Hello fellow divers!
Well, I just returned from Mexico the other day and it was awesome! The diving was great and the weather was beautiful. I have only been diving for a few years but I knew that someday, even before I started diving, that I would want to see a whale shark. Heck, even people who don't dive want to see a whale shark! I went down with my wife and another couple who dive as well. I did my research before we left and I knew that in order to see these gentle giants you would have to stay near the island or go WAY out of your way. Well, I chose option number 2. I stayed in the Riviera Maya, south of Cancun and north of Playa del Carmen. I came across a dive shop in Playa that was advertising day trips to the island to see the sharks. The price was 95 USD per person. After discussing it with my other members, they decided that they wanted to do it. We went back hoping to get a four person discount, but no luck. So we decided to be adventurous and we headed out on our own. We bought a road map in the lobby of the resort and plotted a route. We were told it was about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. We wanted to get to the town on Chiquila early in hopes of catching a boat. We woke up the next morning at 3:15 and started our journey. I was so excited at the possibilty of seeing these animals. The map made the route look very simple. WRONG! We headed north and caught highway 180 east. Problem was as we headed down highway 180, none of the towns on the map were showing up. Turns out that there are TWO highway 180's, and that they run parallel to each other! We figured this out once we hit the Yucatan state line! We turned around and before we knew it, we were right back in Cancun. Ninety minute gone and we were right back where we started. Everyone wanted to push on though, so we figured out where we made our mistake and adjusted our route. Fifteen minutes later we hit the first town on the map. So we knew that we were on the right track. This highway passed through six small town total, and the drive was grueling. Speed bumps every 25 yards, wild dogs in the streets, people driving 14 miles an hour. It was the longest hour of my life. Finally, we make it to the last town. We see the sign for Chiquila and make the right hand turn. We headed through one more small town and then the road forked to the right. It was the home stretch en route to the town. Problem was, this road went on for what seemed like an eternity. Passing through several more small towns, the scenery never changed. Jungle on one side, jungle on the other, straight road and no end in sight. By this time, we had been on the road for nearly five hours and it was beginning to wear on us all. Finally, ocean in sight. We had arrived. The town of Chiquila was tough to look at. It is a very poor town. There are no homes, very few small buildings and people scattered throughout the street. The second we arrived, people rushed to greet us. Kids wanted to wash the car, guys wanted to park the car, other guys wanted us to follow them. And what made it tough was none of them spoke a lick of English. But they did understand two words: whale shark. So a man came up and pointed to a boat in the harbor. I guess this classified as a harbor. Let the price negotiation begin! He said 350 for the four of us. All in all, not a bad deal. We said 250. He said 300. So we settled on that and then handed him 280. After scratching his head for 3 or 4 minutes, he took the deal. He pointed out his boat and we gathered our gear. Whale sharks...HERE WE COME!
It was tough to communicate with the "Captain" but I got one thing from him; it was going to be a long ride. We headed out towards Holbox and I had no idea what to expect. Where would we see the sharks? Would we see the sharks? All I know is that I wanted to find out. Thirty minutes into the boat ride, we arrived at a sandbar that cut through Holbox. Looking down, we were in just under two feet of water. I am not the brightest bulb on the tree, but I knew that we would not see whale sharks in two feet of water. I was starting to feel somewhat frustrated. "El Capitan" was quit the navigator. He made quick work of the sandbar and out into the ocean we spilled! Fifteen minutes later, we still were in less than ten feet of water. And it was not getting any deeper. I began to ask several questions, but the main one was, "Where in the hell are we going!?" FINALLY, after about an hour, the ocean dropped off. Were we getting close? Fifteen more minutes passed. We passed a large group of rays sitting on the surface eating. I figured we were in the right place since the diets are similiar. Then some dolphin came by. Still no whale shark though. We rode for another 15 minutes and I began to attempt to convince myself that we saw dolphin and a lot of rays. That lasted all of about 6 seconds. I wanted to see a whale shark! Cruising even longer, there was no sign of anything. I looked around and asked myself, "Where are we?!" There was no land to be seen anywhere, in any direction. One of the guys on the boat with "El Capitan" reached into his backpack and pulled out a CB radio. I felt better when I saw this. He struggled to hook it up and once he did, it did not work anyway. I was feeling that all hope was lost. We had the boat for only four hours and more than half of it was gone and we still had to return. It was an empty feeling. I kept saying to myself, "No guarantee!" The "first mate" was looking high and low, hoping to spot something. I was giving up. Then, he yelled those two words...WHALE