just working on pics, I'll have them up by the end of the weekend.
Did you manage to do any diving with the whalesharks or was it snorkeling only ?. I know whalesharks are pelagic feeders so the majority of the time are at the surface. The noise from breathing underwater can unsettle the whalesharks, but I am interested to know if they allow SCUBA at the time they are feeding.
no, they don't allow SCUBA unfortunately, it would have been a bit easier rather than bobbing around on the surface snorkling, but luckily we had a relatively calm day so it was a good day to snorkle. They don't allow strobes with camera's either, however looking at some of the pro pics they have full gear so that may be a bit of a misnomer.
How often did they do trips out to the Spotties ? Did they give you a limited time with them ? Was the area flooded with boats and divers ? Did you need to book boat spaces in advance of getting out there ?
they have daily trips out there, from what we were told, all of the tour companies *must* be certified by the government to be able to run tours out to the whale sharks, the whole process is overseen by the navy and each boat is only allowed 10 people on it at a time, and only 2 people in the water with the guide from each boat. There were alot of boats out there but with the limitation on the amount of people in the water it wasn't bad. You have to arrange in advance with the tour companies, we booked our trip a day before. we used a company called happy tours. All of the legit companies also pool together to have a plane in the air in the morning looking for the spotties, and then it gets radioed in to the boats who then converge on the spot.
Did you do any diving away from the Spotties, reef diving etc.....if so, any good, expensive ? Better / Worse than say, Cozumel ?
no diving this trip, however we did speak with a guy in town who runs a dive op and it sounds like diving would be pretty good, they have wrecks, reefs, and there is a current there.
Were there many dive ops out there that were running trips out to the Whalesharks ? I am guessing the boats inflate prices due to the short window of oppurtunity ?
there were alot in town and one right beside our resort. the going rate is $130 per person, but the non legit companies were charging about $85 per person.
with it being a s dry it had been, the plankton was all on the surface of the ocean, so the spotties were all up top, but when it rains it drives the plankton down, and consequently the spotties, so it's something to watch for when you are booking your trip
as for an agent, i would HIGHLY recommend the fantastic agent that we used... oh Fred ??
