WHALE SHARK WONDERLAND

Whale Sharks by George C. Schellenger

You never forget seeing your first whale shark in the open ocean.

It’s a surreal, mind-expanding experience that directly connects you with all things good about life on Earth. These gentle giants, some 20 feet in length (they can grow to more than 60 feet long), swim around you with one simple goal: to eat all of the delicious, microscopic life they can find. Of course, I’m not really sure if the whale sharks find all the microscopic larvae, fish eggs, and shrimp delicious, but they sure do seem satisfied.

Over the past 10 years during the summer, I’ve made the pilgrimage to the pristine waters off the coast of the Yucatan in the Atlantic to spend time with these massive animals. It is the one expedition open to almost everyone. In fact, every time I get back, I tell my friends, “You need to see this! I mean, really, I’m not kidding, you’ve got to see them. You won’t believe it.”

Let me start at the beginning. The whale shark aggregation off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico, is one of those astonishing wonders you’d expect to find on the television show Blue Planet. In the lifetime I’ve spent in and around the ocean, there are few things like it. The whale sharks come to the waters off the coast of the Yucatan to feed every year between May and September. To see this spectacle, you make your way to Cancun, Mexico, and then it’s an easy ferry ride to the island of Isla Mujeres.

We stay there with Captain Anthony Mendillo, whom we’ve worked with for nearly two decades. His family owns the picturesque hotel Playa La Media Luna, a short distance away from one of the main marinas.

The whale shark day starts early, with a golf cart, taxi cab, or even brisk walk to the marina, with cameras in hand. After breakfast at Ballyhoos Restaurant at the front of the dock (I recommended the egg burrito, bottomless cup of coffee, and just the right amount of hot sauce), you hop on board your boat for the day and head out about 15 miles off the coast.

It takes about an hour or so to find the whale sharks (keep your eyes open for frigate birds, flying fish, or the occasional bait ball). When the boat slowly pulls up to the first whale shark (Rhincodon typus), you instantly see what all the fuss is about.

These massive animals swim at a sea turtle’s pace, mouths open, dorsal fins out of the water, taking in hundreds of gallons of water to feast on tiny morsels of food just below the surface. If you’re as big as a whale shark and you eat tiny life, you need to eat all day. That’s exactly what they do.

Watching from the surface would be enchanting enough, but when you jump in, it’s astonishing. There you are, fin to fin with the largest shark and fish in the sea. At that point, you lose track of time and everything else. Maybe it’s the way the sunlight pierces the crystal clear, blue water to illuminate these impressive giants. Perhaps it’s the pattern on each whale shark’s body— captivating and beautiful (scientists use the pattern to identify individual

animals much like a human fingerprint). It could simply be that you realize our planet is a place of continuous wonder and all you have to do is jump in to see it.

When you have followed one whale shark for a while, here comes another one, this time from a different direction. If you’re lucky, here comes a third. It’s possible to get pictures with three to four of these behemoths on the same frame. On good days, you don’t even have to swim—the whale sharks come to you. Much like a hungry honey badger, the whale shark could care less if you are there. It’s very easy to be hit by a wayward pectoral fin.

Occasionally, you will see a manta ray here. Other times, you will see dozens and dozens of manta rays doing summersaults to take part in the feast as well. Sometimes there is so much food in the water, the whale shark will stop and just feed just below the surface—the locals say the whale shark is in a “botella” (bottle, in Spanish). (Another reason I tell my friends, “Really, you need to see this.”)

In what feels like a matter of minutes, you head back to the boat so the next swimmer can take their turn. Swimming and watching the whale sharks eat can certainly make you hungry, so the crew makes a lunch of ceviche that’s fresh and tasty. You find yourself in a perfect Zen state of peace, relaxed and ready for more, perhaps asking the question, “Can life get better than this, having lunch with whale sharks?”

So, how did this booming business start? Captain Mendillo, of Keen M International Sportfishing Blue Water Encounters, tells me it started as a break from a day of sport fishing. “Once a whale shark was spotted, fishing was quickly forgotten. All activity stopped and ‘bloop,’ everyone was out of the boat.” Photographers and ecotourism soon followed as word spread.

He says whale shark tourism has helped protect wildlife in the seas around Isla Mujeres. “The boat operators are making 10 times the money with tourism than they would be if they were out harvesting other marine life.”

Whale sharks are endangered globally. Guy Harvey says all Caribbean countries have a stake in how creatures like this are protected. “The time is now, the decisions people make today and in the next five to 10 years to protect this coastline and all of its inhabitants are critical.”

For now, I will tell you this is a marvel of nature, and if you can do it, do it. I will head back there soon myself. After all of the times I’ve witnessed these animals, I don’t want to miss the chance to do it again.

That’s the impact it will have on you.

Photos by George C. Schellenger

If You Go:

If you want to take part in this incredible experience, you need to be a good swimmer. In fact, if you’re a photographer and want to swim underwater with the whale sharks, you will need a Free Diver Certification. Otherwise, you will be required to wear a life preserver.

Some days on the water can be calm, other days it will be rocky—so be prepared if you tend to get any motion discomfort on the open ocean.

It may rain in the afternoon, but the storms tend to go by quickly...and it’s worth a little rain in paradise to see these creatures.

Whale shark season is during the summer months, from May through September. There’s even a Whale Shark Festival in mid-July.

The water temperature is warm.

If you can’t get down to Isla Mujeres, remember you can always track whale sharks at GHRITracking.org. There are several active tracks at the time of this writing, and they are fascinating to witness.

If you want to know more about an expedition like this, check out: This is Their Ocean: Sea of Life, now available on Amazon.com.