SHARK! I didn't believe it at first. Then, off on the left side out in the blue, a big, dark shadow moved through the water. It truly was breath taking. We moved the boat closer and "El Capitan" signaled for "Dos Personas". So my friend and I geared up. Then, into the blue we went. The ocean was tough and the waves were large. But adrenaline filled me now. I swam towards the shadow and waited. The viz was poor, probably around eight feet. Suddenly, the smaller pilot fish appeared, and they got bigger and bigger. And then, out of the darkness, she came. Right out in front of us about four feet away. I could not catch my breath! Hyperventilating and bobbing around, I struggled to swim with this beautiful giant. For a couple of minutes I stayed right on the tail until she dove into the darkness. I had to relax and reflect on what I just saw. I could not believe it and I could not describe it. Absolutely amazing and breath taking. As I swam back to the boat, I could feel the smile on my face and the joy in my body. It had happened. I climbed back onto the boat and proceeded to high five "El Capitan" and the "first mate". It happened. And I felt lucky to see it. We went on to chase eight more whale sharks that day, but I heard this saying when I was younger and it fit this situation perfectly; You never forget your first. And that first image will forever be burned in my memory. An absolutely awesome experience!
I had heard that the day trips were grueling and nothing was guaranteed. Both of these statements are facts. The drive was hell and the trip up to a certain point was a nightmare. But in the end, it turned into a dream come true. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Would I do it the same way? You bet. Every second of it! All I can say is that the day trip can be done and the experience is absolutely priceless. The key is having your own transportation and gear. If you have this and you want to make the trek, I give the experience a 10! It can be done. I did it...you all can do it as well.
Well, I just returned from Mexico the other day and it was awesome! The diving was great and the weather was beautiful. I have only been diving for a few years but I knew that someday, even before I started diving, that I would want to see a whale shark. Heck, even people who don't dive want to see a whale shark! I went down with my wife and another couple who dive as well. I did my research before we left and I knew that in order to see these gentle giants you would have to stay near the island or go WAY out of your way. Well, I chose option number 2. I stayed in the Riviera Maya, south of Cancun and north of Playa del Carmen. I came across a dive shop in Playa that was advertising day trips to the island to see the sharks. The price was 95 USD per person. After discussing it with my other members, they decided that they wanted to do it. We went back hoping to get a four person discount, but no luck. So we decided to be adventurous and we headed out on our own. We bought a road map in the lobby of the resort and plotted a route. We were told it was about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. We wanted to get to the town on Chiquila early in hopes of catching a boat. We woke up the next morning at 3:15 and started our journey. I was so excited at the possibilty of seeing these animals. The map made the route look very simple. WRONG! We headed north and caught highway 180 east. Problem was as we headed down highway 180, none of the towns on the map were showing up. Turns out that there are TWO highway 180's, and that they run parallel to each other! We figured this out once we hit the Yucatan state line! We turned around and before we knew it, we were right back in Cancun. Ninety minute gone and we were right back where we started. Everyone wanted to push on though, so we figured out where we made our mistake and adjusted our route. Fifteen minutes later we hit the first town on the map. So we knew that we were on the right track. This highway passed through six small town total, and the drive was grueling. Speed bumps every 25 yards, wild dogs in the streets, people driving 14 miles an hour. It was the longest hour of my life. Finally, we make it to the last town. We see the sign for Chiquila and make the right hand turn. We headed through one more small town and then the road forked to the right. It was the home stretch en route to the town. Problem was, this road went on for what seemed like an eternity. Passing through several more small towns, the scenery never changed. Jungle on one side, jungle on the other, straight road and no end in sight. By this time, we had been on the road for nearly five hours and it was beginning to wear on us all. Finally, ocean in sight. We had arrived. The town of Chiquila was tough to look at. It is a very poor town. There are no homes, very few small buildings and people scattered throughout the street. The second we arrived, people rushed to greet us. Kids wanted to wash the car, guys wanted to park the car, other guys wanted us to follow them. And what made it tough was none of them spoke a lick of English. But they did understand two words: whale shark. So a man came up and pointed to a boat in the harbor. I guess this classified as a harbor. Let the price negotiation begin! He said 350 for the four of us. All in all, not a bad deal. We said 250. He said 300. So we settled on that and then handed him 280. After scratching his head for 3 or 4 minutes, he took the deal. He pointed out his boat and we gathered our gear. Whale sharks...HERE WE COME!
