Isla Mujeres whale sharks

[KatRizzo]

Hi All,
Thinking of going to Isla Mujeres to snorkel with whale sharks then to Cozumel to dive. The friend I'm going with said where the whale sharks are is about 2 hours by boat, north of Isla Mujeres. If that's the case, is there somewhere we could stay that's closer to where they are?
Thanks in advance.
Kathy

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

only if you're staying on a boat about 2 hours north of the island.

I'll be there in August doing the exact same thing with my family. Try to get out during or right after a full moon. the moon pulls the plankton to the surface which attracts more sharks and possibly pelagic manta rays.

 

[VikingDives]

Hi All,
Thinking of going to Isla Mujeres to snorkel with whale sharks then to Cozumel to dive. The friend I'm going with said where the whale sharks are is about 2 hours by boat, north of Isla Mujeres. If that's the case, is there somewhere we could stay that's closer to where they are?
Thanks in advance.
Kathy

I did this in 2019, but we were staying in Cancun. IIRC, the whole trip was about two and a half hours, and we were North East of Isla, but the operators never know exactly where the whales will be, so it could be longer or shorter. Once one op finds them, everyone heads to them. Personally, I found watching them from the surface far more impressive than trying to snorkel along in their wake.

 

[Dan]

I stayed at Ixchel Beach Hotel Isla Mujeres - Isla Mujeres North Beach Hotels and went with Diving in Isla Mujeres & Whale Shark Snorkeling Tours with Mexico Divers which is located a couple blocks down from the hotel.

Isla Mujeres whalesharks are just simply incredible in blue water, not the greenish murky water of Holbox or La Paz. Check out the drone pictures, below. The white specks are boats. The whalesharks were as big as the boats. We spotted them after an hour boat ride.

 

[Dan]

only if you're staying on a boat about 2 hours north of the island.

I'll be there in August doing the exact same thing with my family. Try to get out during or right after a full moon. the moon pulls the plankton to the surface which attracts more sharks and possibly pelagic manta rays.

When I was there, the snapper eggs were the ones they were after. I got those eggs in my hair and all over my wetsuit. Go there during Snapper spawning season!

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

When I was there, the snapper eggs were the ones they were after. I got those eggs in my hair and all over my wetsuit. Go there during Snapper spawning season!

eww. that sounds worse than blood worms on a night dive. you're just lucky you weren't mobbed by a bunch of male snappers trying to fertilize you.

 

[Dan]

eww. that sounds worse than blood worms on a night dive. you're just lucky you weren't mobbed by a bunch of male snappers trying to fertilize you.

My best experience to be in snapper spawning was in Palau, like you see in the video, below. When the male snapper fertilizing the eggs, you see milky water.

I wish they have dive operators in Islamujeres that make this kind of dive trips. I would definitely go there just for this. It’ll be a 2-hour flight from Houston to Cancun, instead of 24-hour flight from Houston to Koror, Palau.

 

[mcohen1021]

I was there sunday 6/5/21. LONG DAY when u start in Cozumel.

Here's how the trip went:

4 am wake up, get ready to go

5 am breakfast

6 am leave to ferry

630 am buy rt ferry tickets

7 am depart to playa

745 arrive playa, get on bus to cancun

9 am arrive in cancun. Get on boat

1030 arrive by boat at whale shark site We did 3 jumps, 2 people at a time. 9 people on the boat, 5 puked sea sick... very rough seas.

Was it worth it? It was something you should do once like blue hole in Belize or the shark feeding frenzy in Roatan. Not something I'd do twice. Seas were ROUGH

So, then...

3 pm depart cancun for playa ferry

420 pm arrive back at playa, for the 5 pm ferry

5 pm ferry leaves playa

545 arrive back at cozumel

Total cost: $300 + $10 crew tips plus $25x2 ferry tickets

My recommendation is to take the tour when staying in cancun, playa or Isla mujeres

MC

PS - the trip goes to isla contoy, north of isla mujeres

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

That made me tired just reading about it.

 

[tarponchik]

Our ride was about 50 min from Isla Mujeres. Pick up a day when the Moon is full.