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

[nippurmagnum]

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.

I don't doubt that it would have been better when there were fewer people. But the thread was started by someone who asked whether it's worth going at all because of the new life vest rule. And my two cents is that it's still very much worth experiencing.

One thing I forgot to mention is that there are some operators who will leave the dock two hours before the other boats (and charge a little more), so as to get to the whale sharks before the big flotilla of boats. I did that with Solo Buceo, which leaves at 6:30 am: Swim with the Whale Sharks Cancun | SoloBuceo.com. But I don't know that this would address the concerns you expressed, because the overall effect of boats leaving earlier is that it increases the total time that boats are around the whale sharks.

But FWIW, I don't think the whale shark excursion is really comparable to Dolphin Discovery, because the whale sharks are not captive, and they are not fed or trained or interact with people (other than by proximity). And most importantly, the whale sharks can (and do) dive down if they are feel harassed. But I will certainly grant that it's far from a spontaneous encounter in the ocean.

 

[mikecolorado]

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

^^^^^ This is a super accurate description of the experience.

The whale shark experience is 100% dependent on the number of whale sharks congregating on the day you are there.

Lots of sharks -- 50 to 300 whale sharks means a great experience, you don't need to swim, they are continuously coming and going all around you, the boat operators are relaxed, the 'competition' is non-existent, the whale sharks are not pursued by the boats. In short its going to be great.

Few whale sharks -- 1 to 10 whale sharks means a totally different experience. The operators have to avoid any money back guarantees if you don't get to swim with a whale shark, they are under pressure to get you in the water with one. The operators will each be trying to 'punch the ticket' of each guest to get that mission accomplished, the result will be multiple boats swarming the same few whale sharks, trying to maneuver to get their clients in front of the swimming whale sharks path, the scene will be tense and hectic, be pathetic and massively suck.

To me a life vest isn't preferred but the results will only affect a few people. How many people on average are able to dive down much with the buoyancy of a wetsuit fighting them? They will not give you a weight belt. All the times in the past I've done this without a vest, it was tough to almost impossible to get down very far under water due to the buoyancy issue. If you're a photographer, you'll need to video or take shots with your camera arms extended under the water, or better yet with a gopro extended on a selfie stick.

To me the BIGGEST determination of your experience will be what the WEATHER has been like 4-5 days before you whale shark excursion. Any storms disperse the plankton the whale sharks feed on at the surface. After a storm the whale sharks are down below the surface for the 3-4 days it takes for the plankton to start massing at the surface again.

Unless the Mexican government has increased the number of permits the number of boats and tourists on sight should not be any different today than it was years ago.

 

[Navymarkv]

Pile as many tourists in any thing that float and have them all overcrowd around and disembark right in front of the sharks.

 

[Streydog]

I went last year and wore my wetsuit. I would much rather not wear a life jacket but that is not a deal breaker. I imagine too may people where diving down getting too close to the sharks so they put this rule in place. The one thing I wish I would have done was to leave my Gopro on the boat and get the guides pictures. Since you are on the surface you use your hands to more ( well more then when diving). Here is a pick of the boats across the area when I went, more crowded than early afternoon at Palancar but still spread out enough that they aren't getting in each others way. I wouldn't say these boats were overly crowded or not seaworthy.

 

[Sharkphoto]

Not everything stated here is accurate to the new regulations.
The new regulations puts into writing "best practices" about how the boat and swimmers approach the WS (minimum distances, etc), limits number on boat to 10 or less, standards for the boats, ``7am to 2pm time limit, 2 plus a guide in the water at a time per shark, 30 minutes per shark, speed limits, and more. The limit of boats per day plus 10 guests each tops it all out at 1,200 visitors per day. Most days there are hundreds of whale sharks spread over a large area.

Many of the people as stated above, will only go in the water for a very short period of time.

No diving down, everyone wears a life jacket unless they have a skindiver or free diver cert in which case they must wear a wetsuit for buoyancy (still no diving under). No flash, no touching, no drones.
If there are only 5 or less whale sharks in the area, no in water observation: boat only observation.
There is lots in there and most is for the benefit of the whale sharks.

Basically they have legislated common sense practices. Not every rule is brand new: there have always been rules about boats and encounters. In my opinion, some of this could have been avoided by limiting permits and numbers of guests years ago before it became a circus with many people there just to tick a box or get a selfie and not that interested in visiting the whales sharks in their world.

This season (2019) I still hosted my 4 day chartered private boat (from Isla Mujeres) photography groups and managed to still deliver a quality experience for my guests (who all became skindiver certified before arriving and thus allowed to wear wetsuits or life jackets as they choose). And we still got good pictures.

 

[ggunn]

"Skin diver" and "SCUBA diver" used to be synonymous, but apparently no more. If one is SCUBA certed, does that include/imply a skin diver cert the way an AOW cert includes/implies an OW cert?

 

[Sharkphoto]

As far as the people who set the whale shark rules are concerned, Skin Diver, Free Diver, and Apnea certified is not the same as a scuba certificate. In Cancun / Isla etc a scuba certification still means you will wear a life jacket. To earn the right to wear a wetsuit instead of the life jacket, you must have one of the above before you arrive.
All My guests are scuba certified divers and some since it was invented, but they all had to get a snorkel/freediver/skindiver certification (NAUI has one)

Image how insulted they were when I told them!

The rest of the world might have a different definition, but this is how is it down there.

 

[MacLir]

We returned from our trip yesterday and I thought I would report back. The guidance folks provided here was both helpful and accurate. The life vest did not detract from the experience or from the opportunity to take pictures (granted, not a big focus for me), nor, with the judicious use of rash guards and draped towels, was the lack of sunscreen any problem. From what I observed (both on our charter and on neighboring boats), the rules (and thus the sharks) were carefully respected. There were a lot of whale sharks and they seemed perfectly comfortable with the boats and swimmers, frequently approaching and swooping under and around the boats.

It was worth doing at least once; wouldn't take much to persuade me to do it again.

Thanks to all for the help!

 

[ggunn]

As far as the people who set the whale shark rules are concerned, Skin Diver, Free Diver, and Apnea certified is not the same as a scuba certificate. In Cancun / Isla etc a scuba certification still means you will wear a life jacket. To earn the right to wear a wetsuit instead of the life jacket, you must have one of the above before you arrive.
All My guests are scuba certified divers and some since it was invented, but they all had to get a snorkel/freediver/skindiver certification (NAUI has one)

Image how insulted they were when I told them!

I can't imagine having to be trained to snorkel. I began snorkeling in my great aunt's pool when I was 10.

 

[horn34]

I can't imagine having to be trained to snorkel. I began snorkeling in my great aunt's pool when I was 10.

Not to worry, PADI is running a special on self-guided snorkel certification.

$300, this week only!