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

[Christi]

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

Have you considered offering the Whale Shark tour via air to Isla Mujeres? They do have an airstrip like Holbox and depending on which area the whale sharks are closer to - this may allow you to provide an even more exceptional and convenient service to your guests.

 

[diving-community-site]

Hi Christi

I went to the Whale Sharks from Isla Mujeres 4 times. Water is clearest than at Holbox, however my last experience on Isla Mujeres was really threatening and hostile.

We paid a small Hotel near the ferry called Maria Jose. You can see where is located on this map (#19) Hotel Map of Isla Mujeres, Centro (if you ever go to Isla Mujeres avoid using this hotel at all cost please). As we where planning to stay most of the time enjoying the nice weather and whale sharks hotel was just the place where to sleep; we just paid first hotel on the way. We went to the room to leave our bags and I used the bathroom and noticed that on the shower drain there where few cigarette tips. Probably last customers used it as an astray and cleaning person did not find them. As I do not smoke and do not like cigarette smell, I went downstairs and asked the receptionist to take care of it, but he answered that cleaning lady was already out for the day and he could not do anything. I insisted and receptionist went to ask the owner next door. Owner, a woman on her fifties came to me and said same as receptionist told me, cleaning lady was no longer there. I insisted again, that was not my problem, I just needed someone to clean the shower and I would stay, but if they could not do it I will rather prefer to move into another hotel and needed my money back. At that moment there was also the owner husband and her father who pulled me out of the building and started trying punching me on the face followed by her husband. They kept trying to punch me for a couple blocks while I walked backward with my arms extended toward them avoiding their strikes. I could not believe what was happening. The hotel owner father and her husband where totally drunk and trying to hurt me because I asked to have my bathroom cleaned. After a couple of blocks they stop and I had time to find the police.

Police station was empty on Sunday, and I had to look all over town to find them. I finally found 2 police men at the hospital that agreed to come with me to the hotel. When we arrived the owners husband and father never showed up, only the woman who refused to refund our money back even in front of police men. We where 2 couple and paid 700 pesos that they kept. I never felt so bad in my whole life been robbed and threatened like that.

Even after this really scary event we stayed at Isla Mujeres dreaming to have a great Whale Shark experience. We said to ourselves, it was just a bad incident with drunken people. We went to another hotel, explained what happened to us and new owner promised he will not let anyone harm us on his place. We trusted him and I went to the street looking for an old friend who lives at Isla Mujeres and with who I had already visited the Whale Sharks in previous occasions. Next day we took the tour with him but experience was not as I expected it. My pseudo friend was taking us 4 along with 6 more people from his family. He was more concerned about showing his family he was the BIG MACHO guy with us than providing us with a nice experience. 4 hrs of hearing him talk about him and him and him again.

Bottom line about Isla Mujeres: I think the island is now overpopulated; tourism competition has also grown too much making providers lower their prices to compete, but making quality very hard to predict. Most of service providers consider tourists as easy money making where quality standards are not demanded by authorities.

I know it is not good to generalize my opinion, as there are for sure good service providers on Isla Mujeres paying the consequences of some other bad providers’ actions. However in the mean time we find these good providers I prefer to offer our clients with what we consider to be the best option for them.

Answering your question: Offering our guests to fly to Isla mujeres is not an option for us. We rather prefer to fly to Holbox, approximately same flying time from Cozumel (35 min.). Holbox people are really relax, ambience very nice, never threatening. Distance from peer to Sharks (around Cabo Catoche) is about the same as from Isla Mujeres (around isla Contoy). It is true that water at Holbox is less clear than at Isla Mujeres, but you also see many other animals on the way, big turtles, rays, dolphins. As on the gulf side there is more food in the water, the ecosystem holds lot more wildlife.

I feel is safer and more enjoyable experience to bring our passengers to Holbox and they all agree on it. It is bad to see Isla Mujeres grow into something grotesque now. This place used to be as beautiful as Holbox before.


