Swimming with Sharks

This winter, make your Riviera Maya vacation a little more adventurous!

Source: Flickr.com user Fiona Ayerst

Bull sharks migrate through the Playa del Carmen area every year from November through March, creating the chance for an unbelievable Riviera Maya diving tour. When you stay at Sandos Caracol Eco Experience Resort or Sandos Playacar Beach Experience Resort, you can stop by the Scuba Libre dive center on the hotel’s beach to book a dive with bull sharks. Both of these resorts offer a beautiful location in Playa del Carmen in Mexico’s famous Riviera Maya.

Bull sharks can be spotted in the waters of Playa del Carmen as early as November and as late as March, but you’ll have a better chance of seeing more sharks between December and February. These months are subject to change, of course, depending on what mother nature has in mind!

Diving is a necessity in these tours because the bull sharks tend to move along the sandy ocean bottom about 70 feet below the surface of the Caribbean Sea. Many of the sharks in Playa del Carmen at wintertime are pregnant females, and some even give birth to their young while they are in the area. It’s wonderful to have these creatures in our waters during such an amazing time.

Bull Shark Tours

Scuba Libre dive center at Sandos Caracol and Sandos Playacar resorts offers a 2-tank immersion dive, beginning with a deeper immersion, then moving on to the shallower waters (36 feet) of a nearby coral reef for the second immersion. While a bull shark sighting can’t be guaranteed on these tours because they are wild animals, during winter months it is highly probable to find them.

Don’t worry, this dive center uses no-feeding tours. Sadly, many shark tours use “chumming”, a practice that involves throwing bait into the water in order to lure the animals to a certain area and guarantee shark sightings. Chumming the water can cause the bull sharks to associate humans with food, creating unnatural feeding habits and migration patterns. Scuba Libre prefers that the bull sharks of Playa del Carmen live in a natural state unaffected by human activity.

Source: Flickr.com user Aglaophamus

About Bull Sharks

These animals make up an important part of the natural balance in this part of the world. Bull sharks are beautiful creatures that prefer warm, shallow water, just like we have here in Playa del Carmen! They’re called “bull sharks” because of their broad and flat snout, similar to that of a bull. They usually grow to 7 or 8 feet long, and have a gray color on top and a white underside. Bull sharks are solitary hunters, and they usually eat bony fish and smaller sharks.

If you’re vacationing at Sandos Caracol or Sandos Playacar resorts this winter, stop by the Scuba Libre locations. This dive center has an extra cost and is not part of the hotels, but you can find them on the beach at each property. For more information before you travel, visit the websites for water sports at Sandos Caracol and at Sandos Playacar.