Epic Travel → Central and South America → Belize → Whale Shark Diving

Location: Caribbean Coast, Belize

Time Required: 1 day (or more if you want to hedge your bets)

Red Tape/Notes: There are no guarantees ahead of time when whale sharks will be in a given area; off the coast of Belize, your best bets are 3 or 4 days before and after the full and new moons in April and May, but they won’t always be there during those times and they’re sometimes seen other times of year.

What’s Nearby?: Reef Dives, The Great Blue Hole, Sailing

This is an interesting dive because of the potential for two extremes: totally awesome or really boring. I believe it’s amazing when you actually get to interact with (or even just see) Whale Sharks, but I wouldn’t actually know first hand because we didn’t see any – which is quite often the case, and something you should be aware of before committing a day (or more) of your holiday to this dive. So on the one hand, apparently it’s absolutely amazing when you get Whale Sharks. If you don’t get them, well…this may be the most boring dive you could imagine. You’re basically just swimming around in the empty blue ocean most of the time. On the plus side, it’s a great opportunity to work on your buoyancy regulation skills, because without any landmarks, it’s surprisingly hard to maintain a consistent depth. You’ll probably get to see some sharks (most likely harmless reef sharks) and their buddies the remoras, which is pretty cool, and the most exciting thing in our day was when we came across a giant school of fish. You could swim into the middle of them and they’d open up around you and then encase you in the middle of the school. But otherwise…empty blue nothing. You’ll make two attempts, and in between you’ll anchor at a reef where you can snorkel and actually see some fish, so that’s enjoyable. We talked to some people who had scheduled multiple days for this dive in an attempt to maximize their opportunity of getting to see the Whale Sharks. I’m not sure I would be willing to do this, given how boring it is if you don’t see them (and there are so many other things you could be doing with your time), but I suppose it makes sense if that’s your main goal. You could also try scheduling your dives later in the window of opportunity (right at the full or new moons, or just after?) since once the Whale Sharks have been spotted, boats will typically be able to track them, increasing the chances of subsequent dives being able to find them. We were there early in the season, so we were definitely in the “search” phase. Still, I don’t regret going at all, and I think it’s definitely worth trying because the upside is so huge, just be aware of what you’re getting into to avoid horrible disappointment if you don’t see them.

Epic Travel → Central and South America → Belize → Whale Shark Diving