Originally Posted by
konaflyer
I also wonder if anyone has done the whale shark excursion and could describe their experience. Does anyone know if they have been successful in spotting the whale sharks recently and what the cost is. Another poster mentioned that he was able to get $50 off pp for pre-paying for some excursion he was going to do. Is this usually the case?
That was me, I had read another person had done it in advance so I figured I would try it since we were booking a couple of other excursions at the same time. No prepaying, here is what I received back...
Thank you for your email and apologies for the late response.
From the dive centre we run our Whale Shark Talk &Tour excursion three times per week (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays), starting at 0830 with an informative briefing about whale sharks, behaviour, and our code of conduct for swimming with them (please note that this is a snorkel activity!). We depart the island by speedboat at 0900 and reach the hotspot in approximately 20 minutes. Once we arrive there is a lot of searching involved to find them as the reef is over 30km in length and the whale sharks can be anywhere in the area. Once located we jump into the water with our experienced guides for a once in a lifetime experience. We return to the Conrad by around 1230. The cost per person is $200++ and the spaces are limited to 12 person per trip, however we are able to offer you a pre-booking rate of $150++ per person. Please note that we can only offer the excursion to guests over the age of 12 and that are good swimmers as this is paramount for in water safety on the excursion. The currents and ocean conditions can be a bit rougher sometimes and there can be high boat traffic with other snorkelers in the water around the whale sharks. These conditions are unfortunately out of our control. We do like to draw to everyone attention that whale sharks are wild animals so we cannot guarantee that we will for certain see them on the trip, there is also an element of luck involved. When conditions are good the chance to see them is approximately 80-90%; however lunar phases, wind and cloud conditions will reduce the odds. If conditions are such that we do not think there is a good chance to see whale sharks we will postpone the excursion at no charge.
I have reserved for you 2 spaces . Please do not hesitate to get back to us directly in case you have further questions.
We are looking forward to welcome you at the dive centre in April!
Kind regards,
Nicola