Swimming with Whale Sharks in Cancún Mexico
- Rand Blimes
- May 23
- 4 min read
Two of my three daughters had been nervous.
One was afraid to snorkel in water so deep you couldn’t see the bottom. The other was worried that, while swimming alongside a creature the size of a school bus, it might accidentally “bump” her with its tail.
But when the captain yelled “GO!” and they both slid into the water and saw their first whale shark, neither of them remembered to be afraid. Not even for a second. The daughter who had feared being tail-slapped by a bus-sized fish came out of the water grinning and declared the enormous shark “cute.” She named it Penelope.
Why Here? Why Now?
Every summer, something incredible happens just off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. In the warm, plankton-rich waters between Cancún and Isla Mujeres, the world’s largest fish gather in numbers that seem too magical to be real. Whale sharks—gentle, polka-dotted giants—come here to feed.
But why here?
It turns out this stretch of sea is an all-you-can-eat buffet. The area is rich with microscopic goodies like plankton and fish eggs, especially between June and September. This natural bounty draws in the whale sharks, who scoop up massive gulps of water and filter out the snacks like the world’s most chilled-out vacuum cleaners.
They’re sharks in name only. These creatures are filter feeders—more like slow-moving, spotted submarines than toothy predators. Despite their massive size, they are calm, even graceful. And being in the water with them? It’s like snorkeling next to a subway train made of velvet and magic that couldn’t care less that you exist.
Swimming with Whale Sharks in Cancún
We booked with Mexico Whale Shark. Not the cheapest, but solidly mid-range—exactly where I try to land for experiences like this. The budget tours sometimes crowd their boats (and worse, crowd the sharks).
Thankfully, Mexico doesn’t just open the ocean floodgates and shout, “Hop in with the whale sharks—good luck!” The government has implemented strict regulations to protect these gentle giants, and from what I saw, most operators follow them carefully.
Only licensed boats are allowed in the whale sharks’ feeding zone. No sunscreen is allowed—not even the reef-safe kind—because it harms the plankton the sharks eat. (I ended up with the worst sunburn of my life. Do yourself a favor and wear a long-sleeved rash guard. And bring a hat.)
You also can’t touch the sharks. Not a brush. Not a bump. Not even a pinky graze. Touch one, and you're out of the water—and possibly fined. No diving down to chase them either. Everyone wears a life jacket, not just for safety, but to keep overzealous swimmers from dipping below the surface and stressing the animals.
Only two people from each boat go in the water at a time, always with a guide.
And you know what? The rules don’t detract. They elevate the experience. The sharks keep coming back. They're not boxed in. They're not spooked. And you, floating calmly beside one of the largest living things on earth, get to be part of a moment that is awe-inspiring, unforgettable, and—let’s be honest—more than a little magical.
Swimming with the Big Fishes
If you’re picturing yourself gracefully cruising alongside a whale shark for a solid ten minutes, don’t. These creatures may look like they’re gliding in slow motion, but they’re booking it at 5–8 km/h. That’s Olympic-swimmer fast. And they’re not even trying.
So your job is to be in the right place at the right time.
That’s where the captain earns their keep. A good captain will spot a whale shark in the distance and position the boat along its projected path. Two swimmers perch on the side of the boat. Just before the whale shark arrives, the captain yells “GO!” and the swimmers slide in.
You get a few glorious moments. You try to keep up. You don’t. You watch as the tail swishes off into the blue. Then it’s back on the boat. Reset. Repeat.
My daughter named her second shark Ferdinand. So she got to swim with Penelope and Ferdinand. Kids are cute.
There were other boats, but they kept their distance. We rarely saw other swimmers in the water. It never felt like a theme park or a feeding frenzy. Just quiet awe.
On my final swim, I entered the water with my youngest daughter. We looked into the blue, searching for movement. At first, nothing.
Then suddenly—there it was. Gliding silently toward us. Effortless. Massive. Mesmerizing.
Oddly, the thing I noticed most was its eyes. For all their size and majesty, whale sharks have these tiny, almost cartoonishly small eyes. I found that endearing.
As the enormous, spotted body passed, I swam behind it for a few final seconds, trying to hold on to the moment. The sweeping tail moved slowly, like the beat of some great underwater metronome. Then it disappeared into the blue.
And just like that, a childhood dream came true—because travel.
NOTE: swimming with whale sharks isn’t cheap. And because these are wild animals, there is always the possibility you won’t see any. When we visited, in the middle of July (2018), every boat that went out saw the sharks. Some of the tour operators have a policy of taking you out a second time for free if you don’t see sharks you first time out, so check the fine print if you are worried. But spotting whale sharks off Isla Mujeres in the summer isn’t like trying to find a leopard in Sri Lanka. Your chances are pretty good.
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