Georgia Aquarium whaleshark dive vs Mexico whaleshark snorkel?

[Ghosty]

Pay $350 and you can't even bring your own GoPro? That's pretty disappointing. I'm curious what their reasoning is. It makes divers tempted to approach the animals too close?

Regardless, travelling to Cancun and Isla Mujeres in a couple of months, so definitely excited for that. @qwimjim , what did you end up doing?

 

[Zef]

The Georiga aquarium dive is a fantastic experience! Its expensive but if your in the area and can afford it...it's definitely worth doing. The amount of marine life swimming around you is staggering...

Or you can save your pennies for a trip to some place like Phuket Thailand where you can do some great diving in the ocean where the amount of marine life swimming around you is staggering. I was there in 2008 and was amazed at being enveloped by schools of fish of all different sizes.

If the type of experience one gets diving in an aquarium is what floats your boat then go for it, but I just can't imagine how an experienced diver paying that much for a "canned" experience would find it rewarding. But to each their own.

-Z

 

[Addicted2H2O]

I did the whale shark snorkel excursion in 2016 with my wife and son, who at the time was 6. They loved it! I spent less than 10 minutes in the water and the rest of the hour and half we were out there trying not to throw up because I was so seasick. The ride out was literally a beating! 6 foot chop in a 26' boat with 12 -14 other people and once we got it out there it was hurry up and get gear on so you can jump in the water. GO GO GO!!! It was a very expensive trip or me not to enjoy it. Granted in the time I was actually in the water I swam with three of these majestic animals. So for me....I'd do the aquarium dive all day long! I've actually looked into it but not sure I want to make a trip to GA just for that purpose.

 

[Ghost Diver #]

Yes, I'm not saying it beats diving with "real" wildlife. What I mean is, if you have the time and money it's not a bad way to spend an afternoon. My wife and kids don't dive and they love the aquarium and they enjoyed watching me in the water. I dont see it as a "canned experience", I and a lot of people that do the dive, are very experienced divers who see it as a great way to see a lot of marine life and support and very well run research based aquarium!

 

[Beau640]

looking at their website they have a rebreather dive now. you get apparently over an hour of dive time in the whale shark tank and they provide the rebreather (doesn't state what model). still only have to be open water certified (it's a "try" dive and they teach the rebreather basics for the shallow dive) and costs $500 with admission. So $350 for 30 minutes or $500 for 1 hour+ and a rebreather experience.

 

[diversteve]

My regular buddy recently did the rebreather dive and really enjoyed it. One advantage is that the majority of the animals Ignore you when you're on the RB so he was able to get really close to them without spooking them.
In fact a couple times he had to dodge one to keep from getting bumped. He's also done the Epcot dive - said this was better.

We've also snorkeled with them in Utila a few years ago - our experience was with one exception all of them dove deep almost immediately after we quietly entered the water. Except one who stayed near us for about 5mins.
For his efforts he got his picture taken for the Ecocean database.

If you want to dive with whale sharks in open water nearer to the US - they migrate to Gladden Spit off Belize in late spring/summer. Splash Dive in Placencia has a program. Other buddies have done it. They dove with about 8-10 over 2 days of dives plus snorkeled with a couple off the boat after diving. It is a longish ride out from there.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Pay $350 and you can't even bring your own GoPro? That's pretty disappointing. I'm curious what their reasoning is. It makes divers tempted to approach the animals too close?

If it's like our Aquarium the reason is so that you don't' introduce any contaminants into the water. Here all gear is provided and fully cleaned between dives (my step son did a "dsd" type experience there when he was 10)

It's only a guess I might be wrong

 

[Diving Dubai]

My unhelpful perspective somewhat mirrors @Lorenzoid

I can't imagine seeing this majestic creature in captivity.

Whale shark snorkeling trips are a circus with lots of people thrashing around and duck diving try to touch the whaleshark.

My friends saw their first whaleshark on the whaleshark dive in the Philippines. They came back disappointed saying that the whalesharks were like tame puppies following the food thrown in.

They came here and were lucky enough to see one in its natural environment, spent 30 mins diving with it and were blown away.

However as @KathyV remarked, the risk is you may not see one. I haven't been lucky enough to be in the right patch of ocean at teh right time for the last 18 months, despite then being around. Two years ago we very very lucky and saw them all teh time

Nothing, but nothing matches the feeling when one unexpectedly appears during a dive

 

[chillyinCanada]

I went with Splash a few years ago. Yes, we spent a lot of time looking and not seeing but also had some amazing experiences. It was totally worth it to me. (I've also seen them in Maldives but that's not the point I'm going to make here).

On one of the best days with Splash on our 3 dive days, myself and others had some great encounters as well as sightings from a bit of a distance. Yet at the end of the day, one of the divers was crying because she'd not seen a thing.

As it turns out, she wasn't a very experienced diver and I believe she just wasn't ready. Her nerves in the water and inexperience at observation were a detriment. Sure, some inexperienced divers will have a great whale shark day(s) but less experienced divers might want to save themselves for later.

 

[AustinV]

I haven't done the Georgia Aquarium but once did the Roanoke Island aquarium in NC, much smaller tank with a good amount of sand tiger sharks. Wouldn't call it a canned experience and definitely a memorable dive. Not open water at all, definitely confined, but an experience I enjoyed.