Isla Mujeres: Under Water

These beasts are easily 10-15 feet, but very friendly. They stay on the surface, open their mouths, and feed on plankton. We were advised not to touch the whale sharks until a fin literally slapped me across the face. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience, but a little on the touristy-side for Chantal and I. I tried to sneakily ditch my neon orange life vest, but was scolded because of strict regulations.  (Chantal: I'm rolling my eyes, because he tried to explain that he used to be a lifeguard.  Didn't translate...) There were times we had to fight other "snorkelers" in the water to get close, but they are amazing creatures. It was surreal to be swimming along-side them. 

After a couple hours of Whale Shark'n, we boated back towards the island. We were delightfully surprised by fresh ceviché prepared by the crew right in front of us. We enjoyed this meal as we sunbathed on the stern of the boat. This definitely put the guacamole on-top to a fun packed day.

After a little bit of research, Chantal and I both knew that we wanted to experience two things on the island: scuba diving the MUSA (underwater museum between Isla and Cancun) and snorkeling with the whale sharks.

We wanted to wet our feet right away, so we booked scuba with Carey Dive Center for the day after we arrived on Isla Mujeres. We were on the boat and at our dive site at 8AM, and it's highly recommended to get out early to beat the scuba-rush. It has been close to a year since Chantal and I last dove, but it was like riding a bike. Our buoyancy was on point. We descended down 12-15 meters and enjoyed the abundance of life around us. We saw sting rays, groupers, lobster, and fish that matched every color of the rainbow. We finned our way to the underwater museum, and it was absolutely breathtaking. It consisted of over 500 life-size sculptures that are primarily used to promote coral life and lessen crowds at surrounding natural reefs. After 45 minutes, we boarded the boat, sped to Atlantis for a reef dive on the southern tip of Isla. We absolutely loved Carey Dive Center, recommend them to anyone who wants to dive in Cancun/Isla Mujeres, and see why they're a 5-star on TripAdvisor.com.  Gilberto and Alex were our dive masters, and their entire crew was first class. 

We don't like to beat around the bush, so we scheduled our whale shark snorkeling tour for the following day. This was described to us a world-class experience, as these are some of the biggest sharks in the world, and we paid a pretty penny (pesos) for it. We hopped on a boat of 10 and were out to sea Saturday morning. After a bumpy ride for an hour or so, we pulled up to the whale shark site filled with a hundred boats. We took turns in pairs with the guide as he pinpointed whale sharks for us to hunt down and follow.