BajaNomad

Whalesharks

BFS - 5-25-2007 at 10:42 AM

Holy Sheise!
Those are nice piccies snorkelling with Whale sharks.
Where can I get my wife in the water to do that? July/August possible? Ill drive anywhere to get her in one of those shots.
That would make my (and her) century I think.
Let me know!!

Aq

Swimming with Sharks

MrBillM - 5-25-2007 at 12:01 PM

One of my best Baja memories is the one time I was able to swim with a Whaleshark off of Alfonsina's at Gonzaga Bay, although I didn't grab hold and take a ride as others did.

Ken Bondy - 5-25-2007 at 12:35 PM

Swimming with them is a great experience. These are from Bahia de Los Angeles:






elgatoloco - 5-25-2007 at 12:43 PM

We felt very fortunate when we had our encounter. We had gotten on a boat out of La Paz that was full of scuba divers. One of the divers was a 70+ year old woman who had been diving since WAY back when and had scubaed all over the world and her one last goal was to get up close and personal with whaleshark. She had hired a spotter plane that directed us to where the sharks were. We ended up just a couple hundred yards of the beach in front of the sand spit in La Paz. We were in a 42 foot boat and one of the sharks was just about as long, the other maybe 25 feet long. I could have EASILY grabbed the big guy for a ride several times but was loath to do so and cause them to vacate the area thus denying the others the oppurtunity to get close. It was a great memory to add to the best honeymoon I had ever been on! Three weeks in Baja, it doesn't get any better than that :lol:

Bajagypsy - 5-25-2007 at 01:51 PM

Bajagypsy here, and was wondering where the best place is to dive with whale sharks. We will be in Baja end of September and it is Mr. Bajagypsy's dream to dive with them. If it is to late in the season then, I would consider coming earlier. I would love to suprize mr. bajagypsy with being able to dive with them. If anyone has any info please let me know, (you can even email me at bajagypsyatyahoodotca) (obviously the at is a symble and so is the dot).

mtgoat666 - 5-25-2007 at 01:57 PM

y'all have dreams of swimming with a big fish. but do you think the big fish are dreaming about swimming with the homo sapiens? humans are odd ducks, eh?

Paulina - 5-25-2007 at 02:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mtgoat666
y'all have dreams of swimming with a big fish. but do you think the big fish are dreaming about swimming with the homo sapiens? humans are odd ducks, eh?


If the whales aren't 'in the mood' then they swim away. I've hitched a ride many times. Most memorable was when Mike H. and I swam out to one off of the beach at La Gringa in Bahia de Los Angeles. That was quite a non Sea World experience for both of us.

Bajagypsy, Sept. would probably be a great time.

P<*)))><

Orale

BFS - 5-25-2007 at 05:10 PM

Oh you guys are killin, me.
What great photos Diver! You da man.
It seems like Bay of LA is the place. I was going to skip that area due to heat, but now am going to turn left at that turnoff i always look at sideways while slightly swerving. You never know!
Aq

Bajagypsy - 5-25-2007 at 05:33 PM

It's not like we harm them, we just want to swim with them, We are firm beliviers of leaving every living thing alone. Not letting anything be couropted by us "homo-sapaines". I'm a tree hugger from way back, and my mom would and could still kick my buro, if she thought I did something wrong.

Ken Bondy - 5-25-2007 at 06:03 PM

It has been my experience that whale sharks have no interest, one way or another, in human-sized creatures in the water with them. If they wanted to avoid you, they could obviously swim away, but in all my encounters they just continue doing what they were doing before I entered the water. I have, however, seen them bolt and dart away when a diver makes a sudden or aggressive movement towards them.

As far as taking a ride on their dorsal, I am not a big fan of touching marine life but this type of encounter (a diver riding along while holding the dorsal) happens so often and has been recorded and observed so often that one must presume that it is not offensive or unpleasant or threatening to the animal. There always seems to be an entourage of animals traveling with whale sharks, free-swimming fish of various sizes, and attached free-riding fish like remoras. I think the whale shark just considers the diver to be another one of them.

++Ken++

Bajalover - 5-26-2007 at 08:00 AM

Ken, Oh my gosh - great photos. Hope to be in BOLA in Sept to kayak and see if I can stubble across on of these beautiful beasts. Nice photos!!!

shari - 5-26-2007 at 05:03 PM

Hey gypsy, you can go out with Juan's cousin Ricardo in BLA...look up Jose Rosas (Juan's tio) you will love the family and mr.gypsy will look great in a photo (hope he wears his thong!)

Bajagypsy - 5-27-2007 at 08:35 AM

shari, when it get's closer to our time, I'll contact you to get more info, I think mr. gypsy would love it, and I'll try to get him into a thong!!

Diver - 5-27-2007 at 09:24 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bajagypsy
... and I'll try to get him into a thong!!


The way we heard it was that you were always trying to get him OUT of his thong !! :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:


Sorry Gypsy but I couldn't resist ! :biggrin:
.

shari - 5-27-2007 at 03:29 PM

Diver, I can see that you and the gypsies will be great neighbours (canadian spelling eh)...so much in common.

Bajagypsy - 5-28-2007 at 07:15 AM

Diver, that was very funny!!