Recently Viewed
Whale Shark Swimming in Isla Mujeres and Cancun: Experience Wildlife in their Natural Habitat
4.8
702 Ratings
Isla Mujeres
Swim with whale sharks in their natural habitat in Isla Mujeres and Cancun. Experience the adventure of a lifetime from May to September. Transportation, guide, gear, lunch, and drinks included!
Swim with whale sharks in their natural habitat in Isla Mujeres and Cancun. Experience the adventure of a lifetime from May to September. Transportation, guide, gear, lunch, and drinks included!
Duration:
6 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
-
Pemex - Experience swimming alongside the largest fish on the planet on a whale shark snorkeling adventure, explore the caribbean sea in the search for whale sharks in their own habitat while spotting dolphins, manta rays and flying fish jumping and thriving along the way.
From June to September hundreds of whale sharks congregate north side of…
-
Pemex - Experience swimming alongside the largest fish on the planet on a whale shark snorkeling adventure, explore the caribbean sea in the search for whale sharks in their own habitat while spotting dolphins, manta rays and flying fish jumping and thriving along the way.
From June to September hundreds of whale sharks congregate north side of Isla Mujeres forming the largest whale shark congregation in the world!. On this trip, you will have the chance to experience swimming alongside of whale sharks… the thrill that comes from snorkeling so close of the largest fish in the sea is just something you will never forget!
After a 50 minutes boat ride aprox we will get to the area, once you reach the whale shark area you will snorkeling and swimming with the whale sharks; 2 people per turn accompanied by a certified guide at all times, Our idea is that you enter the water 2 times, however, it all depends on the sea conditions, how many sharks there are and your own swimming skills. They’re not trained or caged and you go to visit their home. You also don’t feed them so there’s no way to guarantee that we will find the whale sharks out there, even though we have a high success rate.
Join us
What's Included
- Carbonated beverages
- Bottled water
- Lunch provided
- Snacks available
- Snorkeling equipment included
- All fees and taxes covered
- Dock fees included
- Carbonated beverages
- Bottled water
- Lunch provided
- Snacks available
- Snorkeling equipment included
- All fees and taxes covered
- Dock fees included
What's Not Included
- Alcoholic Beverages
- GoPro files (available to purchase)
- Transportation On Isla Mujeres
- Alcoholic Beverages
- GoPro files (available to purchase)
- Transportation On Isla Mujeres
Additional Information
This splendid adventure, which only takes place between May and September, offers a genuinely unforgettable experience as you swim alongside whale sharks - a truly once in a lifetime journey.
Our 32-foot boat is built to ensure a calm and comfortable ride, even in rough seas.
The package includes transportation, an English-speaking guide, snorkeling…
This splendid adventure, which only takes place between May and September, offers a genuinely unforgettable experience as you swim alongside whale sharks - a truly once in a lifetime journey.
Our 32-foot boat is built to ensure a calm and comfortable ride, even in rough seas.
The package includes transportation, an English-speaking guide, snorkeling equipment, a light meal, and refreshments.
The primary aim of our expedition is to locate and swim with the whale sharks. While our team puts in their maximum effort to accomplish this, do keep in mind that this takes place in the creatures’ natural surroundings, not a controlled park. They are not domesticated or confined, and we are guests in their home. We do not feed them either, so there’s no certainty that we will encounter the whale sharks, even though our success rate is high.
- Not recommended for people who get seasick easily
- Sunscreen use is not allowed in the whale shark area; we recommend wearing a long-sleeve shirt”
Location
Black pearl
Abasolo
From Isla Mujeres: Black Pearl dock in downtown, behind Perla Negra Store.
From Cancun: Punta Sam Ferry terminal
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.8
(702 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Pedjuan
Sep 11, 2024
Excrusion Tiburon Ballena - Spectacular to be able to bathe and see the whale shark a few inches away. We were lucky enough to see dolphins too.
And the best to finish the ceviche they prepared on North Beach in Isla Mujeres.
All very well, highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jacob
Sep 11, 2024
Amazing! - We recently went on this tour and it was amazing! It was about an hour boat ride then we was met with around 10 sharks! Swimming with them was defiantly a bucket list item complete, all in all an amazing experience !
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nickpa9376gy
Sep 11, 2024
Loved it - We’ve had a few excursions on our holiday but the whale shark has to be the tops. We left on time in the morning. I’m about with 10 on board and I didn’t feel crowded. The guides and skipper were superb, very friendly and engaging. It took us about an hour boat trip to find them, they are wild animals and don’t hang around for tourists. When we did, we had two dives each and swim less than a meter away from these beautiful, gentle creatures. Oh, our return we anchored off our islands for drinks and lunch, which I didn’t expect. It gave us a good chance to have a swim and talk with the other guests.
Loved it, go!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Getaway22908751483
Sep 9, 2024
100% recommended and reliable tours - I really enjoyed taking this tour so cute with Isla fun Tours:) super well the logistics, the service of the very friendly and professional guides! They help you and also take your goPro to take photos and videos! Plus sandwiches and a delicious ceviche at the end in Isla Mujeres! Loved it! It is completely worth it 😊😉
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Hwcrow
Sep 8, 2024
Amazing experience! - Amazing trip. I forget the names of the guides with , I think Nestor, Adolpho, and someone else. They were excellent.
The only negative was there seemed to be some confusion with the transportation to and from our hotel. In the morning our pickup was late and when we got to the dock it seemed like everyone else was there waiting for us. Afterwords, the new driver to take us back had the wrong hotel information. I think the transport from and to the hotel is contracted out a d I am not sure how that works.
