Whale Shark Swimming and Isla Mujeres Beach Tour
Description
Come join us in this once in a lifetime experience and live the most incredible adventure swimming beside this ocean’s gentle giants. Your encounter will be supervised by our very experienced guides not to mention you’ll be wearing our snorkeling gear certified by National Geographic Snorkeler. We start the adventure picking you up from any hotel in Cancun, Riviera Maya or Playa del Carmen to take you to our new private marina in Punta Sam in Cancun. After a light breakfast we board and head to the Whale Shark protected area where, after finding them, we will start the dives, 2 to 3 per person, always in couples and with our certified guide. Before we head back to our marina we will visit beautiful Playa Norte beach in Isla Mujeres where you will have an hour to relax and enjoy the best ceviche prepared in sight by our crew.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Our Whale Shark Encounter begins early in the morning where, depending on the hotel or condominium you're staying at, our experienced van drivers will pick you up right at the lobby or entrance to take you to our new marina located in the ferry terminal in Punta Sam in Cancun. All of our vans are comfortable A/C units in perfect conditions and all of our drivers are licensed and certified to operate tourism in the highway. Once you arrive to our marina you will be welcome by our ground staff and, after a quick check in, where you will be assigned to your boat, you will have the chance for a light breakfast before boarding. We leave at 7:50 am and head straight into the whale shark protected area, life vests are mandatory from the minute you board, this always for your safety which is a mayor concern to us. After an hour we arrive and find the whale sharks, our captain will choose one and do the proper manouvers with the boat to start the swims, always in couples and with our certified guide, 2 by 2 you will go in the water to swim beside this beautiful creatures, there are 10 people on each boat, after 2 to 3 dives per person, making sure everybody gets their chance,you will all board and start the return but, before we reach Cancun we have one final stop, Playa Norte beach in Isla Mujeres. Playa Norte is the nicest beach in Isla Mujeres and, it's considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, here you will have an hour to relax or, if you want, do some more snorkeling. Our captain will prepare his famous ceviche while you enjoy your favorite non alcoholic drink, sandwiches will also be available. Then we head back to our marina in Cancun where our vans will be expecting you ready to go back to your hotels after this wonderful adventure. Pickups in hotels start at 5:30 am depending on the hotel and area you're staying at and the boats are usually back at our marina between 1:00 and 2:00 pm.
Following the whale shark adventure, relax at paradisiac Playa Norte, where you also get to enjoy fresh ceviche prepared by the captain.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We can pick you up at most hotels in Cancun hotel zone or downtown, Playa del Carmen, and Riviera Maya. For Tulum or any vacation rental, we provide a pickup from a nearby meeting point.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Not recommended for child aged 3 and under.
- Pregnant women are not allowed for safety reasons and as per federal regulations.
- Even though the probability of seeing whale sharks is very high, we cannot guarantee sightings.
Reviews(420)
Nay was our fantastic guide and Julian our captain on the Alma Luisa (best boat). Weather was good and although the sea was a little choppy this was the most amazing experience. 100% recommend, photos and videos don’t do it justice. We saw whale sharks and Manta rays and got in up close to all of them with help from the captain and guide. A must do.
Nate (guide) and Javier (driver) were both tremendous! They made us feel safe, and made sure we enjoyed everything to its fullest!!
So so amazing! One of the most unreal experiences of my life! Highly recommend Nate as your guide and Julian as your captain. So amazing
Wonderful experience. Our guide Nate was wonderful and so was our Captain Julian-getting us close to the whale sharks. Amazing experience. FYI 3 out of 10 got seasick so pack some meds.
The experience of swimming with Whale Sharks is amazing. It's hard to compare it to anything else. You start the excursion by being taking by a transport to the pier/dock in Cancun. When you get there, you are given a light breakfast consisting of different types of breads or fruit. From there you take a one-hour boat out in the ocean. You begin searching for whale sharks by looking for fins on the surface. Once your boat, or another boat finds them (no way to tell how long that will take) your boat heads to where they are located. Our trip had about twenty or so whale sharks, which sounds great. The bad part of the trip and the most stressful is that there are about fifteen to twenty other boats that have to do a circle dance around the whale sharks to get you in the water. Your captain will maneuver the boat within about ten feet of the whale shark and you and a partner jump into the water with your guide. You IMMEDIATELY have to start swimming fast to spot the whale shark and keep swimming with it, they are fast! You land in the water within about six feet or so of the whale shark. After swimming a few minutes with it, you circle back to your boat and get picked up and then the next couple gets ready to jump in. This cycle continues until you swim about three times per couple on the boat. You are free to bring your own waterproof camera. Make sure the camera is strapped to your wrist and secure. The experience is AMAZING. The only downside and nerve wrecking part of the excursion is all of the other boats and the "dance" they have to do to maneuver to drop off their divers and pick them up and reposition to find another whale shark. That part was not fun, but that's just part of it I suppose. Definitely a worth-while experience though. After the experience, they took you to Isla Mujeres in the beach area and let you in the water for about twenty minutes to either swim or eat some food they prepare for you. After that you end up back in the port area to await your transport back to your hotel/resort.
It was an awesome experience! We had Nae and I think the driver was Julian? I don’t remember but it was a great experience. We got to enjoy the beautiful ocean atmosphere while swimming with the whale sharks and Nae did his best to guide us to the best spots to see the whale sharks and get the best possible experience. We were there at around 6:50ish and got back around 12:30. Seeing whale sharks is something I wanted to do for a while and i’m glad I chose the right program to book with! There’s a perfect amount of people on the boat and everyone gets along with each other because of that. Nae and Julian made the best food and made sure to keep offering us water and food to make sure we weren’t dehydrated. So fun and I 100% recommend!!
Was one of the best tours we ever did, from the snorkeling with the whale sharks to the nice north beach on the island everything was wonderful. There are so many options and at first didn't knew where to book, but after dealing with with Nancy the most friendly customer service I ever had we booked through xpotours.com
This was a fabulous experience. Fyi boat ride in was pretty long (1 to 1.5 hrs) and can be rough so take something if you get seasick. Saw 3 whale sharks they were beautiful, water was warm and the guide was great! We went with Ney and Julian. Julian drove excellently , Ney was really helpful. Cerviche was yum drinks were nice and cold. Water was crystal clear and warm at Isa De Mujeres. Would definitely recommend!
The experience was amazing. The tour guides were great. I really recommend the tour.
Absolutely incredible to see and swim with so many whale sharks! Luigi and Enriquez were both brilliant and made sure that we all got our chance of a lifetime. Only reason to give less than 5 stars is it’s disappointing I paid $225 through our hotel and I can see it actually costs $187 on here.
