Mood:
spaceyNow Playing: Swim with the huge Whale Shark season off Gladden Spit
Topic: Whale shark snorkeling
e-mail from Belize Culture Listserve bz-culture@psg.com
This message sent to the Bz-Culture Mailing List from "Mary Toy"
I really apologize for the delay in answering this question (I think
from Greg) about whale shark
interaction on the Placencia area.
The closer you are to the full moon, the greater your chance of
interacting with a whale shark. The
May full moon is on the 23rd, so the best days will be around the 20th
to the 25th.
Usually, the best time will be close to sunset. Not always, though.
In fact, quite a few whale
sharks were being seen in the mornings in the April interaction period.
This year, regulations have changed, and each tour operator receives
one time slot each day, and can
have a maximum of two boats within the primary whale shark zone in that
time slot. Time slots are
allotted based on a lottery, so the time slot for each tour operator
changes from day to day. Each
time slot is 2 hours.
Also, all boats must be out of the whale shark zone by 5 p.m. --
completely out of the water, so
that means divers and snorkelers have to be done with their dives no
later than 4:30 pm.
The primary whale shark area is a small area right at the spit. A
maximum of 4 boats are allowed in
this area, and each boat can only carry 12 divers and/or snorkelers
and/or observers, plus
guides/dive masters. A larger area about of about a mile right behind
the primary area is open to
up to 6 boats.
Most of the resort dive boats are completely booked for May. There are
probably a few dive slots
with some independent operators available, but anyone who wants to dive
needs to get this set up in
advance -- now would be a good time.
Snorkeling is a bit easier, and Nite Winds at the docks probably has
space still available.
Mary
Posted by falconview0
at 11:50 AM EDT
