jack-420
Newbie
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Registered: 9-25-2015
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whale sharks
Next summer I hope to get down to Bahia de los Angeles. My question is Do I need to charter a ride out to swim with the whale sharks or do they come
in close enough that I could paddle my kayak out to them. Also does anyone know Mario (mario's pasada)?
Love this site and thanks.
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ehall
Super Nomad
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Registered: 3-29-2014
Location: Buckeye, Az
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Mood: It's 5 o'clock somewhere
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Don't know about bola but at gonzaga I have seen them several times less than 100 yards off the beach.
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SFandH
Elite Nomad
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Bahia Concepcion too, specifically, off the El Coyote beach and sometimes at Santispac.
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
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Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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we took the boat out this morning to see this guy right out front...
geezzz what a great place to live!!!
the picture is from today
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sancho
Ultra Nomad
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On a side note, there was a couple months back, a pic
of a whale shark off San Diego, can't imagine that is common, seems way far no., but
in this reported El Nino, which seems to be getting a lot of hype, a
few abnormalities are occurring
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2002maniac
Newbie
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Location: Cedar City, Utah
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A few years ago, we paid Juan Carlos to take us out on his boat to find whale sharks. It took us about an hour, but we did eventually locate one and
were able to swim with it.
The next day on the way to Loreto, we saw two Whale Sharks from the highway overlooking one of the beaches!
On our way back north, we rented kayaks at Playa el Coyote and visited Isla Coyote. Less than 50 yds from the beach we saw a whale shark ~6ft below
the surface. It is hard to see them from a boat unless they are on the surface. There certainly is an element of luck involved.
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larryC
Super Nomad
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Location: BoLA
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In BdeLA it is an easy paddle out to where the whale sharks are pretty common.
Off grid, 12-190 watt evergreen solar panels on solar trackers, 2-3648 stacked Outback inverters, 610ah LiFePo4 48v battery bank, FM 60 and MX60
Outback charge controllers, X-240 Outback transformer for 240v from inverters, 6500 watt Kubota diesel generator.
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Paulina
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 8-31-2002
Location: BCN
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I visited with them on my stand up paddle board this past summer as well as the year before.
P>*)))>{
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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basautter
Senior Nomad
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Whale sharks often come close to shore, in ~ 10 feet of water. Look for the plankton blooms. You can see them better with polarized glasses. Look
for scum lines (yellow or crimson red). That's what they love, but sometimes they are in clearer water. Spend as much as much time on or near the
water as possible, and your chances will increase! Best of luck! 
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David K
Honored Nomad
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jack-420, this is at Bahia de los Angeles... so yes.
My favorite whale shark encounter was from the shore at La Gringa (north end of Bahia de los Angeles) in July, 2001 with a group of us in the Viva
Baja/ Amo Pescar 4WD van.
Paulina and the late Mike Humfreville swam out to enjoy a close encounter with the world's largest fish.
A kayaker paddled out from shore and intercepted the two Nomads (Amigos de Baja, then) and shouted with a heavy French accent, "Thees eez not Sea
World"... and "F-ing Americans"... the raised his paddle as if to strike the defenseless swimmers!
The whale shark swims where ever it wants in the ocean and it chooses to come close to humans and can swim away anytime. Not long after Paulina and
Mike got back to shore, an eco-tour boat with Zodiacs cruised into the La Gringa area to see the whale sharks and that was just too much for Frenchie
as he couldn't harm them with his mighty paddle!
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Tioloco
Ultra Nomad
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L A Bay is way cooler than Sea World.
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tyguypb
Junior Nomad
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the last 5 years i have seen the Whale sharks in LA bay but always from a boat. However, every time i have seen them has been in the southern part of
Bahia de los Angeles and it has definitely been within an easy paddle from shore. If there are a lot in the bay, it shouldn't be an issue. but if
there are only a few i would definitely suggest going with a boat captain. They know the area very well, they chat with other captains. There really
is no substitute for local knowledge. If you are solely interested in the whale sharks, check out Ricardo Arce, he is the man. He is a super nice
guy and he genuinely cares about the bay and the local fisheries. he will also take you out to some other cool spots to swim.
https://www.facebook.com/ricardos.tours
Joel Prieto or Joel jr. are great as well.
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Marc
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Kayak or Panga they are not shy. We jumped in with this one. I regret not having my underwater camera.
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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biggest fish in the world
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