For years now I´ve dreamed of swimming with whale sharks. No idea why really -- the big beasts have just fascinated me since the first time I heard of their existence and the fact that they are docile and actually enjoy human company (and not as a snack).
I thought that I would only be able to reach my goal of swimming with them by visiting the Seychelles, which are quite far away and quite a pretty penny to reach, so I tabled my dream until a day when money would begin to fall from the sky.
Then I somehow heard of the small island of Holbox off the north tip of the Yucatan Peninsula and the fact that the whale sharks migrate there as they follow their food, plankton, during the months of July through September primarily.
This couldn´t have been a better discovery for me than if I had somehow waved a wand and made it happen somehow. My best friend lives in the Yucatan Peninsula, and I was overdue a visit to her, so we worked Holbox into our plans.
The trip there from Playa del Carmen was an adventure in itself. Driving on unfamiliar roads that go on for kilometers and kilometers through dense tropical foliage in a deluge of never-ending rain is enough to make the most intrepid traveller second guess her desire to swim with the largest fish on the planet. But we trekked onward and finally arrived at the small town of Chiquila shortly after the storm finally broke.
Immediately upon our arrival in the small coastal town, a young boy appeared running alongside our car and directed us to his family´s (or his employer´s) parking facility. It was a luxury one, let me tell you, with a tin roof covering for the car that just barely contained space for her tiny Volkswagon to fit.
From there we took the equally luxurious taxi service of a boy on his converted bicycle who carried our suitcases and our two daughters while my friend and I walked alongside in the newly falling rain. I use sarcasm here, yes, but I loved every minute of the unique experience.
We arrived two blocks later at the dock and bought our tickets (80 pesos each) for the ferry that would take us the short ways to the island of Holbox. Due to the weather, we rode inside instead of on top as we would have liked to have done -- fortunately, on the return trip two days later, the sun was shining and we were able to enjoy a ride in the seats on top of the ferry.
The moment we got to Holbox, I knew it was special. My advance research had prepared me for the lack of cars and the abundance of golf carts, but I was still a bit astounded to see them being used and even painted up as taxis. We hailed one, if you can even call walking up to the nearest waiting driver and asking for a ride "hailing" one.
The streets of the town are all of sand, a very white, soft sand that has been pounded down by the tracks of the golf carts. I did discover a few vehicles besides golf carts on the island, but they were few and far between and most comprised of small motorbikes. People walk or drive their golf carts or ride their bikes.
We stayed at a lovely residence/inn, and the owners´ son was quite helpful in arranging our whale shark excursion; however, arranging one on your own is quite easy as there are an abundance of people offering rides out to see and swim with the sharks.
The following morning we awoke early and awaited our taxi. The man arrived and took us to the dock and walked us to our boat. There were many there awaiting their clients for the day. Each boat is small and can only accomodate anywhere from six to ten people.
Ours held 10 counting the four of us. In addition there was our captain, Diego, his assistant, the very talkative and heavily tattoed Marcelo, and our diving guide, Franklin. The others were a polite and quiet family of four and a very annoying late middle-aged couple who monopolized the assistant and made general pests of themselves during the dives. (If I ever return as I would like to, I will pay the extra money for a private boat to be sure I never have to put up with people like them.)
When the boats go out, it is anybody´s guess if they will even be able to find the whale sharks. They make no promises. They have to go out and search for them, and it is a very big ocean.
We drove for quite awhile, and then suddenly the captain pointed ahead and said "delfines." He came to a stop so we could have a good view of the dolphins frolicking and jumping out of the water. We didn´t get close enough for a really good view of them, but seeing them in their element was priceless.
Then we continued onward, and some of the passengers even dozed off to the lull of the boat, but not me. I didn´t pay 100 dollars to take a nap on a boat. I love looking at the water because I live nowhere near it in my real life, so the view itself was worth the money paid, and I revelled in it.
Then, quite suddenly, we came upon a collection of boats bobbing up and down in the water, and the moment I´d long dreamed about was there. Whale sharks! A bunch of them feeding on their plankton and swimming around the boats and near the people already in the water with them.
We slowed and came to a stop. And that´s when it hit all of us. Seasickness. Horrible, horrendous, hideous seasickness. We hadn´t felt it at all while the boat was clipping along over the waves, but once we started bobbing up and down with the waves we all felt very naseous.
Two, both men from the quiet family of four, of our party were suddenly vomiting over the side of the boat. At least my daughter and I managed to quash our need to hurl even though it was quite overpowering. My friend also managed to remain vomit-free, but her young daughter got quite ill, and she had to spend the whole time consoling her while the rest of us took our turns with the great fish.
The annoying couple of course had to be the first ones in the water. You can only go in two at a time with the guide, and you have to jump in quickly when a shark swims by and attempt to swim fast enough to keep up with it long enough to get a good look at it.
My daughter and I were the last to go in. Right before I jumped, a wave of nausea hit me hard, but I kept it down and managed to get into the water without throwing up on the way down. Being in the cool sea helped immensely and the seasickness vanished right away.
Sadly, I had a faulty mask and didn´t realize it until later, so the water kept rushing into my nose and I did more gagging on salt water than actual viewing of the sharks on my first time in the water. The reason to go two at a time is so that you can hold the guide´s hands as he attempts to keep you alongside the nearest shark.
The giant fish are just that --giant fish. They are breathtaking, though, and at no time did I feel any fear of them or the deep water we were in. This was probably mostly due to me trying to breathe and stay alive despite the water flowing up my nose!
We discovered that they are very quick, and just as soon as one appears he also quickly disappears. They are also very difficult to see from above in the boat because their coloration blends in perfectly with the water in which they swim, so I am hoping that the few photos I was able to take below the water with my waterproof disposable camera turn out (the photo above is not my photo but rather one I am borrowing from Google images).
I later took a second turn in the water with the annoying woman who swam off by herself and left me alone with Franklin, which was fine with me since he found a beautiful manta ray swimming nearby and pulled me along behind it for a ways. I also spent more time in the water actually seeing the sharks this time despite the fact that I still had the faulty mask --I just focused more on holding my breath and looking than on actually attempting to snorkel the way I was supposed to be doing.
You can´t touch the whale sharks, and I doubt I would want to anyway, although I can imagine a lot of selfish people out there who would want to do just that. They glide by so quickly that it would be difficult to catch up to one fast enough to touch it anyway, but they don´t need to be touched to be admired and appreciated.
I still cannot believe that I actually did it. I swam with whale sharks. I completed a dream. Now, of course, I want to return to Holbox to do it all over and to this time take some motion-sickness medicine before I get on the boat.
Holbox is a long, narrow island with a small population. I hope it remains that way and that cars continue to be banned by and large and that the streets never get paved. I hope the whale sharks continue to thrive and return there each summer/fall and that the number of people wanting to go out and swim with them is abundant yet not to the point where the selfishness and greediness of humans end up harming the most magnificent creature in the sea.
