New Whale Shark Rules -- Question for those who have been

[nippurmagnum]

This will be our first time doing this trip. We just received an email from our operator indicating that the government has modified the applicable My question is for those who have done these whale shark trips in the past: In your view, and given all of the other things to do in Coz/Yucatan, would the whale shark trip still be worth doing if you are stuck in a life vest and essentially restricted to surface viewing of the sharks?

ABSOLUTELY.

My daughter and I have done the whale shark snorkel trip off Cancun twice. The first time, we had about 250 whale sharks in the area. The second time, there were "only" 30. Both times, I wore a wetsuit, rather than a vest. My daughter wore a life vest. Made not a bit of difference. There was absolutely no need to dive down, there was lots of quality face time with the sharks without submerging at all. On the first trip especially, the whale sharks were so numerous they would brush against us.

This is a picture of my daughter wearing a life vest. Think it was worth it for her to do the trip?

I think that if you're in the area, and you are a marine life enthusiast, this trip is a no brainer. Each trip cost under $200 per person, including tip, and a very nice lunch. Yes, you could pay many thousands of dollars to go to the Maldives and dive with whale sharks on scuba, and it might be a cooler experience. But if you are in the Coz area anyway, and are not pressed for time, you should absolutely go swim with the whale sharks.

 

[nippurmagnum]

It was once a really wonderful and amazing experience, but due to the heavy commercialization of it - it's depressing. I went last year with some friends who wanted to go - I was so disenchanted and disgusted with the amount of boats and the behavior I was seeing from tourists and crews alike - I doubt I will ever go again. I will be hard pressed to even encourage it at this point.

I am just really grateful that I was able to experience this back in the days when it wasn't so commercialized.

Definitely a lot of boats, no question. But in my experience, there are a couple of mitigating factors:

(1) The majority of people who go on these trips are not divers, and have a strong tendency to get sick on the way out to the whale sharks. By the time the boat reaches the sharks (typically an hour or so), a lot of the people on the boats have turned quite green, and will get in the water only once, for a couple of minutes, to "check the box." In effect, that cuts down on the number of people who make the trip by at least half. So assuming you do OK on boats, you will have much more time in the water than you might have expected at the dock when seeing the hordes of tourists boarding the boats.

(2) If there are a lot of sharks around, the boats don't move at all -- they form a grid pattern, and you get in the water in the "square" formed by four boats on the grid. In effect, you are only seeing four small boats while in the water, with only a few other people in the water around you (and you will likely be focusing on the forty-foot sharks). This is the ideal situation, because the sharks are all around you, and you don't really need to move.

(3) If there are not a lot of sharks around, the boats have a tendency to start to move around to "cut off" the sharks, which means that your encounters will be much briefer and will feel rather forced. If that happens, one thing you can do is to good-naturedly tell the boat captain to ease up on the aggressive maneuvers. The boat crew make their living from tips, and they are eager to please. If they think that you value getting super close to the whale sharks, they will try aggressively to get you close. But if they think that you value respecting the whale sharks, they will tend to ease up on the cowboy maneuvers.

I took this shot on my first of two whale shark trips in 2014. I never get tired of looking at it.

 

[MacLir]

Many thanks to all who replied. Much food for thought.

 

[Christi]

Definitely a lot of boats, no question. But in my experience, there are a couple of mitigating factors:

(1) The majority of people who go on these trips are not divers, and have a strong tendency to get sick on the way out to the whale sharks. By the time the boat reaches the sharks (typically an hour or so), a lot of the people on the boats have turned quite green, and will get in the water only once, for a couple of minutes, to "check the box." In effect, that cuts down on the number of people who make the trip by at least half. So assuming you do OK on boats, you will have much more time in the water than you might have expected at the dock when seeing the hordes of tourists boarding the boats.

(2) If there are a lot of sharks around, the boats don't move at all -- they form a grid pattern, and you get in the water in the "square" formed by four boats on the grid. In effect, you are only seeing four small boats while in the water, with only a few other people in the water around you (and you will likely be focusing on the forty-foot sharks). This is the ideal situation, because the sharks are all around you, and you don't really need to move.

