Isla Mujeres trip report, pix, & slideshow

[Ken Kurtis]

We just got back from two interesting and enjoyable weeks in Isla Mujeres (Mexico) diving with Whale Sharks, exploring cenotes, and more. Here are the links to the trip report and pix/slideshow.

TRIP REPORT - Isla Mujeres 2016 trip report

PIX & SLIDESHOW - Isla Mujeres 2016

DIRECT TO SMUGMUG - Isla Mujeres 2016


Enjoy!!!

- Ken

 

[Dan]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the thorough report!

It's interesting to know that I actually did very similar trip from August 12 to 16 also with Jim Silver of Aqua Adventures. I led a group of 10 divers from Houston.

On Saturday, August 13, we went to MUSA & Machones reef. The visibility was still crappy due to the remnant of Hurricane Earl than went to Belize.

On Sunday, August 14, our original plan was to swim with the whaleshark, but I was told by Jim that there won't be any whaleshark tour so we switch our cenote diving from Monday, August 15 to Sunday, August 14. Like you said it rained all day & made the entry to the Little Brother became quite interesting. We had to follow & trust Rafa direction to blindly get down into the mud hole until the water cleared up about 10' deeper. We almost lost one diver at the end where she followed a line below her instead of the one next to her. Rafa ended up went back into the mud hole to chase her down.

On Monday, August 15, we tried to go again for the 2nd time for the whaleshark tour, but the harbor master closed the port again due to the same problem, so we ended up just hanging around town. It was just a bad luck for us. We heard also the whaleshark tour on Tuesday, August 16, the day when some of us were going home, the whaleshark tour was also cancelled.

Two of my dive buddies were smarter than the rest of us to stay longer till Saturday, August 20 & had a chance to swim with the whalesharks on Wednesday, August 17. They may have dove with your group on Thursday or Friday that week.

I'm still patiently waiting for the refund from Jim on the cancelled whaleshark tour. He must be busy with running his shop at this peak whaleshark tour season.

 

[mmmbelows]

I like your trip report and pictures. Only thing is you keep saying "diving" with whale sharks, there is no diving with whale sharks in Mexico, against the law, it's all snorkeling/swiming with whale sharks.

 

[Dan]

I like your trip report and pictures. Only thing is you keep saying "diving" with whale sharks, there is no diving with whale sharks in Mexico, against the law, it's all snorkeling/swiming with whale sharks.

I think that's a typo. He explained in his trip report that people, 2 at a time with a guide, swim or free diving with the whaleshark.

I did scuba diving with whalesharks in Cendrawasih Bay, Papua, Indonesia last year. That was a blast.

 

[mmmbelows]

I did scuba diving with whalesharks in Cendrawasih Bay, Papua, Indonesia last year. That was a blast.

Are those specific dives set out to dive with whale sharks or did they show up on a regular dive?

 

[Dan]

The short answer is yes & yes.

The long answer:
In Cendrawasih Bay, local fishermen sail out into the bay with Bagan, which is 2 boats tied together on bamboo lattice platform, where they put a hut on top of the platform for sleep during a long day fishing. They cast net for small fish bait & put the fish baits under the Bagan to keep them alive & attract big fish, while fishing for the tuna.

Whalesharks like to come by to the Bagan to suck the oil out of the baitfish trapped in the net below the Bagan. Every time the whalesharks come in, that means they bring good luck to the fishermen so they throw some of the dead baitfish into the open mouth whalesharks. Some of the whalesharks become like pets & like to hang around there.

Some of the liveaboards would stop by & "rent" the Bagan for a day of scuba diving, which the fishermen would gladly accept the easy money than the hard fishing day in the tropical sun. A win-win situation.

When I was there, I saw 3 of them sucking on the net all day. I made 2 dives & took copious of pictures. Fantastic dives in blue water.

Check out this video:

 

[mmmbelows]

Nice video, looks like a cool experience, totally different than snorkeling with them.

 

[Dan]

Cendrawasih Bay is about 200 miles to the east of Raja Ampat. It was the last resistance of Japanese occupation of Indonesia, before General Douglas MacAthur pushed them out. So, if you are into WWII airplane wrecks, you'll see some Japanese Zero & USAAF Mustang wrecks there too. I saw a P-38 crash site just 20' off an island in 6' deep water surrounded by shrimp goby colony.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

If you want to set yourself up as the expert, fine, I'll play that game:

Only thing is you keep saying "diving" with whale sharks, there is no diving with whale sharks in Mexico, against the law, it's all snorkeling/swimming with whale sharks.

Not true. What you should have said is that within areas designated as a Marine Bioreserve for the Whale Sharks, the rules are snorkel-only, no scuba diving. However, you ARE allowed to free-dive down if you like. So I use the term "diving" rather generically to mean we're in the ocean with these animals. You are apparently limiting your interpretation of the word "diving" to mean only scuba and that's a bit too limiting.

There are currently (I believe) only two federally-designated Whale Sharks protected areas in Mexico. The one around Isla Mujeres and Isla Contoy (Holbox) and another up around Bahia de Los Anegles. But outside of those two areas, I don't believe restrictions apply. There are whale shark "rules" for diving in La Paz (aorund Magote) but I'm unclear if those are operator-instigated-enforced, or local, or federal, or if they really have any teeth at all.

But I'm glad you liked the report overall.

- Ken

 

[Ken Kurtis]

On Sunday, August 14, our original plan was to swim with the whaleshark, but I was told by Jim that there won't be any whaleshark tour so we switch our cenote diving from Monday, August 15 to Sunday, August 14.

And I thank you for that. Because you moved your Monday to Sunday, I could move my Tuesday to Monday.

And we got lucky on Tuesday in that we were gambling that the harbor would be open even if the whale shark area was not, and we were able to get in our MUSA dives - which had been scheduled for Sunday - on Tuesday afternoon.

- Ken