Whale shark sighting 2012

[Ralph Capeling]

Chad, we will have room assuming weather permits. The other three months are better from a weather point of view than June. To book, e-mail Patty and patricia@splashbelize.com.
When you get here, can you fill me in on the difficulty you had with our website?
Regards
Ralph

Hey Ralph I am going to be in Placencia and would like to dive June 5-7, or whenever day would work for whale sharks. I tried going to website but no response, let me know if u have room
Chad

 

[cfortin]

Hey Ralph than for getting back to me, I left multiple emails with no response. Getting close really got to book sooon

 

[Downing]

Chad, I'm flying out in a couple of hours and will be in Placencia tomorrow in time for a late lunch.

See ya' on the boat!

 

[New Scuba Guy]

Well, you're going to the right place if you're planning to do more than just diving. Placencia is a great jumping off point for trekking through the jungle, touring Mayan ruins and visiting local villages untouched by tourism, especially if you head for the Toledo District. The drive up and down the Hummingbird Highway to the Cayo District is beyond cool. And San Ignacio is well worth checking out.

Regardless of what you do, you'll have a great time.

As far as the elusive WS, you probably already know the prime "season" is in April and May. Last June we did four tanks over two days without success, but there's always next time. I'll be out there chasing them again when the fishermen give the green light. Otherwise, I'll be in and out of the water diving and running around the countryside again.

We just came back from Belize late last night and it was more than I had bargained for; just wish we had more time. Monkey River Rain Forest Trek, Mayan Ruins at Luubentaal, Actun Tinichil Muknal Cave,and of course the diving. We had 2 reef dives at Laughing Bird Caye on Monday; the 2nd dive our divemaster killed 4 Lionfish. We changed our Whale Shark Dive dates. Originally we were booked for Monday and Tuesday. We changed them to Wednesday and Saturday. On the 2nd dive on Wednesday while at about 70 feet, we had a 35 footer below us at about 100 feet. Just caught about a 5 second glance of it, but we saw the head, the spots, and the unmistakeable silhouette. On Saturday after our 1st dive of the day, we were practically begging the divemaster to take us wall diving so that we could see something. We were being battered by constant 6-7 swells, and while leaving the reef we inhabited for lunch to head back out to Gladden Spit, our Divemaster, Doran had a feeling. He got up on the bow and within 20 seconds he was going nuts. "Guys, gear up! Masks and snorkels only"! We had a 20 footer by the boat. We had it in our sights for about 10 minutes. I was able to get about 15-20 seconds total video of it because we were getting the crap knocked out of us by the waves. Nonetheless, what a magnificent beast! He came within 10 feet of us in the water and to see the head, the mouth, the spots, the Remoras with it, was absolutely surreal. I was fortunate enough to be with the Divemasters that had the only 2 reported sightings for the week. But I learned the cruel reality of Whale Shark diving; it's pretty monotonous if there are no Sharks there. Just blue water and whatever else happens to swim by. In our case 3 Bull Sharks, a Scallopes Hammerhead, a pod of about 12 Bottlenose Dolphins, 2 Barracuda, and a couple schools of Snappers and Jacks. Would I do it again? Abso-freakin'-lutely!!

---------- Post added ----------

Today Friday May 11 was a very good whale shark diving day! We had three boats out - two with divers and one with snorkelers. On the first dive, the divers were at 70 feet and saw two whale sharks at 80 to 90 feet (about 10 to 15 feet away). One was estimated to be 20 to 25 feet and one was over 30 feet. During the surface interval snorkeling inside the reef they saw lots of reef fish and barracuda plus saw eight squid! On the second dive, they saw a bull shark, 2 balck tip sharks, lots of snapper at 80 to 90 feet depth and saw a really big one very very deep. At the end of the dive, a whale shark came to less than 15 feet from the surface and all of the snorkelers and divers were in the water for a good close up look! It was the one that is missing part of its fin - I think I have a photo of that one somewhere and if I can find it I will put it on our website. And to make the day even more perfect, they saw dolphins on the boat ride home!
Regards
Ralph

---------- Post added May 12th, 2012 at 06:04 PM ----------

TodaSaturday May 12 was not a good whale shark diving day (although like almost every other day here, it was a great diving and snorkelling day). We only had one boat out (people coming in from the US, Canada, etc tend to arrive and depart on the weekends so we only had one boat out today.
Regards
Ralph

The Whale Shark we had at our boat (the Golden Hamlet from Roberts Grove)on Saturday, had the top of its tail missing.