Splash Dive Center Shares Expert Methods for Finding Whale Sharks

By RALPH CAPELING Owner Splash Dive Center ralph@splashbelize.com

Every year, divers and snorkelers from all over the globe travel to the Placencia Peninsula to book an adventure with one of our tour operators to go into the Caribbean Sea for a chance to witness the magnificent sighting of a whale shark. The area near the Peninsula is one of the few places in the world where the gentle giants are expected to arrive on a scheduled basis (although they do not always seem to carefully check their calendars).

Close encounter with the Rhincodon typus captured by guest diver during a Splash adventure.

BOB KAYE

The Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Marine Reserve located 22 miles (36 km) off the coast of Placencia in Southern Belize, is a spawning aggregation site for many different tropical fish species including cubera, mutton and dog snappers which produce tons of spawn. This spawning occurs around the full moon to the third quarter moon phases during the months of March to June. This incredible sight in itself is what attracts the whale sharks to Gladden Spit. These sharks are the biggest fish in the ocean growing up to lengths of 60 feet (18 meters). Divers and snorkelers visiting our area get a rare opportunity to swim along with the sublime creatures.

The wall at Gladden slopes down to 160 feet (50 meters) then drops off into the blue abyss. Diving is done in mid water at a depth no deeper than 80 feet (24 meters) in groups of no larger than 12 divers led by their dive masters. Special procedures are followed on this dive to ensure safety and to limit any harm that may be caused to the sharks. Snorkeling is done on the surface in open water; however, snorkelers have an excellent chance of seeing the whale sharks as they come to the surface to feed.

Splash Dive Center uses two methods to find whale shark: 1. Looking for the snapper and 2. Looking for the birds.

Looking for the Snapper: We use fish finders to locate the snapper as the whale sharks come to feed on the spawning aggregation and position the divers in the water above the snapper. The divers make an effort to stay with, but well above the snapper, and try to stay in a tight group so that the bubbles remain concentrated. The idea is that the whale shark will see the bubbles, think that they are the spawn and will make their way directly to the divers. As the bubbles rise to the surface, often the whale sharks do too, which allows the snorkelers to get a close encounter. We have had some situations where the whale sharks come from the side rather than from the deep, giving the snorkelers a show, but the divers who are looking downwards, none. At other times, the whale sharks have come close to the divers and then swim back down into the abyss without tasting the bubbles leaving the snorkelers without a sighting.

Looking for the birds: When using this method, we watch for a flock of birds circling over the sea because they are feeding on bait fish. Whale sharks also feed on bait fish and they do that on surface. When we see the birds, we head for the spot. Usually in this situation, the divers tend to stay at snorkel depths. Most April 2018 sightings were reported when we used this method.

Whale shark diving is blue water diving with no visual reference – that means, you cannot see the reef or the bottom. For that reason, with diver and guest safety paramount, Splash only takes advanced or experienced divers who have logged 30 or more dives, to lead whale shark tours. Splash also requires all participating divers to have done at least one dive tour with us before we take them to dive into the whale shark zone or to the famous Blue Hole wonder up north.

The dates for the next two whale shark moon seasons are May 29 to June 10 and June 28 to July 12. ▪

Ralph Capeling of Splash Dive Center reports on whale shark sightings on ScubaBoard each year. His posts for 2018 to date can be seen on Scubaboard. com at https://tinyurl.com/ y9fq3zj9.

His reports for 2017, which was a poor year for whale shark encounters can be found at Scubaboard.com at https://tinyurl.com/ ycvhl2uz. His 2016 posts can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yd7l8mxs