Ps Note:

I already researched about this Maria Jose hotel, there are several awful stories. You can read. “Isla Mujeres: Cuban received gunshot at Maria Jose hotel”. “Balean a otro cubano; ahora en Isla Mujeres” Cancún: Marzo 2008 Archivos Cuban mafia involved.

The father of the Maria Jose hotel owner used to be the law procurator at Isla Mujeres many years ago; this guy does not respect the law. Hotel should be closed as it is a big threat to the whole tourism industry and a big direct menace to tourists. The problem is I do not know where to ask for it. Local Isla Mujeres Police seams to avoid any confrontation with these people, but someone should do it.

 

[Christi]

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience at one particular hotel in Isla Mujeres, but I'm not sure how that has anything to do with the whale shark tour offerings, and I'm not sure how you can judge an entire island based one hotel (there are certainly some excellent hotel options there) - except that you simply prefer Holbox over Isla Mujeres. That is certainly your option, but I had a very positive experience in Isla Mujeres.

I have been to Holbox numerous times and swam with the whale sharks there - and have stayed in hotels there from the very nice 5* hotel there to the very cheap posadas.

I've now also spent 10 days on Isla Mujeres and swam with the whale sharks there (last week). My experience was completely different than yours. We had no problems with the service, people, safety, or anything else while we were in Isla Mujeres - and our hotel/condo (Ixchel Beach Hotel) was perfect for us in every way as well. In fact, our 5 night trip turned into a 10 night trip because we loved the island so much. I found it to be a beautiful island - in fact, it reminds me of how Cozumel was 15 years ago.

I do need to correct you on one thing regarding the whale sharks tours in Isla Mujeres vs. Holbox. The boat ride in Holbox is no less than 45 minutes, usually more than an hour. Our boat ride in Isla Mujeres was less than 30 minutes until we saw at least 25 whale sharks. The tours in Isla are also regulated by Semarnat (just like they are in Holbox) and the prices are also regulated - so you don't have to worry about finding the best priced operator - they are all the same price.

I'm sorry you didn't have the same wonderful experience in Isla Mujeres that I did.

Hi Christi

I went to the Whale Sharks from Isla Mujeres 4 times. Water is clearest than at Holbox, however my last experience on Isla Mujeres was really threatening and hostile.

We paid a small Hotel near the ferry called Maria Jose. You can see where is located on this map (#19) Hotel Map of Isla Mujeres, Centro (if you ever go to Isla Mujeres avoid using this hotel at all cost please). As we where planning to stay most of the time enjoying the nice weather and whale sharks hotel was just the place where to sleep; we just paid first hotel on the way. We went to the room to leave our bags and I used the bathroom and noticed that on the shower drain there where few cigarette tips. Probably last customers used it as an astray and cleaning person did not find them. As I do not smoke and do not like cigarette smell, I went downstairs and asked the receptionist to take care of it, but he answered that cleaning lady was already out for the day and he could not do anything. I insisted and receptionist went to ask the owner next door. Owner, a woman on her fifties came to me and said same as receptionist told me, cleaning lady was no longer there. I insisted again, that was not my problem, I just needed someone to clean the shower and I would stay, but if they could not do it I will rather prefer to move into another hotel and needed my money back. At that moment there was also the owner husband and her father who pulled me out of the building and started trying punching me on the face followed by her husband. They kept trying to punch me for a couple blocks while I walked backward with my arms extended toward them avoiding their strikes. I could not believe what was happening. The hotel owner father and her husband where totally drunk and trying to hurt me because I asked to have my bathroom cleaned. After a couple of blocks they stop and I had time to find the police.

Police station was empty on Sunday, and I had to look all over town to find them. I finally found 2 police men at the hospital that agreed to come with me to the hotel. When we arrived the owners husband and father never showed up, only the woman who refused to refund our money back even in front of police men. We where 2 couple and paid 700 pesos that they kept. I never felt so bad in my whole life been robbed and threatened like that.

