Whale sharks, manta rays, dolphins and flamingos

Oh yes, that's a whale shark right there - one of about 10 we saw today. WOW!

We left Holbox by boat at 6:30am to go to an area an hour and a half north of the island. This area is very rich in plankton from May to September every year, and during this period, over a hundred whale sharks come to feed and mate. According to the guide, Elvis, the whale sharks only became known to the general public 4 years ago when a diver from Playa came up and talked to local fishermen who mentioned huge 'domino' fish. The diver suddenly realized that they were talking about whale sharks: the spots on their skin looked like a domino's spots.

Each of us swam with a whale shark 3 times, each time for up to 5 minutes from it's head to tail. The smallest we saw today was about 8m, the largest about 10m long.

It' s an absolutely awe inspiring thing, to swim with such a huge fish, first seeing it's huge gaping mouth, then gazing into one of it's eyes and then watching bubbles come out of it's gills, then keeping pace for as long as you can as it glides along, feeding on plankton as it moves, then finally trying to avoid being side-swiped by it's enormous tail as it sweeps past you. Of course, you try to keep a respectable distance away, but you can't always tell which way such a huge thing will go and if it wants to, it can swim much faster than your feeble fins can take you. Having said that, they were very gracious and allowed us quite a lot of 'face time'. Bel took some underwater shots and a short video, which I'll get my hands on later, but we were also really lucky to have a chance for shots from the boat as some swam right alongside the boat and one right under the bow.

Another amazing sight today was a 2m manta ray (no pics unfortunately) that also came up right alongside the boat, and then later, one flew out of the water some distance away. The 2m one (from wing tip to wing tip) seemed gigantic as it breached the water not 4 feet away but the guide said they grow to 4m, an unimaginable size.

As we approached the northeren end of Holbox island, to stop at a bay to see flamingos, we saw a couple of dolphins in the distance: it's something that always makes you feel good.


Some of the colourful buildings in Holbox.