Isla Mujares Whale Sharks Season 2023

The whale shark season has started off with similar results to last year at this time. Few sharks and lots of boats out. A storm rolled in on June 3 and zero sharks for 2 days. The remainder of the week has been up and down between 2 sharks and 8. Not a lot of food in the water yet. Numbers should be picking up in about two weeks. 

It's been years since I have been to Cozumel. Are there day boats that run from Cozumel to Isla Mujares? If so, how long is the tour? What is the experience like, is crowded with people everywhere or can you actually get good photos and have a decent time in the water with them? 

Hello. No boats from Cozumel to Isla Mujares. For Cozumel customers, it is 7am ferry and then transport van to Cancun. Normally arriving to marina at 920am and depart on boat at 935am. The experience varies day to day and how many sharks. One can never know. Most of the boats leave early and if the sharks are cooperating then when the later boats arrive, there are few boats left in the area. It can be hit or miss if the sharks are stressed and start dropping. I have gotten thousands of great shots during the later times with less people and boats around. This year has been difficult so far with the sharks. there has yet to be an abundance of them. June has been a better month so far in numbers but with rougher water conditions. We have had 1 really good week july 1 -8 with 1 day of sharks dropping down. The week of July 9-15 was bad and 3 days no sharks. The other days only 1 or 2. Not sure what is happening if its a food issue? Are they migrating to some other area offshore? Is there a huge decline in the species? I have been doing the whale shark tours for 13 years so have seen it when it was crazy with hundreds of sharks. Those days are gone.....maybe the industry around Isla Mujares is on the verge of a big change? Over tourism is not the best thing for these endangered animals.