Is there such thing as a responsible whale shark excursion?

[CrazyBirdLady]

Planning a dive trip in July 2024 to either Cancun or Cozumel. Interested in diving two days and doing the whale shark snorkel one day. As much as I’d love to experience being in the water with these gentle giants I’m concerned about the ethics of these tours. Anyone have a suggestion for a dive shop that offers both great diving (groups of 8 or less) and a responsible whale shark excursion that is focused on the welfare of the sharks? Thanks in advance.

 

[Streydog]

Dive shops will just give a referral to a tour group that offers them. Even though there are quite a few boats going out but they are highly regulated. I went once and it was immpressive. There were hundreds of sharks out there feeding. You can't get within 10', no selfie sticks, 2 snorkels per 1 guide max. It's a miney maker for them so they protect it.

 

[CrazyBirdLady]

Dive shops will just give a referral to a tour group that offers them. Even though there are quite a few boats going out but they are highly regulated. I went once and it was immpressive. There were hundreds of sharks out there feeding. You can't get within 10', no selfie sticks, 2 snorkels per 1 guide max. It's a miney maker for them so they protect it.

Thanks for your feedback Streydog. Do you have a favorite dive shop in either Cozumel or Cancun that you have used? Favorite dive sites?

 

[34109411]

either if you stay in cozumel or cancun whale sharks are in around Holbox. Most of the tour will leave from cancun. Obviously staying in coz you will need to take the ferry and jump on a van to get to CUN.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

"Is there such thing as a responsible whale shark excursion?"

Yes. They are when you travel to a known destination and the whale sharks choose to encounter with you instead of an operator forcing an encounter with them.

Although not fish as we all know whale-sharks are.....we have many and common encounters with whales (orcas, humpbacks, gray's) up here in the PAC NW. When we see a spout or a tail or bird sign, we just shut down the engines and quietly hover and wait. If THEY choose to come close and investigate us then it's a total bonus and religious experience. If not, then it's their choice and their world and we 100% respect that. At least for us, that attitude and general approach has resulted in some amazing close up encounters.

 

[Brett Hatch]

I did the whale shark snorkeling thing when I was in Cancun in 2022. Our boat had about 15 snorkelers on it, who would go in 1 at a time with a guide. Hop off the boat, snorkel along with the guide for 2 mins or so, then get back on the boat, and the guide takes the next customer. There were about 30 other boats doing the same. There were 2 whale sharks that day, who hung around for about an hour while these 500-some snorkelers did their thing.

While I enjoyed the minute or two I got snorkeling near a whale shark, I won't be doing that excursion again. Partly because of the ethical issues raised in the OP. Partly because the experience just didn't pencil out. Another day diving in Cozumel or Tulum would have been a better choice, for me at least.

YMMV, cheers.

 

[rjack321]

"Is there such thing as a responsible whale shark excursion?"

Yes. They are when you travel to a known destination and the whale sharks choose to encounter with you instead of an operator forcing an encounter with them.

I don't know all the possible operators in Mexico but this perspective would be exceptionally rare in that part of the world. There are numerous very captive dolphins among many other ethically awful "ecotourism" opportunities in Mexico. A boat returning to port without getting close to the whale sharks that were "just over there"? Yeah no. Not going to jeopardize their clients or tips by letting the whales decide.

 

[Chavodel8en]

I did the whale shark snorkeling thing when I was in Cancun in 2022. Our boat had about 15 snorkelers on it, who would go in 1 at a time with a guide. Hop off the boat, snorkel along with the guide for 2 mins or so, then get back on the boat, and the guide takes the next customer. There were about 30 other boats doing the same. There were 2 whale sharks that day, who hung around for about an hour while these 500-some snorkelers did their thing.

Here's the thing, while that does not sound like fun, it does sound like it was done that way to be as responsible as possible. A guide always on hand to make sure swimmers dont eff with the whale shark, or swarm all over them.

While I'd like to swim around them, I've kind of resolved that a whale shark encounter is too difficult to do responsibly and economically and still be fun. Like alot of sea life, I will just hope they come to me.

 

[Still Kicking]

I did a Sea of Cortez trip that included snorkeling with whale sharks in Bahia de Los Angeles. Local operators picked us up and took us out for the day on pangas. I would guess there were 20-30 sharks of about 10-20 feet long feeding in the bay.

The guides let us get in two at a time and we had the whole day there so everyone got plenty of water time. The best strategy was to look for the closest shark and swim into its path and wait for it to come to you. You could keep up with the sharks for maybe a minute at a time. The sharks could have swerved or dove but they didn't, so I would say they were not particularly bothered by people swimming alongside them.

It wasn't quite like seeing the school-bus sized adults on scuba in the clear waters of the Galapagos but it was still very cool to see that many sharks. Yes, it is a "canned hunt" situation to a large extent, that takes advantage of an aggregation of sharks feeding on plankton in the bay, but I would say the guides handled everything in a responsible manner. It also provides a source of income for locals who would otherwise be fishing in an already overfished area.

 

[Brett Hatch]

Here's the thing, while that does not sound like fun, it does sound like it was done that way to be as responsible as possible. A guide always on hand to make sure swimmers dont eff with the whale shark, or swarm all over them.

While I'd like to swim around them, I've kind of resolved that a whale shark encounter is too difficult to do responsibly and economically and still be fun. Like alot of sea life, I will just hope they come to me.

Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head. It's my understanding that this used to be much less regulated. There was a police boat watching the whole thing, making sure that the operators complied with whatever laws and best practices are in place. I think that these laws are largely there to protect the wildlife, and to protect the economic activity that their presence generates. That's great, that's the way it should be. But, what it all adds up to is a less-then-desirable experience, at least from my point of view.

Perhaps additional constraints on the number of divers or the number of boats would help. That sounds like an uphill battle, and not everybody would be happy with that solution. So I dunno, it's a complicated issue. I can't really speak to what a great solution would look like, or compare to how it was in the past, or what the political reality is like in QR. I can just evaluate the experience I had in 2022.

If there is a great whale shark experience out there, somewhere in the world, I'd love to hear about it. Those animals are really, really cool. They're like a manta ray the size of a humpback whale, just amazing to witness.