Lizard Killers & Whale Sharks

Yesterday was an amazing day. I was talking to an American woman last Saturday who told me about a boat tour to see (and swim with) whale sharks! She raved about the experience so much (she went last year with a company called Dove6) that I decided I would try to go on Monday or Tuesday. Sky (one of the owners of Dove6) got back to me right away (Sunday) to let me know he had a spot open on the boat. I almost didn´t go, due to my lingering cold (and the effects of Sunday´s dinner also made me briefly ill, but I won´t go into the details of that... it was over quickly and I got a few hours sleep). So we departed from a place called Puerto Moreles (actually, I just think it´s pretty close to there, I don't actually know for sure) and headed out to deeper seas to find whale sharks and manta rays. In June and July, these sharks come to the surface to feed on plankton. As they swim around and eat, we jump in with a snorkel, mask, fins & guide (the law prohibits more than 3 people getting in at once) and swim alongside the shark! It was really, really cool. The first few times, it was difficult to move around fast enough to get a good look, but by the fourth jump, I was actually swimming with a shark for several 100 metres. The shark was so close, I touched its side. They have funny mouths and really tiny eyes.

They didn´t seem to care that we were there, but I couldn´t help but think that we were harassing these gentle animals, chasing them through their home with a loud, polluting motor boat. But I guess that´s just the environmentalist in me: I´m still glad I had the chance to do this, after the frustration and disappointment I felt with my CEA experience. Hey, and I love Hotel Casa Tucan! It´s like being in the middle of a jungle when you walk to your room and down the path that leads to the pool. I´ve been swimming in it a few times. I was so tired after the shark trip that I slept from 6pm until 7am. I slept better than I had in weeks.

I didn´t have an underwater camera to catch close-ups of the sharks, but an American couple on the boat with me are going to email me their photos. I wish I had seen a manta ray: I was looking in the wrong direction when it jumped out of the water. The captain and guide also took us to a coral reef where we snorkeled for a half hour or so. I saw several fish I´d never seen before (although I kept thinking that there should really be a lot more fish in an area like this... I guess we've eaten them all? or because the coral is dying, this must have a direct effect on the fish) I wish that I had been in the Reef program at CEA because I would have learned about this kind of stuff. And I would have been diving for sure, which I have mixed feelings about due to my club experience in Hamilton. If I take the course again (ACUC or Padi), I'll take it in the Caribbean.

Oh, and a word about lizard killers. These are the kittens I helped foster for a few days. I even took them into my dorm last Saturday night because everyone was going to be out all night. Several Mexicans did not approve: kittens grow up to be cats and cats kill geckos and iguanas. Iguanas kill the mosquitos, or so they say... but I can't imagine that an iguana can survive on mosquitos... wouldn't they eat bigger bugs? Even so, I now think twice about cute, cuddly kittens (in a place like Mexico): I can totally understand why people wouldn't want them around. The vet clinic has managed to bring the population down by spaying and neutering many cats over the years. But you don´t see many full grown iguanas because they are just starting to come back again.

Tonight is my last night and I´m going to dinner with Alice, a Brit in the Reef program who I spent some time with (she fostered two of the six cats found at the same resort, but her two are from a different litter, and about a week or two older). She has been in Mexico for almost a year (only went home at Christmas). We are going to a Thai restaurant that everyone was raving about at CEA. The prices are low, so that´s good. Today I went to Subway, but it was not a very good sub. It hasn´t made me vomit though, and that´s a good thing. (-:

Tam