Thank God for the Brits!!!!

I am on a roll, and this now is the coolest picture I have seen since my last one, posted 24 hours ago. The daily Telegraph reported, very briefly on the migration of over 10,000 rays (i beleive they call them eagle rays...not) from Florida to The Gulf Of Mexico. This is an annual event folks, and I want to see it!!!! And I am sure that you too would love to witness this amazing fleet of rays moving through the water.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/24/earay124.xml

This is the link to the article. It is just a mention of the migration pattern, and I have no idea how I am going to find it, but your help would be greatly appreciated. Other than the great picture I posted the other day, this is truly a beauty.

Now we all know that the WhaleSharks migrate each year from Honduras to The Gulf Of Mexico in May and then return in September. See my post in June. The annual migration pattern of the rays in my mental files is not known yet, but let me see what I can do to dig up some information. I think I am going to start drinking the Gulf Of Mexico water as there obviously is something spectacular in it that encourages the annual migration of some of the most incredible species in the world. Maybe I will turn into a mermaid, how great would that be.

I have to state the ironic part of me discoverying this article, though I should not mention it as my eco-consconscience is tweeking madly. On the same page that I found this amazing, wonderful article, I also found one about the discovery of the largest oil field found to date in the Gulf of Mexico....gasp! so lets not discuss it, lets not talk about it, I just had to mention this little eco-irony to the research.

So who ever took this, and this time I have to honour the British, thank you for this wonderful display of migration, in such a beautiful, beautiful photo. God Save the Queen.....

Whalesharks.......

Need we say more...they are here, the first trips have gone out and we are building incentives for you to come....not that we need to but we are so fond of this 'big fish' we want the fence sitters to make a decision....Just DO IT!

So first what are whalesharks? They are the largest fish in the ocean. They feed on plankton and migrate to Isla Holbox each year. These creatures, it is hard to call them fish, are anywhere from 9 meters to 15 meters...now to give you an idea as to how big that truly is, take our boats for an example. They are 28 ft boats, calcualte that into meters and you have 12.72 meters...so visualized a fish bigger than our boats!!!! And they truly are! They feed off of plankton that is on the surface during breakfast time, that is anytime before 12 pm and then sink to deeper water as they get too hot. I would get too hot too if I was 15 meters.

Second, the tour. Senor Dave in his brillance has found a boat out of Cancun that makes the trip north to HOlbox, a little island in the Gulf of Mexico. Depending on the time of season, the whale sharks hang out in the general area where the Gulf meets the Carribean.....reason number 2 for going.....spectacular....when have you ever, ever gone where two main bodies of water meet...rarely....very rarely...the manta rays, the dolphins, pink flamingos, all come to the same area....could it be the plankton....for the manta rays, yes for the dolphins no...but they all seem to like to hang out together. The tour is early, 6 am BUT there is coffee at the hotel so no worries. You will return by 4 pm, with a full belly, tired and with the biggests eyes because you saw WHALESHARKS!!! Lunch, equipment and the transport to cancun is all included. Just bring a towel, biodegrable sunscreen, and who ever you want to share this experience with. I have to stress the boidegrable sun screen, super duper important. We have some for sale in the shop so if you forget or can not find any, we have sports grade, SPF 30 and 50 for all!

Third incentive, but really I dont think you need anymore. If you book your whaleshark trip in advance, in your hotel package you will receive 15% off your room rate for each night you stay....if you are smart, you will look at coming close to a Saturday and get the BBQ for 100 pesos as well.....

I was going to say think about it, but really what is there to think about...flights from Toronto via sunwing next week are 97 usd plus taxes...hmmmmm....

Email the hotel at www.tropicalcasablanca.com to book your package (let me know that you read the blog to guarantee your discount) or email the dive centers at info@abyssdiveshop.com or info@cenotedive.com

See you soon, as we know we will!