VIVA MEXICO DAY #4: Whale Sharks

VIVA MEXICO DIA NUMERO CUATRO

This post is dedicated to my nephew, Kace

He likes sharks

and whales

and pretty much anything that lives and breathes in the Ocean

I swear the kid has gills

First I must mention that Mexico was not the only place we could have gone to on vacation.  Italy, Grand Cayman, St. Lucia, Peter Island, Atlantis in the Bahamas, etc were other options for us.  However, after looking into some of these places a bit more there was one thing that swayed our vote to Mexico.  That one thing is...

...WHALE SHARKS

When we saw that we could actually swim with the whale sharks in Mexico it was almost a no brainer.  These incredible creatures are huge!  If Jonas really did get swallowed by a whale I'm pretty sure it was a whale shark.  They range between 20-41 feet.  The feed on plankton not humans so that was reassuring.  People keep asking us if we were scared and I can honestly say "No".  Not before, during or after was I ever terrified.  It was an adrenaline rush for sure.

We were there during migration season so there were over 60 whale sharks out there.  The procedure on the boat was two swimmers at a time for about 5 minutes each jump.  There were about 10 people on our boat so we all got 3 jumps.    When it was our turn we sat on the edge of the boat with our snorkel gear on.  The driver would drive the boat close to a whale shark (by close I mean right next to it) and tell you to "Vamanos" (aka Get outa here or Go!) and off we would jump.  You aren't supposed to touch the whale shark, but you are so close that it is hard not too.  There were times that it decided to turn and both Clayton and I were clipped by its fin.  And of course we got pictures. 

 Oh...hopefully you are reading the words and not just checking out the pictures, because these next two come with some warning.  Consider yourself WARNED

 Clayton and I both get sea sick.  When the boat is moving we are fine.  When the boat is just bobbing along with the waves...we...well...see picture below (don't forget I warned you!)

 So before you think I am a cruel wife please know this...  We knew that one or both of us getting sick was a very real possibility.  Before we got married I went to go visit Clayton in Hawaii (back in 2005).  We went on a boat out into the ocean and jumped in a wire cage while the boat captions (or are they mates???) threw chum overboard to attract the sharks.  We saw over 20 sharks that day (no great whites though).  However, we both got sick on that excursion too.  And Clayton did throw up.  That being said...before we left on this whale shark excursion we made a pact that if one of us threw up the other one had to grab the camera and take pictures.  So when Clayton threw the camera at me I knew it was GO TIME! 

 Our first jump was cut short because we didn't put on their life jackets. lame.

 Seriously it was an incredible experience.  If you ever get the chance I highly, HIGHLY recommend it.

Before we headed back to Cancun they took us to Isla Mujeres and where they dropped anchor so we could swim and hang out while they made us some food.  This island looked beautiful.  One day I would like to vacation here. 

 This was seriously one of the best days!

p.s. I have some whale shark videos that we took with the GoPro, but for some reason blogger is being stupid and won't let me upload videos at the moment.  So...stay tuned.