Celebrating the Majesty of Sharks.
The best place in the world to see Whale Sharks
I went diving with the whale sharks when I was visting Mexico. I had heard alot about Isla Holbox, but I decided to try the Whale Shark dive around Isla Mujeres, best decision I have ever made! 100 Whale Sharks in ONE day. I believe that the location was just north of Isla Controy, but I'm not entirely sure. I know that this is a place where they are feeding, but the water didnt appear to have a vast amount of plankton, such as the green waters of Isla Holbox, so my question is why would they be hanging out in these waters when such plankton rich waters are just a couple miles away? I didnt see if they were male of female (but with a huge 30-40ft shark coming at you head on, who would check for that type of thing) But perhaps this could be a pre mating ritual? And once they are done feeding, where do they go?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by iDive Sharks on -
Sorry, I can't believe one word or this without photo's!! Haha, great adventure there Adam. Let's hope that folks get to see these aggregations for years to come. Many questions remain unanswered about the rituals of Whale Sharks meaning feedback and observations, such as yours, are worth their weight in gold to the scientific community. Thanks for posting. Cheers, Mark.
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Permalink Reply by Adam Peden on -
haha, I comptlty understand, sounds insane right! Well I couldnt get to many good shots with my little point and shoot, I put it on sea mode and it over exposed all the shots. I'll be heading out there again someday so maybe I'll get some better shots. But check out the blog that Shark Diver Magazine put up, Eli said that they saw around 300 whale sharks in that area! I could barley believe that, haha.
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Permalink Reply by iDive Sharks on
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Holbox, by all accounts was certainly hopping this year with many hundreds of animals encountered. Another great place is the south African coastline from January through early March. The Whaleshark's migrate down along the Mozambique coastline and at times are just a hundred or so meters off the surf line. I was diving the Tiger Sharks in Aliwal Shoal last year for six months (TV production) and during this time frame we would see up to some ten animals per day on either the way to the dive site or on the way back to the launch site, or both. A great place to see these guys too.
Cheers,
Mark.
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Permalink Reply by Josef Benito on -
If whale sharks are your thing, Donsol, a sleepy town in the Philippine province of Sorsogon, hosts what is arguably the largest known annual congregation of whale sharks in the world. Over the last six years, visitor records reveal that 95 percent of tourists that flock to Donsol in the season that runs from November to May, actually get to interact with whale sharks – an amazing record. The greater majority of tourists report up to six interactions in just a single morning.
In March of 2009, a baby whale shark was found in Donsol measuring just 15inches long! The Pilar “pup” was so small, it was very likely born here and could have been what biologists call a neo-nate. Not only is this animal the smallest live whale shark on record ever to be captured and released here in the Philippines (and arguably, anywhere in the world), it is also the first indication that the Philippines, at the apex of the Coral Triangle, is probably one of the places on the planet where these giants of the sea are born. - Attachments:
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donsol brochure.jpg, 105 KB -
pup.jpg, 8 KB
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Permalink Reply by iDive Sharks on
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Hey Josef,
That's an amazing shot of the Baby Whaleshark, who was the photographer? It would be great to get their story on here as a blog posting!
Sorry I completely blanked out the obvious Donsol location in my response, thanks for picking that one up.
Cheers,
Mark.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Luzansky on -
Was this this past season down there? I spent 8 days in Holbox and we took the boat to the area near Contoy, experienced 300-400 whale sharks A DAY for 3 straight days! We were very disappointed that 4th day when there were only an estimated 100-150 whale sharks. Absolutely amazing trip. We have two weeks booked next season!
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Permalink Reply by Adam Peden on
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Yes, last summer. I might have underestimated considering that these creatures are endangered and I thought we were only goinng to see one or two! What a surprise! Nice, are you going to be based in Holbox? I think that the trip to see the Whale Sharks is shorter if you base the trip in Isla Mujeres a nice little island, with some great diving! They have the sleeping sharks cave where sharks can be seen resting there, the sharks that could be seen resting there are bull, carribean reef, and nurse. I saw a nurse shark around there, very cool place! Lots of rays in isla mujeres too! The only problem is the shark fishing, a major problem of course :(. When you were snorkeling with the whale sharks did you happen to notice that some of the sharks had pieces of the upperlobe of the claudial fin and the top of the dorsal fin missing? Maybe cut off by the propeller of a tourist boat that got to close?
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Permalink Reply by Adam Peden on
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That is truley amazing! Have they ever found any other pups close to that size anywhere around the philippines? Has any books recorded it as being that size as a new born? My books "The Sharks of the World" and "The Sharkwatchers Handbook" do not have any information on the size at birth. Does anyone know the estimated life span of the Whale Shark? Would this new find help answer the question on how long these animals live, or does it just complicate things? I know the blue whale would live well into its 90's from what ive read, and the blue whale is born MUCH bigger than 18in, so then would that mean that if a whale shark was to live to be its full size of 60ft it would have to live at least 90 years, is that correct?
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Permalink Reply by Josef Benito on
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That's interesting! Can you post some pics of your adventure to holbox specially the 300 to 400 whale sharks sightings? That must have been an awesome experience.
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