Whale Sharks - Dives 4 through 9

Whale shark diving was our main goal in coming to Belize. We researched the hell out of when to go and which dive company to go with. Come Saturday through Monday, we were off to Gladden Spit to chase the migrating whale sharks.

Why this exact spot? Juvenile male whale sharks come here to feed on the spawn of massive schools of Cubera snapper. The snapper schools (sometimes upwards of 2,000!) arrive between April and June but always just after the full moon. Which makes 2-3 days after the full moon prime time to spot their spawn's main predator. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea. They are shy and docile filter feeders that consume mostly plankton. Females can grow up to 40 feet! They can live to be 70 if not poached for their fins. 

The local researcher and dive guide we had on the first set of dives theorizes the young males are here to fatten up from feasting on snapper spawn before heading out on their continuing circumnavigation of the world's temperate waters. 

Gladden Spit was a shorter ride out, but it really is just the edge of the deep blue Caribbean ocean. The crucial Cubera snapper spawn at around 110-130 feet, hoping their fertilized eggs carry with the current to a safe resting spot. While the whale sharks mostly hang out at this depth, they seem to be curious or confused by the bubbles from divers' regulators and often swim up to the surface for a closer look. Even snorkelers had a great chance of swimming with whale sharks here!

You arrive at a shallow shoal to check in with the park rangers. Each dive shop is assigned time slots to visit the park and even then, only a select number of boats are allowed out at a time. We had fun goofing around on the boats and taking in the FANTASTIC snorkelling.

Once we got the all clear to head into the open ocean, down went the fish finder and the chase began. What amazing luck on the first attempt! The guide spotted a small guy right on the surface, and in everybody leapt marine style in their full dive gear. Erin almost landed on top of it. 

The little sharky went down and so did our whole dive crew. Descending to 70-80 feet, we saw two more sharks. As they have distinctive patterns and spots, some of the sharks have names. One big fellow we met a couple times was Broken Fin (35 feet). 

It's also common to see other sharks on the dives. We definitely saw a bull shark circling on almost every dive. Some of them were large and a little frightening, around 12 feet, and others were small and quite curious. 

A great barracuda seemed to befriend us whenever we dove as well. What your hands and anything shiny around those big teeth!

On the second whale shark dive, our unbelievable fortune continued as we saw between 4 and 6 sharks (it's hard to tell when they ascend from the deep if it's a new or repeat shark). Mom and I saw a beautiful pair of sharks swirling belly to belly sucking up the spawn. 

And one diver nearly had a close encounter with a curious mid-size whale shark popping up from the deep. 

Dives 6 through 9 were less exciting. We used most of our luck on the first of our three days worth of diving. Mostly, we spent about 45-50 minutes just swimming through the big blue in search of the snapper spawn. Although, there was only one dive in which we didn't see a whale shark. Our interactions were far more brief and fleeting.

On the last drive out of the park, our captain sighted a small pod of bottlenose dolphins. With slight hesitation, he let us fly in after them and chase them through the boat wake. I had to swim like mad to get anywhere near them!

This ends the diving portion of our trip as you must leave at least 24 hours between diving and flying (or any extreme hieghts). As a captain friend of ours in Maui likes to say "No higher than a bar stool!" And that's exactly where I plan on heading.