Even after this really scary event we stayed at Isla Mujeres dreaming to have a great Whale Shark experience. We said to ourselves, it was just a bad incident with drunken people. We went to another hotel, explained what happened to us and new owner promised he will not let anyone harm us on his place. We trusted him and I went to the street looking for an old friend who lives at Isla Mujeres and with who I had already visited the Whale Sharks in previous occasions. Next day we took the tour with him but experience was not as I expected it. My pseudo friend was taking us 4 along with 6 more people from his family. He was more concerned about showing his family he was the BIG MACHO guy with us than providing us with a nice experience. 4 hrs of hearing him talk about him and him and him again.

Bottom line about Isla Mujeres: I think the island is now overpopulated; tourism competition has also grown too much making providers lower their prices to compete, but making quality very hard to predict. Most of service providers consider tourists as easy money making where quality standards are not demanded by authorities.

I know it is not good to generalize my opinion, as there are for sure good service providers on Isla Mujeres paying the consequences of some other bad providers’ actions. However in the mean time we find these good providers I prefer to offer our clients with what we consider to be the best option for them.

Answering your question: Offering our guests to fly to Isla mujeres is not an option for us. We rather prefer to fly to Holbox, approximately same flying time from Cozumel (35 min.). Holbox people are really relax, ambience very nice, never threatening. Distance from peer to Sharks (around Cabo Catoche) is about the same as from Isla Mujeres (around isla Contoy). It is true that water at Holbox is less clear than at Isla Mujeres, but you also see many other animals on the way, big turtles, rays, dolphins. As on the gulf side there is more food in the water, the ecosystem holds lot more wildlife.

I feel is safer and more enjoyable experience to bring our passengers to Holbox and they all agree on it. It is bad to see Isla Mujeres grow into something grotesque now. This place used to be as beautiful as Holbox before.


Ps Note:

I already researched about this Maria Jose hotel, there are several awful stories. You can read. “Isla Mujeres: Cuban received gunshot at Maria Jose hotel”. “Balean a otro cubano; ahora en Isla Mujeres” Cancún: Marzo 2008 Archivos Cuban mafia involved.

The father of the Maria Jose hotel owner used to be the law procurator at Isla Mujeres many years ago; this guy does not respect the law. Hotel should be closed as it is a big threat to the whole tourism industry and a big direct menace to tourists. The problem is I do not know where to ask for it. Local Isla Mujeres Police seams to avoid any confrontation with these people, but someone should do it.

 

[diving-community-site]

Hi Christi

Thanks for replying to my post. I think there is not such a thing as something better than other for everyone. We all have different experiences making impossible to evaluate same places on the same way.

I like that your experience in Isla Mujeres has never been threatening or hostile, but the opposite helping you extend your stay there. However I can only talk from what I know. I have been to Isla Mujeres many times myself too and my opinion is that the island it is getting overpopulated, not only by the people that stays on the island, but by the many people that visit from Cancun just for the day. I do not particularly like crowded places and I have seen Isla Mujeres full of people, especially in summer time. Same amount of people in Cozumel will never look like a big crowd as we can fit lot more people here.

It is true that my experience with a single Hotel and my pseudo friend that took us to the Whale Sharks can not be used to judge the rest of providers on the island. I am sure as I mentioned on my first post, that there are other great providers that do not deserve a wrong opinion based on the bad actions of a couple of them.

Concerning your correction about boat ride to Whale Sharks, it really changes depending where the food is found. Whale Sharks are always moving from place to place looking best place to eat. It could happen to ride 1 hr from Isla Mujeres when you only need 30 min. from Holbox. You can also spot above 25 animals at Holbox, but the most important is the amount of boats next to you. You can be next to 25 animals but if you have 20 boats and 100 people in the water you won’t like it. I know as a fact that there are lots more boats on Isla Mujeres area as you also see boats from Cancun, something that does not happen around Holbox area where you only see the people from Holbox.

