Last month (June) I made my 2nd trip to Belize for 20 days of fun and lots of time in the water. On my first trip there 2 years ago I dove the blue hole along with Ambergris Caye reefs. At the time I had just gotten certified and new little about diving with Whale Sharks.. why I was there I overheard others on my dive trips who were heading South to Placencia in search of them. After I returned home and looked into it, diving with the whale sharks quickly became the #1 item on my bucket list.
In Placencia the whales are spotted roughly 20 miles off shore in Gladden Spit and diving is allowed. However it's not easy finding them, and they're only around for a few summer months coinciding with the cycles of the moon. I went out with Splash Dive Shop, they do 2-tank dives for whale shark tours. Splash had nice, reliable facilities, equipment and boats.
On the first dive of the day we dropped first to 40 feet, then 80 feet.. no bottom in sight.. no reefs, no reference points. Just endless blue water. This was my first dive like that and I have to say it was a little unnerving at first. We spent the whole dive swimming and swimming trying to spot one but luck wasn't on our side.. we emerged from what was probably the most boring dive I've ever had. One of the girls on the boat with us had been out on the whale shark dive tour 3-days without spotting a single one.
During our surface interval we ate lunch... and the captain/crew kept and eye out for large groups of birds in the water (apparently they're a sign of whales at the surface). Just after lunch they spotted some and we headed over to investigate. Before I knew it we were right next to an enormous whale shark and everyone was scrambling to jump in with our snorkels.
Although they look really slow it took all our energy trying to keep up with it. I also noticed right away that this huge whale shark (estimated 35 feet) was not alone. There was a large (8-10 ft) reef shark swimming next to it when it dove down 30-40 ft. Our first encounter lasted about 5 minutes and we all got back on the boat. Minutes later the crew had spotted another and we were back in the water snorkeling with another huge whale shark. After that everyone on the boat agreed to forgo the 2nd dive in favor of snorkeling and we had a total of 5 times in the water with them.
On the 3rd time in the large reef shark showed up again, this time with a 2nd one.. and they came within 5 feet of us to investigate. After roughly 100 ocean dives that was the closest I'd ever been to a shark that size and I gotta say it was almost as much of a rush as swimming with the whale sharks..
More (larger) photos on my blog:
Swimming with Whale Sharks in Belize
And GoPro videos:
[video=vimeo;71313005]https://vimeo.com/71313005[/video]
Photos were shot with Canon S95 + Fisheye Fix Housing & Fisheye Wide Angle Lens. Have a bunch of other photos from Placencia dives to share later.. probably heading out to snorkeling with whale sharks again in Isla Mujeres / Holbox Mexico next week!
In Placencia the whales are spotted roughly 20 miles off shore in Gladden Spit and diving is allowed. However it's not easy finding them, and they're only around for a few summer months coinciding with the cycles of the moon. I went out with Splash Dive Shop, they do 2-tank dives for whale shark tours. Splash had nice, reliable facilities, equipment and boats.
On the first dive of the day we dropped first to 40 feet, then 80 feet.. no bottom in sight.. no reefs, no reference points. Just endless blue water. This was my first dive like that and I have to say it was a little unnerving at first. We spent the whole dive swimming and swimming trying to spot one but luck wasn't on our side.. we emerged from what was probably the most boring dive I've ever had. One of the girls on the boat with us had been out on the whale shark dive tour 3-days without spotting a single one.
During our surface interval we ate lunch... and the captain/crew kept and eye out for large groups of birds in the water (apparently they're a sign of whales at the surface). Just after lunch they spotted some and we headed over to investigate. Before I knew it we were right next to an enormous whale shark and everyone was scrambling to jump in with our snorkels.
Although they look really slow it took all our energy trying to keep up with it. I also noticed right away that this huge whale shark (estimated 35 feet) was not alone. There was a large (8-10 ft) reef shark swimming next to it when it dove down 30-40 ft. Our first encounter lasted about 5 minutes and we all got back on the boat. Minutes later the crew had spotted another and we were back in the water snorkeling with another huge whale shark. After that everyone on the boat agreed to forgo the 2nd dive in favor of snorkeling and we had a total of 5 times in the water with them.
On the 3rd time in the large reef shark showed up again, this time with a 2nd one.. and they came within 5 feet of us to investigate. After roughly 100 ocean dives that was the closest I'd ever been to a shark that size and I gotta say it was almost as much of a rush as swimming with the whale sharks..
More (larger) photos on my blog:
Swimming with Whale Sharks in Belize
And GoPro videos:
[video=vimeo;71313005]https://vimeo.com/71313005[/video]
Photos were shot with Canon S95 + Fisheye Fix Housing & Fisheye Wide Angle Lens. Have a bunch of other photos from Placencia dives to share later.. probably heading out to snorkeling with whale sharks again in Isla Mujeres / Holbox Mexico next week!
