The Whale Shark

[diverjed]

steleehin once bubbled...
If you are in new orleans ,i guess thats what n.o. stands for take a trip to the flower gardens ,there is a high likely hood to run into whale sharks there ,just dont get dumb when near them ,most times you can snorkel next to them , i cant because i dont dive with a snorkel but others do .
i am talking about snorkeling not diving . there are lots of whale shark sightings there and they are friendly ,not jaws .

So there is diving in Louisiana??

I've been down there twice in the past 3 years and I have a helluva time getting local dives hooked up, they always tell me to go over to Mississippi.

 

[Rick Inman]

I was diving in Puerta Vallarta, Mx last month and the DM had recent pics of her and others snorkeling with a whale shark. We never saw one though, which only proves that the old saying is true: "You shoulda' been here last week."

 

[Pic1360]

Seen the picture, DivePartner1. It's head and taill are cut off, but
I do reconize the connect-the-dots design on its body and its fin! A bigger lens is required. But great picture overall.

 

[scubajoe]

We were in Utila in March. We stay at Laguna Beach Resort. The place to see whale sharks in March. The two boat captains take whale shark sightings real personal. It is like a competition between them, each trying to make their divers have the best sightings. They cruise around looking for bait balls during surface intervals and somehow see the whale sharks. When they see a bait ball they have everyone put on snorkel gear and sit on the back of the boat. They pull up close as they can and give the word to get in and look down. We got a short glimpse of one as he was going deep. It looked huge to me but they said it was a small one. Heck, I thought it was a spotted submarine! Huge!
After he went away we got back on the boat and assumed the launch position for quite some time until they decided the whale sharks were gone. I got the sunburn of my life whale "hunting" but I'd do it again. We came across a pod of dolphns going between dive sites and did the same thing with them. The other boat didn't see WS the day we did so the went back lookng in the afternoon and had a really great incounter with an older and much more friendly WS. He swam throught the group with a marlin trailing him, the turned around and swam back to the group. He stopped right in the middle of the group for pictures. The video was great. I hope to go back to LBR next spring and see if I can get some WS photos. By the way, LBR in Utila is the best land based operator I have dove with. No stress at all.
Later,
Joe

 

[DivePartner1]

I agree completely about LBR. Its a great place in all respects. They were very acccomodating in helping get be to the village daily to deal with an email dialogue I couldn't postpone. Great diving nice people, unique accomodations.

 

[suzie q]

Some good shots of the head here:

http://www.scubatechnwfl.com/whaleshark.html

 

[Utila Simon]

Hi,

They pose no threat to humans and to swim with these animals is an incredible moment. I live on Utila and have encountered several in my time here and off Holbox, Mexico. They are awesome, although you should know that they do in fact have teeth, about 300 rows of them, they just dont use them for feeding... it is believed that these teeth are used in mating but as this happens at great depths no-one knows for sure!

I wish you luck in your future attempts at encountering Whale Sharks, Utila in Feb through to May is a great bet!

Regards

Simon
The Whale Shark and Oceanic Research Center, Utila
www.wsorc.com

Have any of you ever seen a whale shark and are they friendly,
hostle (well maybe not, since they have no teeth) or just don't mind if there are humans swimming along side them?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

So there is diving in Louisiana??

I've been down there twice in the past 3 years and I have a helluva time getting local dives hooked up, they always tell me to go over to Mississippi.

The Flower Gardens are a series of natural coral formations found closer off the coast of Texas than to Louisiana, but we all share the same Gulf so you can get there from either place. You can also rig dive off the coast of Louisiana, some of the best spearfishing in the world.

Apparently Whale Sharks don't mind hanging around rigs either, there were several encounters last year on the rigs offshore from Alabama.

I haven't seen any myself though

 

[Mark Goodchild]

I've seen them in Australia and the Maldives and they are a wonderful sight. See the videos here. Bit grainy because they are from my digital still camera.

 

[alijtaylor]

I saw a couple in Galapagos and they were totally indifferent to we humans, majestic, humungous and totally not interested. As Mitchlen says "worth the journey"

Alison