If you are really crazy about Whale Sharks as I am, the best is to stay at Holbox or Isla Mujeres for few days and have daily tours to the Whale Sharks. Everyday is a different experience and the more days you have to do it, the more rewarded you will be.

I also advice to camp around Cabo Catoche or at Isla Contoy, that way you will be closer to the action. Beside from watching the Whale Sharks you can also do other activities, like snorkeling on the mangroves, diving the many reefs on the area, bird watching. We will provide this option next year with big tents, nice mats and all food included. We can customize the experience to your eating needs and special requirements.

Concerning regulations from Semarnat, it was Holbox who first started with the Whale Shark tours more than 10 years ago and who first worked on regulations on the whole Q. Roo. I feel them really concerned about healthy animal interaction and preserving their habitat. Isla Mujeres just got into regulations 2 years ago, I feel for instance, maybe it is just a vague impression, that they take rules to the extreme when you have to use a very thick and uncomfortable live jacket in the water (that’s what happened to me with my pseudo friend and whale shark provider). Live jackets in this case are not there only to safe your live but to avoid you from going under the whale sharks and swimming too close to them. However I feel the most important has to do with making understand passengers how to behave with the Whale Sharks, if you have good guides doing their job, you do not need to make people wear uncomfortable live jackets when they can have their on wetsuits.

Summarizing Christi, I love that you had a great time on both Holbox and Isla Mujeres. I also like a lot that you took some time to answer my post and become friends.

Wish you the best
Ismael M.
Duende Tours
Adventure Travel | Duende Tours

 

[cozumelian]

There's a good discussion comparing the whale shark trip by land or air here too: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/mexico/346047-whale-sharks-cozumel-isla-m-word-about-logistics.html

 

[CozumelAntonio]

... :-x

 

[Ms. Ann Thrope]

Great thread. Thanks for the great report, and also for the followup overland reports, along with the Isla Mujeres info. Nice to know how well that plane option worked out.

We visited Holbox the summer before last as part of a slightly longer trip, so we were happy to take the s-l-o-w, crowded cheap bus from Playa to Chiquila, complete with ladies who came aboard to sell some very delicious-looking banana-leaf tamales. We stayed three nights at a sort of pretty, somewhat expensive little hotel that had what may have been the last room on the island.

We were supposed to meet up with an operation that had been recommended to us by our Coz dive operator and was supposed to be expecting us, but there was a mixup, so we ended up allowing our hotel to put us on their operator's boat. From comparing notes with people who took the boat we were supposed to be on, I wish our original plan would have worked out, but it was all good. Found "our" whaleshark quickly after a pretty boat ride (dolphins en route). Got in the water 2.5 times, plus once with a manta. No one made me put on a lifejacket, though I was only wearing a diveskin. We brought our own fins etc. Pretty much the English situation was, "Lady, lady, lady---go, go, go!" It all went by very fast. Before we knew it, they were handing us little sandwiches and heading back. Seriously--one more turn in the water would have been great.

I really ended up liking was the island itself, along with all of the impossibly fresh fish meals I ordered. I would go back just to eat. Very laid back.

If I were to do it again, I'd:
* Make my hotel reservations earlier (I think I did it about three weeks ahead of time, and I took the only room I could find). There were apparently no rooms left whatsoever on the island when we arrived, judging by the groups of young tourists we saw hiking hotel to hotel, Lonely Planet in hand, looks of concern on their faces, searching for accommodations.

* Maybe arrange for a golf cart ahead of time--we tried to rent from a few places, and they were all out. It would have been nice to go beyond where our feet would take us.

* Nail down my whaleshark operator with more certainty.

* Maybe spend even another day or two.

Things that may have changed in the last two years but could prove handy if you're pondering the bus:

When I was doing my research, all the sources said you had to board the bus to Chiquila in Cancun. Was happy to see that it actually started its route in Playa. But the PDC-Cancun part was slow, lots of stops to pick up people on their way to work.

