Whale sharks 2015

[FyshEye]

I get up early and drive into work before the sun rises. The first 10 minutes on the freeway, my drive parallels the ocean on my left or West. On my way into work this morning, I noticed a very large orange ball sinking into the west just above the horizon. I caught myself thinking, "it's almost a full moon. Hopefully there would be our first whale Shark from Ralph."

Unfortunately, there is no such report. I am sure we will have some news in a day or two.

While we wait, I will post an image from the @GeorgiaAquarium The is the closest I have been to a Whale Shark to date.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

Fish Eye, like you, I also drove to work before the sun rose and saw the same full moon - we had a trip going to Glover's Atoll that left at 6:00 am and "official" sunrise was 6:08 am.
At Splash, we promote whale shark diving for April and May as those are the months with the best track record for whale shark encounters. That said, lots of people show up in March and June anyway and want to dive with the whale sharks and we will certainly take them if we have confidence that there is a good chance for a whale shark encounter (customer satisfaction is really important to us as well as to the guests who have laid out the expense to get here). We are doing a reconnaissance trip to the whale shark zone today (no guests, just crew) and I will report our findings.
Regards and enjoy that early morning drive. Patty and I look east to see the sea as we drive in.
Regards
Ralph

I get up early and drive into work before the sun rises. The first 10 minutes on the freeway, my drive parallels the ocean on my left or West. On my way into work this morning, I noticed a very large orange ball sinking into the west just above the horizon. I caught myself thinking, "it's almost a full moon. Hopefully there would be our first whale Shark from Ralph."

Unfortunately, there is no such report. I am sure we will have some news in a day or two.

While we wait, I will post an image from the @GeorgiaAquarium The is the closest I have been to a Whale Shark to date.

---------- Post added March 5th, 2015 at 04:37 PM ----------

I called SEA and the person I spoke to said no lights. You may want to go to talk to them while you are here to see if you can get a dispensation.
Regards
Ralph

I will be heading down to Belize again this April during the week of April 5 (Birthday) thru April 12^th. I tried to hook up with Splash, but they are all booked up for the week. However, I was able to find another reputable D/O that had a few open spots for the Whale Sharks.

I am a photographer, and I am going at this time to Photograph the Whale Sharks. I went to the S.E.A. Belize website and found the rules/etiquette Whale Shark Tourism Interaction Guidelines on diving with the Whale Sharks. I was specifically looking up the rules for using a flash/strobes. What I found was #6 “NO FLASH Photography”. I am OK with that rule. Not surprising this rule is in-line with most dive operations around the world in regards to photographing whale sharks. However, I could not find a policy about using video lights? Video lights would give me a constant light source to get proper color correction.

Does anyone have any firsthand knowledge of the policy use of video lights while diving & photographing the Whale Sharks?

P.S. I will be using a Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens, using a red color correction filter will not work on this lens.

We did the reconnaissance to the whale shark zone today March 5. No sign of whale sharks. No sign of the snapper aggregation.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

Did another reconnaissance trip to the whale shark zone today by a guest who is running out of time - he had a great time and a great dive but did not see whale sharks or the snapper.
Regards
Ralph

 

[FyshEye]

Did another reconnaissance trip to the whale shark zone today by a guest who is running out of time - he had a great time and a great dive but did not see whale sharks or the snapper.
Regards
Ralph

Wow! I hope there is a better showing for April. I would hate to have a no show for April too...

 

[Downing]

Ralph, can you start a new thread with the date of 2015? It might not be immediately apparent that you're now talking about this year.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

March is historically has the lowest success rate for whale shark encounters at Gladden Spit. April and May have the best success rate. June can be excellent but tends to be windier sometimes resulting unsafe conditions. Our boats can handle the waves but it can be dangerous getting back onto the boats.
Regards
Ralph

 

[danvolker]

March is historically has the lowest success rate for whale shark encounters at Gladden Spit. April and May have the best success rate. June can be excellent but tends to be windier sometimes resulting unsafe conditions. Our boats can handle the waves but it can be dangerous getting back onto the boats.
Regards
Ralph

What size boats...and what do you consider to be big waves? I only get concerned about how well the crew protects my camera when I hand it up....a Canon 5 d in an Aquatica housing...so fairly heavy...and needs to be skillfully grabbed in big seas.

 

[Downing]

Ralph, can you start a new thread with the date of 2015? It might not be immediately apparent that you're now talking about this year.

Um, nevermind. me---> :toiletclaw:

 

[Ralph Capeling]

What size boats...and what do you consider to be big waves? I only get concerned about how well the crew protects my camera when I hand it up....a Canon 5 d in an Aquatica housing...so fairly heavy...and needs to be skillfully grabbed in big seas.

The smallest boat is 39 feet. We don't go our when there are five to seven foot waves or more and we take the view of our senior boat captain for lesser waves (example organized vs disorganized seas, wind direction, etc)
Regards
Ralph

 

[FyshEye]

Ralph, any news for this month? Also any idea what the current water temp is at the Spit? I am in the process of packing my gear for next week. If I don't have to pack my shorty or jacket, I'd prefer to travel light with just a rash guard.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk