A little about whale sharks: Very little is known about whale sharks and research is in it's infancy. They are hunted by man where not protected by law (many sharks bring a very good price in Asia).
Whale sharks live in warm waters around the world, they have been sighted between longitudes 30 degrees North and South of the equator (Mexico, Belize, Honduras, India, Australia, Phillipines, etc.).
They are the largest fish in the ocean. They are actually sharks but they do not eat meat; they are filter feeders, eating baitfish, plankton & algae. They can grow to up to 50 feet, the females are larger than the males, they reach sexual maturity at about 25 years of age and 15-20 feet. Each shark has a unique marking pattern which is now used to identify it. They deliver their babies live, babies are about 2 feet at birth and since they are on their own from birth they are very vulnerable to predators. They eat a huge amount of food/day - filtering a volume of water equal to what is found in 300,000 swimming pools.
It is safe to snorkel around them as long as we stay 10 feet or so away and never touch them or disturb them. In Belize and some other countries it is legal to scuba dive with them but other experts consider it dangerous for the diver as the sharks are usually found in very deep waters (>1000 feet) and will swim down and dive quickly so it's easy for the diver to lose track of depth in all the excitement.
It is all driven by the currents which bring in the plankton, and algae. The first hint of a whale shark is observing birds swooping and flying in a single location. Then there is the "tuna boil", an area of water which turns to rapids and white caps as the tuna swarm to feed on the bait fish and the bait fish jump in a frenzy to get away. Then, the hungry whale shark will rise to the surface, gorging itself along the way on the bait fish (not the tuna).
Each of our encounters lasted only a few minutes before the whale shark dove again. We saw them both from Dragonfly as we motored from Cayos Cachinos to Utila and again North of Utila on a whale shark encounter trip. During the encounter trip we were able to snorkel with a shark twice.
To see pictures of our scuba dive with a whale shark, see www.dlpco.com and look for pictures of Isla Marisol Whale Shark Dive. See if you can pick out Rick or Cindy -- we are there!
The Tuna Boil is sighted from Dragonfly, Whale Shark , The Whale Shark's Mouth (take my word for it) .
