Whale shark diving takes place at a part of The Belize Barrier Reef called Gladden Spit. This is 25 miles south east of Hopkins, approximately one hour by boat.
During the spring months several species of snapper congregate at this part of the reef to spawn. The whale sharks take advantage of this event to feed in amongst the spawning aggregations. This occurs around the full moon of the months of March, April, May and June.
The full moon dates for 2009 are as follows:
March 11th
April 9th
May 9th
June 7th
July 7th
The whale sharks are generally around for 10 days after the full moon and this is when we will be planning trips.
The dives are on a sloping part of the reef and start at about 60ft, the guide will then swim out into to deeper water. The reef will drop away and the divers will be swimming in mid-water looking for the snapper schools and any attendant whale sharks. The maximum depth of the dive is 80ft.
The diving in this area is regulated in order to minimize the impact that divers have on the snapper and the whale sharks. You will be briefed on these rules by the guide prior to diving.
All divers should be advanced open water certified or have logged a minimum of 25 dives. Contact us if you do not have these requirements. We also recomend that all divers have been on a reef dive a few days prior to going whale shark diving.