The whale shark boat tour though was absolutely fantastic. The guides were super friendly and professional. They were obviously very skilled.
We found the whale sharks without problem and each pair of guests got their two turns in the water with them. What an unreal and amazing experience to be so close to these giant majestic animals.
I was a little apprehensive about the whole notion of animal tourism and bothering these animals, but I think those worries were unfounded. The whale shark behavior did t really seem to change whether we were around or not. They just kept on feeding. The rules to limit the time people are in the water with them I am sure are for the better.
One of the guides got great GoPro footage of us in the water with the whale shark which we could pay extra for. This was a super easy process and I had his video/photo files on my phone before we got back to the dock.
The stop after the whale sharks at the reef was great snorkeling with many varied fish. They prepared some ceviche at this time which was delicious.
Overall excellent experience. I am extremely happy with Isla Fun tours and would highly recommend them.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ceglass
Sep 8, 2024
Once in a lifetime - Lolo and Felipe were our guides. They were very friendly and helpful. Communication through Viator with the excursion company chat option was never answered. When we arrived in Mexico, our hotel let us know that the harbor had been closed all day for tours so we should call and confirm our tour. They were very responsive through phone call. They should have given us the dock number on Viator for where we were meeting. Our taxi driver didn’t understand the address so I had to call again and have him talk to the company. And then there was no clear direction when we arrived by the beach where to go. They were late to pick us so I called again to ask which dock.
Once they picked us up, it was an amazing experience!
Review provided by Viator
Relax01054558129
Sep 7, 2024
Magic Experience - A taxi picked us up outside our Inn to take us to the boat. We were a small group of 10 people so perfect!
We did not have to wait long before seeing some whale sharks!! Magical experience to live!
Felipe and Lolo were funny and made us a delicious ceviche while we had free time for snorkling.
We recommend this experience! 😍
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elena
Sep 7, 2024
Amazing swim with sharks and snorkel by the reef - My husband and I took the whale shark tour off Isla Mujeres this week. We were afraid we may miss out as the season end is approaching but we enjoyed swimming with a handful of sharks! One was particularly friendly and just hung out on the surface with the swimmers! It was a humbling experience that I highly recommend to adults and children. On the way back we made a stop to snorkel on the reef and enjoyed beautiful colorful fishes and coral while the crew prepared us conch ceviche! Once back on the ship we enjoyed our fresh fish lunch - delicious!
The excursion was well worth the money and it is one that I hope to repeat when I return to Isla in the future.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Wardcrazy
Sep 9, 2024
Disappointing. Bad luck with animals made lack of organization more frustrating. With good luck would have loved. - Went in early September and unfortunately barely saw a whale shark. Somewhat the luck of the draw with wild animals, and sounds like we were the unlucky tour of the season, but just wanted to let people know there are tours where there aren’t really sharks. Technically we all saw one but it was mostly we all saw a big spot moving in the water and got like 5 seconds of eyes on it through murky water at a depth of ~5 meters.
I’m sure with better luck it would have been an AMAZING day, but without that luck it was pretty disappointing and lack of organization that wouldn’t have mattered with sharks became frustrating. So just be prepared for taking that chance if you go.
Some other notes (feedback for the operators):
- Assign jump numbers to people. After searching for a whale shark for ~2 hours a boat finally saw one and we all went from 2 people jumping in at once to 4 (or more), and everyone realized if they weren’t in the first 4 they might not see a shark the whole day. It created a really weird dynamic on the boat where everyone wanted to shove their way in but also not be rude. If we all had assigned numbers (randomly drawn or something) at the start of the tour when we all thought we were going to see a bunch of sharks and it wouldn’t be an issue, that would have made things better. Then if you don’t see a shark you are upset at your bad number luck, not the other people on the boat.
- More communication in advance would be nice. We didn’t realize we wouldn’t be able to apply sunscreen from when we left at 8AM until after our whale shark searching (which went til around 1PM). So effectively no sunscreen all day and only a couple seats on the boat were shaded. So likely everyone who wasn’t wearing a sun shirt got burnt in areas they couldn’t cover.
- More communication during the tour would be nice as well. Telling us about the whales and their patterns while we search. Or communicating if it’s normal to take an hour of searching before seeing one or not.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Shailee_g
Sep 13, 2024
Plan Another Excursion! Don’t Waste Your Time or Money! - The excursion was a letdown. It was supposed to be a small group with a max of ten people, but there were actually 20 other boats around us. We spent four hours waiting as boats dropped off a couple of people at a time, which was super inefficient and a waste of time. We were stuck in the sun with no food, and the constant boat wakes made some of us feel nauseous. When we finally got a chance to jump in, the guide didn’t tell us that they were abandoning the strict two people at a time rule and shouted for 8 of us to all go at once. It was chaotic and we went with no warning. We ended up wasting the jump because of lack of communication.. Plus, the staff complained about us taking too long to get out, even though they hadn’t given us a heads-up.
On our second try, only two people in our group missed seeing a shark, and the staff seemed indifferent about that. The gear was poor and everything felt cheap. Lunch was disappointing too: just a small bowl of ceviche and a half sandwich, which didn’t justify the $405 we paid for two people.
There was also a lack of clear communication about the schedule, equipment use, and shark info. We also weren’t told until the day of there is a no sunblock rule once you are on the ocean. This caused bad sunburns for my party. The trip was supposed to be six hours but dragged on from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., almost doubling the expected time.
After looking forward to this trip for months, it was a huge letdown. The problems were so big that even seeing a whale shark wouldn’t have made up for it. I’m also concerned because I’ve heard this company might trade photos for reviews, which makes me wonder if the positive feedback is real.
Review provided by Viator
More activities from this operator