It was tough to communicate with the "Captain" but I got one thing from him; it was going to be a long ride. We headed out towards Holbox and I had no idea what to expect. Where would we see the sharks? Would we see the sharks? All I know is that I wanted to find out. Thirty minutes into the boat ride, we arrived at a sandbar that cut through Holbox. Looking down, we were in just under two feet of water. I am not the brightest bulb on the tree, but I knew that we would not see whale sharks in two feet of water. I was starting to feel somewhat frustrated. "El Capitan" was quit the navigator. He made quick work of the sandbar and out into the ocean we spilled! Fifteen minutes later, we still were in less than ten feet of water. And it was not getting any deeper. I began to ask several questions, but the main one was, "Where in the hell are we going!?" FINALLY, after about an hour, the ocean dropped off. Were we getting close? Fifteen more minutes passed. We passed a large group of rays sitting on the surface eating. I figured we were in the right place since the diets are similiar. Then some dolphin came by. Still no whale shark though. We rode for another 15 minutes and I began to attempt to convince myself that we saw dolphin and a lot of rays. That lasted all of about 6 seconds. I wanted to see a whale shark! Cruising even longer, there was no sign of anything. I looked around and asked myself, "Where are we?!" There was no land to be seen anywhere, in any direction. One of the guys on the boat with "El Capitan" reached into his backpack and pulled out a CB radio. I felt better when I saw this. He struggled to hook it up and once he did, it did not work anyway. I was feeling that all hope was lost. We had the boat for only four hours and more than half of it was gone and we still had to return. It was an empty feeling. I kept saying to myself, "No guarantee!" The "first mate" was looking high and low, hoping to spot something. I was giving up. Then, he yelled those two words...WHALE SHARK! I didn't believe it at first. Then, off on the left side out in the blue, a big, dark shadow moved through the water. It truly was breath taking. We moved the boat closer and "El Capitan" signaled for "Dos Personas". So my friend and I geared up. Then, into the blue we went. The ocean was tough and the waves were large. But adrenaline filled me now. I swam towards the shadow and waited. The viz was poor, probably around eight feet. Suddenly, the smaller pilot fish appeared, and they got bigger and bigger. And then, out of the darkness, she came. Right out in front of us about four feet away. I could not catch my breath! Hyperventilating and bobbing around, I struggled to swim with this beautiful giant. For a couple of minutes I stayed right on the tail until she dove into the darkness. I had to relax and reflect on what I just saw. I could not believe it and I could not describe it. Absolutely amazing and breath taking. As I swam back to the boat, I could feel the smile on my face and the joy in my body. It had happened. I climbed back onto the boat and proceeded to high five "El Capitan" and the "first mate". It happened. And I felt lucky to see it. We went on to chase eight more whale sharks that day, but I heard this saying when I was younger and it fit this situation perfectly; You never forget your first. And that first image will forever be burned in my memory. An absolutely awesome experience!
I had heard that the day trips were grueling and nothing was guaranteed. Both of these statements are facts. The drive was hell and the trip up to a certain point was a nightmare. But in the end, it turned into a dream come true. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Would I do it the same way? You bet. Every second of it! All I can say is that the day trip can be done and the experience is absolutely priceless. The key is having your own transportation and gear. If you have this and you want to make the trek, I give the experience a 10! It can be done. I did it...you all can do it as well.
