Swimming with whale sharks has been on my bucket list for the past few years. When I realized you could swim with them at Gladden Spit close to Placencia Belize I decided to add it into my trip to hike to El Mirador in Guatemala! It took some planning because you have to book to swim with them in certain months plus it has to be around a full moon (and places book up in advance)! I booked two spots with Seahorse Dive Shop in Placencia a few weeks before the trip (the other dive shop I looked at was way more expensive!).
I flew into Belize and then hopped on a short flight (10 seater or so) to Placencia. The flight is only about 30 minutes and the scenery is beautiful. In that quick flight I experienced a torrential downpour and then bright sunshine! I felt like the flights around Belize were like buses in the air. They stop at the small airports all over Belize and you hop on and off like you would a bus!
I met Hector at the Placencia airport and from there we took a taxi to the hotel where we were staying at. Placencia is not very big and you can walk to most places. That evening we walked to the main area of town to find a place to eat dinner. There is this small boarded path that runs along the outside of the restaurants/shops by the beach. We stumbled upon Tipsy Tuna Sports Bar and decided since it was busy we would give it a try! It is definitely more of a tourist restaurant with tourist prices but still good!
During dinner we got to watch a Garifuna dance/music show. It was a good show with lots of live music and dancing. There was a little boy in the show who you could tell was not in the mood. He looked so sad throughout the entire performance! That evening stormed which I was told was not a good sign to see the whale sharks. It meant the sea would be very rough and tours would not likely go out. We had the next day free so I had my fingers crossed that the next night it would not storm.
The next day we had nothing planned so we walked around and explored Placencia. We started off with breakfast at Cozy Corner Hotel and Restaurant on the beach. After breakfast we decided to check out the beach. It had seaweed where we were so we didn’t get in but just climbed the watch tower instead. We walked around the town for the rest of the day exploring the little shops along the way and also popping in to restaurants to see where we wanted to go for dinner.
We had been recommended De Tatch but decided on the Pickled Parrot instead. Again, it was catered more to tourists but the food was good. We both had fish tacos! And then cheesecake for dessert (like I said there is always room for dessert!). While at dinner it started pouring with rain, not a good sign for the next day. We waited for it to pass/lessen before heading back to the hotel.
The next morning we had to meet at Seahorse Dive shop bright and early. It takes about 10 minutes to walk from the hotel so we left in plenty of time. Sadly, the company informed us the snorkeling tour was not going out because the water was too rough. The diving tour was though! I made me so sad! We meandered around the area and decided to grab breakfast and figure out what we wanted to do for the day instead.
Breakfast was at Wendy’s Creole Restaurant and Bar and it consisted of French toast, friend potatoes and fruit juice! We ended up deciding that we would spend the day at the beach. We went to the beach up by the dive shop and there was little to no seaweed to deal with. The beach was fun but I was sad we didn’t get to at least go out and look for whale sharks. I spent the day thinking and planning when and where we could try again.
I’ve heard Isla Mujeras is a good place to go. I think that will be the place I try next. I am going to add it to next year’s calendar as soon as I finish writing this! Maybe I’ll have better luck there. I think it would be good to try and go a month earlier since apparently the beginning of the rainy season can be hit or miss because the weather causes the water to be rough.
The next morning we were up VERY early to make our way to Flores, Guatemala since the day after we would be beginning our hike to El Mirador. Check back to find out more about the hike! Spoiler: it was incredible!
Make sure to check back!
Buffy xx
