Whale shark in Belize (Gladden Spit) vs Isla Majeres?

[Miffy]

Hello,
I have 2 options looking for advice / opinion:

Option 1: 1 trip to Belize (May 2014)
1 week with SPLASH @ Placencia to dive Whale Shark during the full moon period, then
1 week Liveaboard to dive the northern atolls
Total: 2 weeks Belize in 1 trip

Option 2: 2 separate trips -- 1 to Belize, 1 to Mexico
1 week Liveaboard to dive the northern atolls in Belize (May 2014)
1 week Whale Shark trip (snorkel) in Isla Majeres (what about Holbox?) (July 2014?)

Questions
1) Where will I have the highest chance of seeing Whale Sharks -- Placencia? or Isla Majeres?
2) If higher chance to see Whale Sharks in Isla Majeres, should I split my diving into 2 separate trips (May 2014 Belize Liveaboard, then June / July 2014 Isla Majeres)? What about making it a Cozumel + Holbox + Isla Majeres in June / July? Is a Cozumel + Holbox + Isla Majeres trip doable in 2 weeks?
3) Thoughts about traveling Mexico as a single female? Is it safe?

Thank you!

 

[KyleAg00]

We went to Isla Mujeres last year. I don't know yet how it is in Belize, but it was very commercialized there. It was almost like just seeing the whale shark at the zoo. All the boats go out to the same spot and when one is spotted they all circle around and lobby for position to drop snorkelers in the water with the whale shark. It was pretty disappointing and I felt bad for the big fish. It was about $250 for my wife and I to spend 20 second with a whale shark with about 150 other people around.

The only caveat I'll put on that review is that there was bad weather for 3 days before we did the trip, so a lot of people had been waiting to go. Others may have had a different experience.

 

[Mike]

We went to Isla Mujeres last year. I don't know yet how it is in Belize, but it was very commercialized there. It was almost like just seeing the whale shark at the zoo. All the boats go out to the same spot and when one is spotted they all circle around and lobby for position to drop snorkelers in the water with the whale shark. It was pretty disappointing and I felt bad for the big fish. It was about $250 for my wife and I to spend 20 second with a whale shark with about 150 other people around.

The only caveat I'll put on that review is that there was bad weather for 3 days before we did the trip, so a lot of people had been waiting to go. Others may have had a different experience.

The bad weather was why there was only one or two whale sharks to see, the bad weather disperses the food the whale sharks eat so they stay down for a few days after bad weather, when the weather gets good again the sun warms the water the food is there and the whale sharks appear in great numbers. It was a zoo because you had 40 boats all trying to avoid having to refund any money, because many have a whale shark guarantee, when there are not many whale sharks they poop a brick and freak out and their entire day is trying to find one shark and everybody converging on it to avoid giving any money back. When it's a good whale shark day there could be up to 150 whale sharks all at once and it's a completely different experience as there are so many whale sharks all you have to do is get in the water and they come at you from all directions.

This picture shows what it looks like on a good day

​

I don't know what the picture would look like for Belize, but that's off of Isla Mujeres. I've done the trip 2 times and one time it was like the picture and the 2nd time it was like your experience.

My advice is if there was bad weather wait at least 3-4 days before going out to see them or it's possible a big waste of your money.

 

[shrkdive]

I went to Isla Mujeres in early August 2012 and had one of the most exciting trips I could have hoped for. We had spent the entire week diving on Cozumel and on the last day prior to our flight home we chose to take the ferry across and pick up a whale shark boat from the Cancun area. The weather was near perfect all week. We motored offshore over 1 hour before hearing on the radio where they had been found. All of the boat captains share sighting information. After a short ride further we located over 40 whale sharks and spent the next 2 hours taking turns snorkeling with them. Our boat had probably 10 passengers so we took turns with 2-3 people in the water at once until you were tired and then changed. We got to go in the water as many times as we wished until everyone was exhausted. There were several other boats in the area but it was not a problem. The captains gave each other plenty of distance

 

[Ralph Capeling]

This is a posting I did April 30th 2013 on my Whale Shark Report. This data is from the researcher sightings (recreational diver ones are not reliable as the same shark could be reported several times) This will give you a reasonable estimate of your chances of seeing whale sharks. For this year to date, you can check my postings on Whale Shark Report 2014.
Regards
Ralph
Today, Tuesday April 30, again divers did not see whale sharks.

I took a look at the historical data and you can see (I hope) that April and May are normaly very reliable for whale shark sightings - the only exception being April 2010 when there were no sightings. Cubera and mutton snapper spawnings peak by a considerable margin each year in May, and May has been 100% reliable for whale shark sightings. Many of our customers are shifting away from whale sharks to some great diving on the barrier reef and atols - hopefully the ones who are hanging in there will find whale sharks tomorrow. It is a real rush when these giants come up from the deep and head straight to your bubbles!
Regards
Ralph

 

[Mike]

It should be pointed out and correct me if I'm wrong, but a major difference between Isla Mujeres in Mexico and the whale sharks in Belize, is that the experience in Mexico is snorkeling, and in Belize it is diving, which would be a very cool experience and is not possible in Mexico unless it happens by accident as their laws don't allow it.

 

[Downing]

Mike, I had wondered about that. All the references to the WS off Isla Mujeres talk about snorkeling. I'd much rather see them while diving.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

At Gladden Spit we take snorkelers as well as divers. The snorkelers follow the diver's bubbles and when the whale shark comes for the bubbles thinking that the bubbles are the spawn, the whale shark sometimes comes to the surface right in the middle of the snorkelers. The best way to observe them in this situation is to stop swimming and just hang loose. I think the worst way is when people jump into the water with their snorkel gear and swim as hard as they can toward the whale shark - which is counter productive for the snorkelers and certainly not making whale shark encounters more sustainable.
Regards
Ralph