Oh whatta feelin’…to swim with whalesharks!!!
The sun hadn’t even come up, and I had been half dozing in the front seat of a freezing transport van headed down some of the roughest roads from hell. Until finally we arrived in Chilquila, the port town where boats and ferries depart for Isla Holbox. Just another trip which I was the guide on. And a sleepy one. But I knew I would spark to life as soon as we were on the water.
Why would anyone want to wake up at 3 am in the morning to make a trip from Playa del Carmen, across the Yucatan to the North, and go to Isla Holbox? Isla Holbox is a national park and game reserve. The island itself offers tidy accommodations on very quiet white beaches. In the interior of the island, it turns into saltwater flats where you can see baby spotted eagle rays, flamingos and various other types of wildlife. You can even fly fish here for bonefish and permit. But the real excitement lies offshore. Roughly 30 miles towards Cuba and we run into and area where two major currents converge creating a thick plankton belt. Here you can find schools of sardines and shrimps near the surface. Now…where you find these three things you will also find their three biggest predators….dolphins, manta rays, and of course….WHALESHARKS!!! and lots of them! Massive 45 footers to 8 foot babies. And they all are feeding together from dawn until about 12 pm. So you had to get there early!
We jet across a bay to the outside or windward side of the island. This is where the park check-in pier is. And boy was it a bustling pier at 8 am in the morning! Our Mexican contact “Elvis”…no kiddin’… a Mexican with the legal name Elvis… helped get us checked in and some coffee then we were off. As we got under way, I hand out water and croissants for breakfast, and Elvis informed all the guests about the whalesharks and the Do’s and Don’ts with the gentle beasts. After about 2 hours of skimming along in the green, flat Gulf of Mexico I went to the spotters tower with my camera. This was a birds-eye view where I could spot not only schools of fish or creel but I could see manta rays swimming under the surface.
“Dolphins…9 o’clock!!!”, I shout. The captain slows the boat and turns the nose to the right. There were probably 8-10 with a couple of young males jumping and playing…It was quite a sight!!! After maybe 20 minutes of watching them I reminded the guest we still had bigger things to see. We turned the boat back towards the East and powerful twin engines roared to life. I took my perch again and took out the camera. I knew with those dolphins, the whalesharks wouldn’t be far behind. And just like that out of the blue, to the left and to the right there were multiple fins leaning out of the water. Sometimes two or three together. The captain slowed the boat down immediately! You wouldn’t want to hit one of these giants in a boat ant any speed! Elvis helps everyone into their equipment as I video a whaleshark as long as our 32 foot boat passing with in feet of the bow swimming around to the stern. If there was anyone still half dozing on the boat…they were up and wide awake now!
Over the next three hours, me and my guest enjoyed swimming right up next to the world’s largest fish. I would go with 2 guest at a time to snorkel over and view the shark up close and personal! Since this is a national park, most the whalesharks have tags with numbers on them. There have been roughly 500 whalesharks tagged. Some even had satellite GPS beacons tagged to them. I was surprised and honored when Elvis asked me for footage of the tags for research use. I was helping the animals in an indirect way and the people who study them.
But the best part of my day was seeing the smiling faces on everyone, regardless of nationality, having fun together. The experience shared by all will be remembered by all forever. And the ride back wasn’t bad either. After swimming my butt off with a video camera in hand…holding my breath, diving under the whaleshark…for three hours….I would fall asleep back by the humming engines on the 2 hour ride back to Isla Holbox. We all made a quick bathroom break and we were off again. Back across the bay to the awaiting transport van where Elvis bid us all farewell, and we piled into the van. Everyone completely destroyed from the day’s activities, we all fell asleep for the 3 hour ride back to Playa del Carmen. Back in the cozy town of Playa, we all said our good byes, knowing that with us we took the memory of one of the greatest adventures of our lives.
Join me on a Fantasea Dive whale shark tour!
