[Jorge de la Rana]

when my girlfriend (Meredith) suggested that we do the whale shark tour I was exited, but the trip turned out to be so much more that I imagined - it was a fantastic trip. We were joined in our little adventure by Sharky that as you may or may not know owns one of the popular local hang outs in town, The Beer Bucket, Playa.info's very own Mitch and his beautiful (don't want to cross her) girlfriend Shawn, the always funny and bubbly Angela and myself.
We (and by we I mean the girls) decided that a good meeting place would be Java Joe's and it was a very logical spot because departure time was 7:15 am so everybody had to be there 7:00 am sharp and there is nothing open that early in the morning (I know a couple of bars that are closing ...but that's another trip report) so we get coffee, hangover specials to go and we were on our way.

We start to make our way towards Cancun because we were informed of a shorter way to get to Chiquila (the town were the ferry to get to Holbox island goes from) so we're driving, it's raining off and on for a while and we finally got in to this "shortcut". As we get off the highway we all hear a very loud noise and then dragging noise so I immediately knew the muffler broke so I tell Mitch. We stop and yes we were dragging the muffler that was off. Mitch rolls up his sleeves or more like takes off his shirt and starts taking off the muffler at the same time that the girls are trying to stop somebody because the Beast Master (that's Sharky's car's nickname that looks like the Griswald's van) didn't have the proper tools so finally someone stops half an hour later, hands us a wrench, Mitch takes the muffler off the Beast Master so we can continue our journey .....

So, as we are eating and drinking the great treats that the girls so amazingly arranged for the trip (had to put it that way ....and the Oscar goes to...) love you girls , we get to Chiquila, it was still raining off and on so we need to find a place to park the car. There are a couple of parking garages in town which they charge 30 pesos a day (highly recommended) but lucky us found a perfect spot right by the docks unload the car and were waiting for the ferry that goes out every hour until 6 pm and costs 40 pesos each way, but since we were 6 water taxis are available (if your party is big enough) which charges you the same as the ferry (40 pesos) .
So we got a bit of rain in the 20 min boat ride to Holbox island. I can't tell you enough about the amount of bags you should take because there are taxis from the docs (all of them modified golf carts) but not from your hotel and its a small town but when your carrying 7 bags and 2 coolers it's not small enough.

So we decide to go first to the hotel that our tour was going to go from (the name of the hotel is Mawimbi) so we could pay for the tour and find a room. When we got there we found that it was a charmingly beautiful small hotel (making reservation is a must), filled with sea shell shower heads, very well kept grounds, the rooms are cute and very clean, so we got a couple of rooms and had a couple of beers and played until 9:00 pm then went to bed we had an early wakeup call.

It's 6:15 am and I hear a knock on my door and if my memory doesn't betray me, it was Mitch saying it was time to get up so of course we slept some more till it was 6:45, then got up and painfully started to make our way downstairs, it was a beautiful sunny morning but the tour guide told all of us that we should hurry because they were expecting to get a little rough afternoon. So we gulped down our coffee that Angela had gotten for all of us and head down to the boat.

The sound of the water splashing as the boat speeds to the gulf of Mexico is one of the most relaxing sounds I've ever heard. Everybody was just chilling on the boat during the 1 hour and 20 min ride in which your joined by probably by four other boats at the distance. Everybody is waiting to hear the tour guide say -“there’s a whale over there “- and then everybody on the boat stands up. At the distance you only see a dark shadow under the water moving, then a fin, then suddenly this huge mouth opens up and starts taking in water. That's when you go “holy mother of God, that's a big fish“. I got to tell you in my 30 years I've never seen an animal in the wild as beautiful: the spotted back, the grace with which this animal, the size of a small bus, moves in the water - it's breath taking.

Then the tour guide starts asking everybody to choose between a body suit or a life jacket so you take your pick and start thinking who wants to go first because only two people at a time plus the guide can be in the water. If you are one of the brave ones to go first you get your gear on and make your way to the edge of the boat as the guide keeps telling the captain where he should drop them off so you get a little ahead of the whale shark and he says go and you're in the water .
So the whale shark is coming at you and the name of the game is to swim as hard as you can for as long as you can, so you can keep up because a whale shark only needs to move his tail fin three times and it's gone, so you better swim. Don't get me wrong but some of the whales will stick around and you might think that are actually interested in you (and who knows maybe they are) but I'm sure plankton is what's in their head.


So people keep going in to the water in teams of two for four hours and by the time that's up your arms (or at least mine) feel like the 200 pound gorilla sat on them for a week. We went to a shallow lagoon surrounded by mangroves which is a natural nursery for manta rays and spotted eagle rays, you can see Pelicans all over the place; it's just peaceful and gorgeous.


After finishing that, the boat took us to a nice ride back to the hotel along the shoreline of Holbox where you can see endless beaches completely deserted. When we got to the hotel we took our 1000 pounds of luggage and headed back home and of course like in any trip the way back home is always less eventful than the way there. Everybody was beat and napping (including me). We stopped in two places so we could change driving shift, I myself took the last one so I drove us in to town and to Sharky's place for a little unwinding, and laugh about all the little things that had made us tick and smile so many times during this wonderful two days of being in touch with nature and closer to your friends.

There are way easier ways to do this, like don't bring Sharky (just kidding I love the man!). Just ask us for the tour and forget about the snacks they always have them on the tour, FORGET the driving yourself, just hop in to a van and let the good times roll. Don't only take my word for it - ask anybody who has done it they will tell you it's one of the most amazing experiences you will have in your life. So relax, grab your beer or cocktail of choice and think about whale sharks for a while …….

Jorge Dorantes Chaires
Playa.info travel and tours at La Rana