Amadeus023
Contributor
Hello Everyone,
Here we are ready to begin our journey to experience the "once-in-lifetime" opportunity - to see and swim with whale sharks on Isla Holbox, pronounced "HOLE-BOSH". Isla Holbox is a small protected island only 7 miles long & 1 mile wide. Home to 1500 beautiful people who are mainly fishermen, Holbox was founded by Pirates who inter-married with the Mayan locals.
The whale shark is the largest fish on earth so you can imagine how intimidating this could be. We are posing with "Whale Shark Daddy" (Rodrigo) and his wife. I am in the back row wearing one of my do-rag's standing next to my divebuddy, Steve (scubadds49), who is also the one who takes all of the wonderful photos that you see from me. The other two ladies were in our group and they are world travelers from Sante Fe, New Mexico. Steve and I spent two days swimming with the whale sharks after spending three days diving in Cozumel.
Here we are on the boat getting ready to go out to sea. We had 10 people on the boat our first day out and only 8 the second day.
We were greeted by this friendly fellow on our first day out. Our boat pulled up along side him and he was at the surface eating his plankton.
Day #1 went rather well for me because I never came too close to one of these creatures. The second day was another story. Our first turn in the water I went to put my head down to locate the whale shark and realized that I could almost touch it. This was way too close for my comfort and I freaked out and tried to turn to swim in the opposite direction. As a result I ended up knocking Steve's camera out of his hands and it went plunging to the depths below. Steve immediately screamed and then went diving to rescue his camera. Fortunately for me, he rescued his camera. I then found myself hanging onto the divemaster and screaming that we had to get away because the shark was right there - he was too close! The people back on the boat were rather amused by all of this.
Our second swim with a whale shark ended up with me again freaking out because when I finally located the whale shark I realized he was headed straight toward me and again I swam to get away. The divemaster asked me if I was okay and what was wrong. I told him that I saw the size of his head and his mouth and he was heading straight towards me. He asked if I wanted to swim to see him again and I said "no" I have seen enough of him. Let Steve go after him because it is more important that he see him than me. I can't tell you how scary it is when you realize the size of one of these creatures.
Below is the view that I saw heading up towards me. I did not want him to suck me into his mouth only to realize that I was not plankton and then have him spit me out - yuk! Our divemaster was accidentally hit by the tail of one of these creatures last year trying to pull a tourist away and he ended up getting his jaw broken. Steve was obviously not frightened because he managed to photograph him - not me! I ran (swam) as fast as I could.
The island was rather primitive. No cars - only tractor carts to get around on the island because the roads are all made of sand. The restaurants are not enclosed so you dine with the bugs while they dine on you. I have never had to take a cold shower before. We had salamanders crawling on our ceiling at night. I was so happy to get home after those two days. I enjoyed myself, but I am certainly not interested in living like that permanently.
One of my fondest memories is of eating a whole fried fish at a shack (hut) on the beach. It was a bar that also served fried fish and cerviche. Steve had the cerviche and I was the brave soul to try the fish. They had been freshly caught that morning and you could pick your fish from the cooler. I selected a huge grouper for my dining pleasure. It was served with pico de gallo, avocado slices and fresh lime juice. It was so delicious. They served it on grapefruit tree leaves. The presentation was so beautiful. I had so much fun with the "hut" people (as my mom calls them). Here is a photo of me in the "kitchen" with the chef:
You can see more photos from my trip in my photo gallery.
Here are some website links if you wish to read more:
Rodrigo's website is http://holboxwhalesharktours.com
http://bayareadivers.org/dive-holbox-mexico-whale-sharks%2008-10-06.htm
http://bayareadivers.org/dive-holbox-mexico-08-09-06.htm
Here we are ready to begin our journey to experience the "once-in-lifetime" opportunity - to see and swim with whale sharks on Isla Holbox, pronounced "HOLE-BOSH". Isla Holbox is a small protected island only 7 miles long & 1 mile wide. Home to 1500 beautiful people who are mainly fishermen, Holbox was founded by Pirates who inter-married with the Mayan locals.
The whale shark is the largest fish on earth so you can imagine how intimidating this could be. We are posing with "Whale Shark Daddy" (Rodrigo) and his wife. I am in the back row wearing one of my do-rag's standing next to my divebuddy, Steve (scubadds49), who is also the one who takes all of the wonderful photos that you see from me. The other two ladies were in our group and they are world travelers from Sante Fe, New Mexico. Steve and I spent two days swimming with the whale sharks after spending three days diving in Cozumel.
Here we are on the boat getting ready to go out to sea. We had 10 people on the boat our first day out and only 8 the second day.
We were greeted by this friendly fellow on our first day out. Our boat pulled up along side him and he was at the surface eating his plankton.
Day #1 went rather well for me because I never came too close to one of these creatures. The second day was another story. Our first turn in the water I went to put my head down to locate the whale shark and realized that I could almost touch it. This was way too close for my comfort and I freaked out and tried to turn to swim in the opposite direction. As a result I ended up knocking Steve's camera out of his hands and it went plunging to the depths below. Steve immediately screamed and then went diving to rescue his camera. Fortunately for me, he rescued his camera. I then found myself hanging onto the divemaster and screaming that we had to get away because the shark was right there - he was too close! The people back on the boat were rather amused by all of this.
Our second swim with a whale shark ended up with me again freaking out because when I finally located the whale shark I realized he was headed straight toward me and again I swam to get away. The divemaster asked me if I was okay and what was wrong. I told him that I saw the size of his head and his mouth and he was heading straight towards me. He asked if I wanted to swim to see him again and I said "no" I have seen enough of him. Let Steve go after him because it is more important that he see him than me. I can't tell you how scary it is when you realize the size of one of these creatures.
Below is the view that I saw heading up towards me. I did not want him to suck me into his mouth only to realize that I was not plankton and then have him spit me out - yuk! Our divemaster was accidentally hit by the tail of one of these creatures last year trying to pull a tourist away and he ended up getting his jaw broken. Steve was obviously not frightened because he managed to photograph him - not me! I ran (swam) as fast as I could.
The island was rather primitive. No cars - only tractor carts to get around on the island because the roads are all made of sand. The restaurants are not enclosed so you dine with the bugs while they dine on you. I have never had to take a cold shower before. We had salamanders crawling on our ceiling at night. I was so happy to get home after those two days. I enjoyed myself, but I am certainly not interested in living like that permanently.
One of my fondest memories is of eating a whole fried fish at a shack (hut) on the beach. It was a bar that also served fried fish and cerviche. Steve had the cerviche and I was the brave soul to try the fish. They had been freshly caught that morning and you could pick your fish from the cooler. I selected a huge grouper for my dining pleasure. It was served with pico de gallo, avocado slices and fresh lime juice. It was so delicious. They served it on grapefruit tree leaves. The presentation was so beautiful. I had so much fun with the "hut" people (as my mom calls them). Here is a photo of me in the "kitchen" with the chef:
You can see more photos from my trip in my photo gallery.
Here are some website links if you wish to read more:
Rodrigo's website is http://holboxwhalesharktours.com
http://bayareadivers.org/dive-holbox-mexico-whale-sharks%2008-10-06.htm
http://bayareadivers.org/dive-holbox-mexico-08-09-06.htm
