VIP Walhai Private Tour

Once in a lifetime. That’s how I’m going to describe this experience. It’s not that we ????????????????????????’???? do it again, but taking a small boat a couple hours into the deep sea on unforgiving waters isn’t for the faint of heart. Add to that, rocking on those waters while searching for the biggest shark in the world before jumping into those waters time and time again. Then climbing back on the boat one final time for the long ride back to land. It was exciting, exhausting, and, though I’m a water girl, I’ve never been more pleased to be on solid ground. All that to say, the whale shark is a majestic beast and I can’t believe we jumped right into its home. I can’t believe I had to kick quickly to avoid being hit by a softly moving but MASSIVE tail fin. I can’t believe a shark significantly larger than a bus (they’re 40-60 feet long) with a mouth four feet wide was swimming right at me and I didn’t $h!t myself. I woke up at home a couple days later thinking "was that real? Did that REALLY happen?" It was truly unbelievable. Humbling. Just, wow. I was very happy we chose the private experience for two reasons. First: Only two people get to jump at a time, regardless of whether you're on a private boat or not. And whale sharks aren't everywhere - you have to search for them. So by the time you see one, only two people get to jump in. Then those people go to the back of the line while the next two people jump (assuming you see another whale shark). That means the more people on the boat, the fewer jumps you get. Since it was just me and one friend, we could jump in every time a whale shark was spotted. Second reason: When we'd had enough of the rough seas, all we had to do was say so and immediately start our journey back. If you get seasick (definitely saw a couple sick people), you don't have to suck it up because there aren't other paying customers on your boat. It was INCREDIBLE. IF I do it again, I'd do it the same way and have a private boat so I can jump in for every whale shark I see, and also have the authority to call it quits. Our guide was Gerry (Gerardo). He was so nice. So energetic. So knowledgeable. He picked us up from our resort (Atelier Playa Mujeres) and drove us to the marina. We felt totally safe our entire trip, including during our transport with Gerry. After we parked, he jumped on the boat with us where a father/son duo were waiting to take us far out into the blue. Gerry dove with us each time, and we were SO HAPPY that he's a badass and brought his GoPro to film us with the whale sharks. We had a pretty nice underwater camera, but we never even got it out of the bag. I would hate to waste my focus on messing with a camera when such a cool experience is happening right in front of me. Not to mention, it'd be a little tough to take a selfie with such a massive animal that doesn't have a clue what a selfie is. We felt so lucky to have had a a built-in videographer with this wonderful guide. After diving, we passed on snorkeling (we'd had enough time in the water) and explored Isla Mujeres a bit before getting back on the boat to enjoy delicious ceviche while floating on the gorgeous turquoise waters surrounding Isla Mujeres. When we were ready, they took us back to the marina and Gerry drove us back to our resort. Easy peasy! If you've made it this far. Congrats. That was a lot. But this experience truly is worth a thousand words. Well...656 to be exact.

Amazing from start to finish. I really can't speak highly enough of our guide Alex and our crew. Not only did we learn tons of interesting things but the snorkeling was something that will stay with us forever. This is truly the trip of a lifetime. It's hard to get across in words just how fantastic the whole experience was. It was tailored to our every need and I have travelled a lot and booking this was one of the best things I've ever done. Within minutes on the sea there were dolphins and the whale shark were incredible and majestic. It was so good I even tried guacamole for the first time! If you are thinking about it, don't, just do it! My daughter is quite shy and can come across as withdrawn but they helped her all the way and enabled her to do things for herself which meant I could enjoy everything and knew she was in good hands. Finally, I can't stress enough how absolutely amazing our guides were, the crew were the best and Alex is just a complete star...one in a million...thanks so much. Katie and Martha

Seeing the whale shark! Diving into the water when Arturo said go go go! We were the first to see the whale shark. Even though one of my boys were sea sick, JP was a patient guide. He was very friendly and was a very good guide.