I have some pics from a vacation where I am doing something similar, only with my girlfriend at the time who the guides ALSO commented was one of the biggest they had swam with....



save the wales, harpoon a fat chick.....lol

This trip was truely amazing. As far as the name, i think it was just called swim with the whale sharks or something like that. I know we left out of Puerto Juarez which is just right on the outskirts of Cancun. We just booked it right from our hotel and it was the only whale shark tour available.

As far as not being able to jump in the water with these beasts, It was pretty scary at first even knowing that they only eat plankton. It is pretty intimidating having it swim straight towards you. All in all, I am sure glad my wife convinced me to do this with her, as she is the one who saw this in the first place.

Oh yeah about how close you get.... You were able to go as close as you could get by keeping up to them. The only thing they asked was that you not reach out and make contact with the sharks. Other than that, we were within 2 feet or so of the shark.