Whale Shark Diving in Belize

Martin Spragg · Issue 32, Sep/Oct 2006 · pp. 25–29

Products mentioned: Olympus C5050, PT 015 housing, Magic Filter

Whale sharks, the biggest fish in the sea, we all want to see one! In recent years many diving destinations have started to promote whale shark diving and Belize is one of them. Belize is a small country on The Caribbean coast of Central American bounded by Mexico and Guatemala. It has more than 180 miles of barrier reef and three of the four atolls of The Caribbean Sea. Whale sharks are present in Belizean waters all year around but during the months of March, April, May and June they travel to Gladden Spit on the Belize Barrier Reef. History Gladden Spit is in the southern section of The Belize Barrier Reef and during the Spring full moons several species of snapper aggregate there to spawn. Fishermen have known about this event for centuries. Occasionally the fishermen would encounter a whale shark swimming along the surface. The first sighting was more than 100 years ago by a fisherm…