ConchyJoe
Contributor
We are going to Roatan in April for a week, staying and diving in West Bay.
Are there any areas known for Whale Sharks?
Are there any areas known for Whale Sharks?
Whale Sharks in Roatan?
- Thread starter ConchyJoe
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April is the optimum time - on Utila...
See if you can find someone doing day trips over - it's about a 2hr. run. Subway Watersports is one option: Utila Whale Shark safari - day trip from Roatan
Coconut Tree Divers had talked about it, IDK if they are now. Specialty Trips | Scuba Diving | Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras | PADI
You also can't technically dive with them - it's snorkel only legally - unless one swims overhead.
See if you can find someone doing day trips over - it's about a 2hr. run. Subway Watersports is one option: Utila Whale Shark safari - day trip from Roatan
Coconut Tree Divers had talked about it, IDK if they are now. Specialty Trips | Scuba Diving | Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras | PADI
You also can't technically dive with them - it's snorkel only legally - unless one swims overhead.
OP
ConchyJoe
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Thanks for the info Steve, I was aware of snorkel only. It is a check mark my wife wants. We used to snorkel with them off Palm Beach when I was a kid, it is very cool.
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But apparently any time (even December) on Roatan: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bay-islands/441795-whale-shark-shore-dive-zone-cocoview.html
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Seriously Doc, you really want to go there...
Let's talk probabilities.
Let's talk probabilities.
OK But lets talk them honestly, what are the probabilities even for those that visit Utila during the season? What are the probabilities for someone visiting Utila for a few hours on a day trip? Sure, some people spot them year round but Utila is hardly the shark schooling mecca that it is made out to be by a few promoters. If whale sharks are the main focus there are many places with much better probabilities of seeing them
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ConchyJoe
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Totally agree with RTB. For the $700 someone is going to charge me to go over there, I can save that money and spend at on airfare AND hotel to go to Isla Mujeres. And have a significantly better chance..
other than isla mujeres i've never found a place "with much better probabilities of seeing them". certainly not within a couple of hours of the u.s.
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It's a crap shoot anywhere - except Okinawa where they're in a pen.
You guys can pick it apart all you want but the reality is that the Roatan dive operators are offering whale shark excursions to see them on Utila. No one on Utila is offering whale shark excursions to Roatan. None of the things I've read here, on Ecocean (whalesharks.org) or elsewhere indicate Roatan is a hotspot for whale shark sightings either.
Why is that? Anybody?
No one in the Roatan dive industry that I'm aware of promotes coming to Roatan to see them, yet several of the dive operators on Utila do. Deep Blue has it embedded in their website - if they weren't able to deliver on that word would get out fast and they'd change it - or be out of business. And they're not the only ones - Laguna Beach even has one in their logo - and at the bottom of their pool IIRC.
I've been to both Roatan and Utila during the "season". Saw 6 on Utila, none on Roatan. So from my perspective Utila is the better option when trying to see whale sharks in the Bay Islands. You didn't mention, Isla Mujeres, Donsol, Tanzania, Belize or anywhere else - had you I would have suggested you go there instead. My buddy dove with more whale sharks than I've seen in one trip last summer to Gladden Spit.
I personally met a whale shark geneticist, she works partly for the Shark Research Institute. She was our expert the week we spent on Utila. Why would she not have gone to Roatan instead?
I'm thru here. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.
Except these exchanges with Doc and RTB are briefly entertaining.
Do they dive at Isla Mujeres? IDK, but I thought it was snorkel only. I've read posts from several people who've been diving off Utila when that big shadow goes over their heads...so at least that's a possibility. Roatan also for that matter - just not as frequently. So either everybody who dives Roatan is keeping a big secret or Utila is better...
Why not save the whole expense and drive downtown to the Aquarium? I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that you'd probably have a 100% chance of diving with them there. Even Utila won't allow that.
You guys can pick it apart all you want but the reality is that the Roatan dive operators are offering whale shark excursions to see them on Utila. No one on Utila is offering whale shark excursions to Roatan. None of the things I've read here, on Ecocean (whalesharks.org) or elsewhere indicate Roatan is a hotspot for whale shark sightings either.
Why is that? Anybody?
No one in the Roatan dive industry that I'm aware of promotes coming to Roatan to see them, yet several of the dive operators on Utila do. Deep Blue has it embedded in their website - if they weren't able to deliver on that word would get out fast and they'd change it - or be out of business. And they're not the only ones - Laguna Beach even has one in their logo - and at the bottom of their pool IIRC.
I've been to both Roatan and Utila during the "season". Saw 6 on Utila, none on Roatan. So from my perspective Utila is the better option when trying to see whale sharks in the Bay Islands. You didn't mention, Isla Mujeres, Donsol, Tanzania, Belize or anywhere else - had you I would have suggested you go there instead. My buddy dove with more whale sharks than I've seen in one trip last summer to Gladden Spit.
I personally met a whale shark geneticist, she works partly for the Shark Research Institute. She was our expert the week we spent on Utila. Why would she not have gone to Roatan instead?
I'm thru here. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.
Except these exchanges with Doc and RTB are briefly entertaining.
i dove gladden spit for a week during the cubarra snapper spawn a couple of years ago and only saw one (although it was amazing as it had a huge pod of dolphins with it), the week before in utila i saw them very day including a day when we saw 5. that said, even between march and may on utila its a crap shoot, sometimes we see them every day for 10-14 days at a time, then we won't see them for 10-14 days. last year wasn't great in april but we'd seen them for two weeks in a row in january, they just refuse to cooperate with hotels "whale shark season" !
the roatan boats are very aggressive (as in they don't follow the "rules of engagement" and just barrel in ahead of boats in line to see them), so if they're around the roatan boat is invariably right on them.
even if you don't see one i'm sure the boat trip between roatan and utila is a fun day.
the roatan boats are very aggressive (as in they don't follow the "rules of engagement" and just barrel in ahead of boats in line to see them), so if they're around the roatan boat is invariably right on them.
even if you don't see one i'm sure the boat trip between roatan and utila is a fun day.
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