Snorkeling with Whalesharks!!! - June 3, 2006
Well, how to start? If you are a scuba diver there are a few things out there in the oceans that you just want to see once in your lifetime. And the Whaleshark is one of these animals!
The trip we booked was actually 190.- USD... so only by that you can see how important these Whalesharks are to divers. And it wasn't even a diving trip, it was "only" a snorkeling trip. But more to that later.
What is it about these Whalesharks? Well, they are actually the biggest fish in the world, up to ca 18m long. They live on plankton and they are rather rare and only appear in certain places on this planet. And a lot of things about the Whalesharks are actually still unknown.
It started at 3.30h in the morning, with a 2hrs bumpy ride in a big van to the northern coast of the Yucatan peninsula. The we got onto a small little boat which seemed really small. And then it even started to rain and it was awfully cold... not the best start of a new day and I wasn't very hopeful that we would see just one single Whaleshark.
But then the weather cleared up and pretty soon we spotted the first Whaleshark:
These animals are about 10m long! And really impressive and beautiful.
So as soon as we got close enough with the small boat (it made sense now because it is easy to navigate) two snorkelers and a guide hope into the water and tried to get as close as possible!
(in lucky situations like this, you can actually snorkel with two Whalesharks at the time; on this picture you can see one on the right and also another one on the left hand side of the picture).
I only have a really simple underwater camera and so the pictures are not perfect but it gives you an impression of how big and how beautiful these animals are:
Usually the Whaleshark is followed by a lot of other smaller fish who also feed on plankton.
I was on this trip with friend from Switzerland - Elena & Aris - who also happen to be here at the time (and those of you who follow this Webblog remember them from Antigua, Guatemala). And Aris took a lot of pictures with a digital underwater camera and worked on the pictures with Photoshop, so this is of course an even better picture of a Whaleshark.
So this was it, the massive Whaleshark, what an extraordinary experience!
And on the way back to shore we passed some beautiful places at the north end of the Holbox ("ol-bosh") Island:
Huge groups (flocks?) of Flamingos...
... once again some Pelicans:
Definitely a really beautiful spot:
The trip we booked was actually 190.- USD... so only by that you can see how important these Whalesharks are to divers. And it wasn't even a diving trip, it was "only" a snorkeling trip. But more to that later.
What is it about these Whalesharks? Well, they are actually the biggest fish in the world, up to ca 18m long. They live on plankton and they are rather rare and only appear in certain places on this planet. And a lot of things about the Whalesharks are actually still unknown.
It started at 3.30h in the morning, with a 2hrs bumpy ride in a big van to the northern coast of the Yucatan peninsula. The we got onto a small little boat which seemed really small. And then it even started to rain and it was awfully cold... not the best start of a new day and I wasn't very hopeful that we would see just one single Whaleshark.
But then the weather cleared up and pretty soon we spotted the first Whaleshark:
These animals are about 10m long! And really impressive and beautiful.
So as soon as we got close enough with the small boat (it made sense now because it is easy to navigate) two snorkelers and a guide hope into the water and tried to get as close as possible!
(in lucky situations like this, you can actually snorkel with two Whalesharks at the time; on this picture you can see one on the right and also another one on the left hand side of the picture).
I only have a really simple underwater camera and so the pictures are not perfect but it gives you an impression of how big and how beautiful these animals are:
Usually the Whaleshark is followed by a lot of other smaller fish who also feed on plankton.
I was on this trip with friend from Switzerland - Elena & Aris - who also happen to be here at the time (and those of you who follow this Webblog remember them from Antigua, Guatemala). And Aris took a lot of pictures with a digital underwater camera and worked on the pictures with Photoshop, so this is of course an even better picture of a Whaleshark.
So this was it, the massive Whaleshark, what an extraordinary experience!
And on the way back to shore we passed some beautiful places at the north end of the Holbox ("ol-bosh") Island:
Huge groups (flocks?) of Flamingos...
... once again some Pelicans:
Definitely a really beautiful spot:
Peppo - 6. Jun, 18:44
