Swimming With Whale Sharks

We arranged the trip through our hotel but one could easily just go anywhere in town advertising tours and likely get the  same thing.  It's all a pretty organized racket.  The golf cart showed up at 7:00 am at our hotel, Posada La Catrina, and took us to the dock, handed us off to a guide who communicated with the captains and led us to a boat.  Snorkeling with whale sharks is highly regulated and they don't mess around.  Only 8 passengers in the boat with 2 crew are allowed, but there doesn't seem to be a limit on the number of boats permitted as about 10 boats were filling up with tourists when we arrived.  There are wildlife regulations to follow as well, the boats can only be a certain distance from the animals and only the guide and 2 tourists in the water at a time.  There is also a no touching rule, needed because we got so close we literally could reach out and touch them.  We paid $100 per person for the trip which I think is pretty standard.  

A word of warning about that boat trip to the whale shark migration sight.  If you are prone to any motion sickness whatsoever do not eat any breakfast.  People were up chucking their continentals within 15 minutes.  The boat is covered with an awning but layer on the sunscreen or wear a shirt.  Use the bathroom before you go because the ride is a slammer....and you can't pee with the whale sharks because you aren't in the water very long.  Lastly, I wish I would have taken ibuprofen before we left.  My back is incredibly stiff and sore from 2 hours of slamming the waves in open water.  It was a rough ride.....and the seas were calm! It's a looooooong ride.  

Open water! For real, the island was just  to of view.  We were in deep gulf waters but I was absolutely determined not to be scared.  When we got to the sight they said ok we need two people now! There is a sense of urgency because the massive creatures are migrating and feeding, it's not like you know what their exact itinerary is, it's easy to miss your chance.  So we volunteered to go first....get the fins on! Here's the mask! Jump in right after me!  Ok here we go dropping ourselves off the side of the boat into water so deep there was no seeing the bottom.

Those are photos of the couple that went after us.  You get 2 opportunities to snorkel.  Maya had an underwater camera case and took this  video it will make you a little dizzy but it was really hard to capture the moment in open water. 

After snorkeling you get back in the oat and they take your to a little reef.  Not the best snorkeling but we did see 2 manta rays and had some fun.

The third stop on the tour is to a river delta where we walked around a bit and got sun burned.  We also ate the most amazing ceviche I have ever had, that they made for us on the boat. 

After a long rest we followed the evening routine of sunset watching at the pier, eating street tacos, gambling at Mexican bingo (la loteria), and eating a marquesita which is a crepe with Nutella.  

We will do the exact same thing tonight and tomorrow !