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Today we went with Avadon Divers back out to Gladden Spit and we were so excited about seeing whale sharks again! Sean, our divemaster, led the first blue water dive of the day. We followed him to a huge school of snappers. We were hoping that we would find a whale shark there with the snappers, feeding on the eggs of the snappers. We were in the water for 40 minutes, swimming along with the snappers, and we did not see one whale shark! After the dive we went to the same place in the lagoon that we had been to earlier in the week. It is so clear and calm and beautiful here in the center of the atoll. We had a delicious lunch of chicken and rice and beans and fresh pineapple -- a typical Belizean meal! Just as we were finishing our lunch, someone noticed that there was a manatee close by. So we quickly put on our snorkeling gear and got in the water with a female manatee. She was all by herself and seemed to really enjoy the human interaction. She let us pet her and scratch her back! After about 20 mintues of us scratching her back she turned and swam away. We waited for a long time for her to come back, but we didn't see her again. I guess she had to get back to work, which for a manatee consists of eating or sleeping. We took an extra long break before our second dive. Anne-Marie explained that since we did not see a whale shark in the morning, it was best to wait until later in the afternoon. The chances of seeing one were better late in the day. So, we took a nice nap on the gently rocking boat! One of the other divemasters, Jerome, let us know when it was time to put on our scuba gear and get ready to get in the water and follow Sean again. So we put on our gear and were patiently waiting as the boat headed toward the Spit. But on our way we found some fishermen who had just caught a lot of snapper! They take some home to their families, but mostly they sell it to the restaurants and grocery store in town. A little after 3:00 in the afternoon, we finally went scuba diving with Sean. It wasn't long before we saw the first whale shark. It was pretty big, probably about 25 - 30 feet long. It came from behind us and cruised right past us, and kept going. Then we saw an even bigger whale shark -- it was HUGE-- probably about 40 feet long! And then we saw a smaller one, about 100 feet away. It didn't come close to us. We only saw it for a few seconds before it swam away. We estimated it to be 20 -25 feet long -- big for a normal shark -- small for a whale shark. Best fishes, |
TODAY'S DATA Gladden Spit, Belize Position: 16º 39' N / 87º 58' W
This is a huge school of thousands of snappers that lay the eggs that the whale shark come here to eat.
Wayne scratching the back of a young female manatee.
A 40-foot long whale shark heading right at us! (You can see other divers at the left of the photo.) |
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Day 7
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