(3) If there are not a lot of sharks around, the boats have a tendency to start to move around to "cut off" the sharks, which means that your encounters will be much briefer and will feel rather forced. If that happens, one thing you can do is to good-naturedly tell the boat captain to ease up on the aggressive maneuvers. The boat crew make their living from tips, and they are eager to please. If they think that you value getting super close to the whale sharks, they will try aggressively to get you close. But if they think that you value respecting the whale sharks, they will tend to ease up on the cowboy maneuvers.

I took this shot on my first of two whale shark trips in 2014. I never get tired of looking at it.

View attachment 523608

Actually, I am very aware of how they do things. I have been almost every year since the whale shark excursions began, first in Holbox and then migrating towards Isla Mujeres. I skipped a couple of years for various reasons, including the issues I described in my original post. I decided to go again last year because I was invited by an op and I had friends visiting who had never been. I was hoping I would see changes, but it was only worse, and it has gotten worse every year. If you would have seen how it used to be, you would see the difference. If you knew how many sharks are injured by propellers every year, you may have a different perspective.

I now liken the whale shark excursions to the Dolphin Discovery "experiences" - they may be in the wild, but their habitat is incredibly disrupted by disrespectful humans.

 

[ChuckP]

Unfortunately sometimes you have to live the experience yourself once before you really get it, and yet there are some that see no problems with it at all.

I too fell into the trap of watching reef sharks being feed. I seen the sharks come up over the wall when boats were in the area, I've seen them follow divers miles from the feeding area in anticipation of being fed. I've heard stories of them eating Go Pros off the end of selfie sticks.

I see turtles here that approach divers and boats and the crowd loving it. I've heard stories of eels and nurse sharks expecting to be fed - it's just no normal.

I wonder if someone would post equal number of pictures of the turtles, the one with the shell damage, the one missing the fin - would that help? What about the diver that was bit by the nurse shark, the diver bit by the eel - maybe we should post pics of what those bites looked like - would that help?

Natural encounters in a natural setting are worth way more to me.

 

[mediumone]

Unfortunately sometimes you have to live the experience yourself once before you really get it, and yet there are some that see no problems with it at all.

I too fell into the trap of watching reef sharks being feed. I seen the sharks come up over the wall when boats were in the area, I've seen them follow divers miles from the feeding area in anticipation of being fed. I've heard stories of them eating Go Pros off the end of selfie sticks.

I see turtles here that approach divers and boats and the crowd loving it. I've heard stories of eels and nurse sharks expecting to be fed - it's just no normal.

I wonder if someone would post equal number of pictures of the turtles, the one with the shell damage, the one missing the fin - would that help? What about the diver that was bit by the nurse shark, the diver bit by the eel - maybe we should post pics of what those bites looked like - would that help?

Natural encounters in a natural setting are worth way more to me.

Yes. and when you learn about the mortality rate and life expectancy of dolphins in captivity, it's nothing less than heart wrenching ---- or nauseating.

 

[ChuckP]

Yes. and when you learn about the mortality rate and life expectancy of dolphins in captivity, it's nothing less than heart wrenching ---- or nauseating.

I don't even want to think about that and the guilt there - I can't count the number of times I've been to Seaworld as a kid

 

[Dan]

You would still get a good view of the whalesharks by just dipping your head below the surface as those whalesharks would just be skimming the surface when I was there. Check out my video clip, below.

 

[togatown]

My wife and I did a Whale Shark tour in Isla Mujeres a few summers ago in conjunction with a dive trip to Cozumel. Before we left shore, we were given the option to either rent a wetsuit, or use free life jackets. Even though we declined the wetsuits and were on the surface most of the time, there were lots of whale sharks, and we had a lot of great interaction with them. There was even a Giant Manta that came by. All and all, while it was touristy for sure, we enjoyed the one time encounter.

 

[DandyDon]

You would still get a good view of the whalesharks by just dipping your head below the surface as those whalesharks would just be skimming the surface when I was there.

Yeah, from our two days swimming with them, we never went below snorkel depth. They were filter feeding at the surface, and our only challenge was trying to keep up. I started out dodging a huge mouth, swam along as I could, then got swiped by the huge tail fin - gently.