you on behalf of Duende Tours (the provider that brought you to the Whale Sharks) for your great report. We have just started to provide Whale Shark tours by air this year 2009 and we are trying our best to give divers a fast option to see the Whale Sharks instead of wasting time traveling by land.

We have already showed your report to all providers involved in this tour to improve our operation. Bigger fins will be included on boats along with all advice you recommend. They will make part of our information given to new customers. Thanks

It was really great to have you with us. We particularly remember you flying the Cessna 206 and remembering when you used to have your own plane with your dad. We hope to have more people like you and your wife on this tour next year.

Dive Safe and Enjoy

Duende Tours
Adventure Travel | Duende Tours