Travel. Mexico. Wildlife.
Did You Know That Whale Sharks Love Chorizo?
I Didn’t Either, Until This Fateful Day
I know what you’re thinking, “A whale shark’s diet consists of plankton and tiny shrimp.” Yes, you are correct. That’s their regular diet. But for an extra special treat, they LOVE chorizo.
How do I know that chorizo is a favorite treat of whale sharks?
Ah, that is a good story involving two hearty breakfasts, rough seas, and jumping off a moving boat.
“Do you want to go for a boat ride to swim with fish?”
— Sure
“Do you want to go for a 20-mile boat ride over rough seas to swim with fish?”
— I guess.
“Do you want to go for a 20-mile boat ride over rough seas to swim with 50-foot whale sharks?”
— Absolutely!
That was the conversation my husband and I had before making reservations with Aqua Adventure Eco Tours to book our whale shark adventure in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. We were instructed to meet at the dive shop at 7:45 am. Oh man, 7:45 in the morning? That is super early for me. But, I will always get out of bed early for animals. The morning of our whale shark adventure, we woke up early and grabbed breakfast at Ballyhoo.
Full of chorizo, tortillas, and the excitement of swimming with whale sharks, we walked to the dive shop. When we arrived, we were told, “The port is closed. No whale-sharking today or tomorrow.” What?!? What a bummer. Disappointing because we woke up super early, but mostly because we wouldn’t be whale-sharking that day.
We were determined to swim with these guys and extended our stay on Isla Mujeres until the water calmed and the ports reopened. Luckily, we only had to wait one more day (Yes, we know, it was rough having to stay in Isla Mujeres an extra day).
Whale shark part Deux.
We woke up early and ate breakfast at Ballyhoo. Full of chorizo, tortillas, and the excitement of swimming with whale sharks again, we walked to the dive shop, hoping that we would get the good news that the ports were open.
When we arrived at the dive shop, the owner met us with an enthusiast greeting, “The port is open! Let’s go whale sharking!” Awesome! But they did warn us: the seas are going to be rough. Like VERY rough. No problem. Ok, maybe a little bit of a problem, as time would tell. But, we wanted to swim with these guys and were willing to endure a rough 20-mile boat ride.
We walked over to the dock and met our captain, Jesus, and his son from Ceviche Tours. Whale sharking with Jesus? What could go wrong? (Before you ask: no, he couldn’t walk on water and, to my disappointment, was not able to turn water into wine.)
Our group boarded a 28-foot boat, and we started the long journey out into the deep blue sea in search of the whale sharks.
The guys at the dive shop weren’t kidding when they said it was going to be rough! This was not a boat ride for the faint of heart, those with bad backs or sensitive stomachs.
After about two hours of bouncing and splashing, we had traveled approximately 20 miles and arrived at our destination off of Isla Contoy. Our captain slowed down and shouted, “whale sharks!” When we looked, all we could see were whale shark fins.
They were everywhere!
Jesus shouted to us, “Get ready. It’s time to swim with the whale sharks!”
Putting on a wet suit in calm water is difficult.
Putting on a wet suit in rough seas is almost impossible!
Here’s the play by play of our whale shark experience:
Jesus would slow down the boat and call out, “Who’s ready? I need two people. Let’s go!” He didn’t give us time to think about what we were doing. It was hurry up, grab your fins and jump into this deep, dark, whale shark-filled water. This was a good thing because I have to admit it; it was pretty intimidating jumping off of the side of a moving boat into the 100-foot deep blue, wavy water into a sea of whale sharks.
As soon as we jumped in, we were surrounded by whale sharks. They were swimming around us in all directions and having a feeding frenzy on fish eggs.
Every time we would turn around, there would be another whale shark. As they were feeding, they would swim directly at us, and we would have to move out of the way. If we didn’t move, they would have run into us.
It was whale shark madness.
It was surreal.
Almost like a dream.
Except for the fact that people don’t throw up during dreams.
Floating around in extremely wavy, dark blue water full of smelly fish eggs was a recipe for “the great whale shark vomit disaster” for me. That’s right. I threw up. Not just a little, a lot. You know in “South Park” how Stan throws up every time he sees Wendy? Well, that’s exactly what it was like.
I would pull my snorkel out of my mouth, throw up into the water, push the vomit away, put my snorkel back in and continue whale sharking. This happened at least five times during our 30-minute whale shark adventure.
This was when we discovered that whale sharks love chorizo!
As soon as the whale sharks got a taste of the recycled chorizo, they were hooked. Every time I would “gently place” more chorizo in the water, more and more whale sharks would come by to eat the meaty morsels.
My husband, who has an iron stomach, was completely fine the entire time. In fact, as soon as we got back onto the boat, he ate a sandwich that had mayonnaise on it!
That’s right when we all climbed back onto the boat, Jesus had sandwiches waiting for us. Unrefrigerated ham and mayonnaise sandwiches with limp lettuce. Just what all of us nauseous folks needed to see and smell on a rocking boat after getting out of fish egg-filled water. For the record, several other people also got sick while they were in the water and on the boat.
If you have swimming with whale sharks on your life to-do list, don’t let this deter you.
Just remember:
It’s better to have vomited with whale sharks,
than never to have whale sharked at all.
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