Day 4

Whale Sharks, Ahoy!

We got an early start, anxious to get on the water and find whale sharks and other aquatic life. Guided by Willy’s Whale Shark Tours, we loaded into two boats and headed out a few miles from shore. As we were cutting across the water, we came up on a large yellow-tinted mass below us. It was an enormous school of cownose rays. Marjorie and Julie quickly threw on their masks and fins and jumped over the side (Marjorie with underwater camera in tow). They floated with the mass of rays until they disappeared from sight, then rejoined the group and we pressed on.

We began spotting boats, an indicator whale sharks were in the area. The two boats split up slightly in search of animals. Our captain was an expert at spotting whale sharks in the vast blue, and soon we had found what we were in search of – a huge whale shark was swimming straight at our boat. In groups of two at a time, we began taking turns getting in the water and swimming alongside the whale sharks. At first, it was easy to swim with the fish, but it quickly gained speed and managed to outswim all of us. Marianna, one of our tour guides, was our champion swimmer. She was able to keep up the longest. And Abraham, one of our terrific guides, was able to swim alongside long enough to get underwater pictures and footage. Many of us climbed back into the boat, fatigued, not realizing how hard we had been swimming to keep up with the gentle giants.

After spending several hours on the water, we headed back to shore to get ready for dinner with the researchers at the hotel. We spotted something familiar on our way back – another pod of dolphins.

At dinner, researchers from Georgia Aquarium and Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, FL, joined us to talk about the research they are conducting on this aggregation of whale sharks and what they hope to learn from it. The group is placing satellite tags on whale sharks as a part of Project Domino, a collaboration of Mote Marine Laboratory, Georgia Aquarium and Mexican researchers. Georgia Aquarium researchers are also taking plankton samples to understand the nutritional make-up of the plankton in the water that brings hundreds, if not thousands, of whale sharks there every summer to feed.

2 Swimmers