Coming back, it took a bit of attention to figure out where in Chiquila to buy the return bus ticket. It ended up being a little nondescript stand a few yards back from the pier with a little paper ticket sign done in pencil and taped to an inside wall. Not so very obvious.

 

[Cmaustin]

I did the whale sharks a July 24th from coz. we took the 6am ferry and then took a van to cancun where we got on a boat and were at the sharks in about 45mins. The day we went there was over 100 whale sharks on the surface it was awesome. we used our wetsuits and never had to use the life vests. After the swim the captain took us to a snorkel spot off the coast of I.M where the captain made fresh ceviche. I think we were back at the Cozumel Palace by 4pm just in time to get lunch. Vis was great and we got to snorkel with some dolphins along with the whale sharks. All for 175USD each not including ferry.

 

[DandyDon]

We brought our own masks, and wish we had brought our own fins. The fins this particular boat operator provided were a bit sketchy.

Yep, take your own masks, fins, snorkel. We used snorkel vests rather than wetsuits or life vests. Got to hand it to the guides that make every swim with every pair of tourists!

Cameras are actually a huge hassle, unless you find a shark that is virtually still. The ones we saw were moving pretty fast and it takes all you've got to keep up.

Change settings to video!

Thanks for the report. The flying option makes a whaleshark tour feasible for us. It would be hard for us to give up 2 or 3 days of diving for 1 day of swimming with the whalesharks.

If you just want to swim with them one day, it's certainly an option, but you certainly do not have to give up days of diving for one day of whale sharks...

Dive the last morning in Coz, having your bags packed;

Take an early afternoon ferry to PDC, drive to Chiquila in less than 3 hours as palisade explained. Better maps are available than when we did it, but do not take the hiway from Cancun airport as that is a toll road to Valladolid; we did, so did extra exploring - but you can go thru Cancun city or by way of Coba and make it to the Holbox ferry pretty early. Fortunately for our exploration, several cafes were open late, and it's a wonderfully quaint town - altho that may change quickly with it popularity.

After one night in Holbox and an early boat, you can get in several snorkels and still get back to town not long after lunch. You could arrange late check out, shower, take a private boat back to Chiquila, and be at the Cancun airport in time for some later flights - or spend a second night in the lovely town and go home the next morning.​

We did 3 nights, 2 days of snorkeling, then flew out of Cancun. Easyway Easy Way Cancun Car Rental: your Cancun Airport Rental Car does not charge a drop charge but get detailed directions to their Cancun airport office.

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

Not allowed, and you couldn't keep up with them anyway. They are filter feeders that generally skim the surface so there is not reason for scuba particularly.

 

[1KWIK_69]

I did the whale sharks a July 24th from coz. we took the 6am ferry and then took a van to cancun where we got on a boat and were at the sharks in about 45mins. The day we went there was over 100 whale sharks on the surface it was awesome. we used our wetsuits and never had to use the life vests. After the swim the captain took us to a snorkel spot off the coast of I.M where the captain made fresh ceviche. I think we were back at the Cozumel Palace by 4pm just in time to get lunch. Vis was great and we got to snorkel with some dolphins along with the whale sharks. All for 175USD each not including ferry.

Was your trip with Eco Tours? It sounds just like our experience with them last year. It was well worth the money for such an amazing trip! Why anyone would want to spend two days getting to and from Holbox to see whale sharks in green murkey gulf water when they can see just as many in much clearer water near Isla Contoy with just a one day round trip from CZM, I'll never understand. I even saw a group of five mantas when I was chasing one of the whale sharks! And the Ceviche was really good too! It was also really cool not having to wear a life jacket as long as we had our wet suits. It adds a lot to the experience if you can swim down with them! I've heard that a lot of the companies that offer these tours require you to wear a life jacket. I'm glad Eco Tours doesn't.