Swimming with Whale Sharks in Belize

National Geographic “Secrets of Whale Shark Migration Revealed” list Belize as one of the important locations and aggregation sites. The area have seen an increase in visitors, underwater photographer and interested divers, all looking to see these majestic sharks.

Our Day at Gladden Spit Marine Reserve

Our days starts by heading out to Gladden Spit, once there, we wait for the park rangers give us the go ahead (only 6 boats are allowed in the immediate area at the same time). The Government had Regulated the visitation of boats in the area. Only a certified guide and captains may carryout tours at the location. Whale Sharks are on the endangered species so following guidelines is the key to survival of this important location.

This is a blue water snorkel and offer a unique experience, you will sometimes be able to see the huge schools of fish waiting to spawn, also other species of sharks, manta rays other pelagic fish. Sometimes the whale sharks cruise on the surface some times in a few fee of water other times all the way down deep. Normally when we encounter the whale sharks they swim steadily in one direction and we are able to get up-close to the majestic beasts. But sometimes we only see them in the distance.

The Beauty about it is that once the divers are down they wont move, for us being we are at the surface, we have fisherman fishing in the area so they can always sound the alarm when they see one and we can load up and move near to it. At time Scuba divers may also help in spotting these graceful creatures, as bubbles are released the sometimes raise from the depths to the waters surface.

After our allotted hour and a half is over we will then head and have lunch relax and maybe snorkel some reef around the area until the ranger gives us our second OK to go out, and we do it over again. If the possibility is looking slim we will pick up and head off the reef some distance and look for tunas schooling up nearby, whale sharks often follow the schools of tuna if we get lucky and find a school of tuna our chances of seeing a whale shark increases.

We will comb the reefs edge for awhile hoping for that school of tuna this will lead us down to turtle alley where if nothing else we will snorkel with some turtles rays and nurse sharks.

Whale Shark Trip from Placencia

Placencia Wildside Adventures has allotted one boat for this unforgettable experience with these inquisitive creatures. This boat is only allowed to have 12 passengers (limited slots) on board, advanced booking is highly recommend for those looking to go snorkeling and Swimming with While Shark in Belize.