Whale shark tours in La Paz

[f1jon]

Our cruise on Diamond Princess take us to La Paz on Feb 9. The whale shark excursion is sold out with no wait list available. Does anyone have a recommendation for a tour company? 

[marden1970]

I did this several years ago (pre-covid) thru LA Paz VIP tours.  It was probably the best excursion I have ever done.  Small boat, there were only 3 of us.  Our guide, Anna, was great.  We snorkeled with a whale shark and then with sea lions.  Check out their website lapasviptours.com.  I would definitly do it again.

[f1jon]

42 minutes ago, marden1970 said:

I did this several years ago (pre-covid) thru LA Paz VIP tours.  It was probably the best excursion I have ever done.  Small boat, there were only 3 of us.  Our guide, Anna, was great.  We snorkeled with a whale shark and then with sea lions.  Check out their website lapasviptours.com.  I would definitly do it again.

 

I'm assuming LA Paz VIP tours is the one Princess uses, as it is sold out on that day. 

[marden1970]

10 minutes ago, f1jon said:

 

I'm assuming LA Paz VIP tours is the one Princess uses, as it is sold out on that day. 

I don't think so, I booked directly with them and their boats were small and would take 6 at most.  We did see a much larger boat that Princess used and there were probably a dozen people in the water at one time with more waiting to go in.  Our captain was very careful around the whale sharks, as was our guide.

[f1jon]

LA Paz VIP has one spot open, just need one more🙁

[f1jon]

2 hours ago, Rv6flyer said:

we did it. Last year, total waste of money. Tour operator was dangerous.

 

Who did you go with?

[Sail away MK]

Last December I booked independently with MeXplore.   Balandra Beach Whale Shark Sea Lion Experience. There were 8 of us in the boat with one driver and one diver/naturalist. It was about $150 each for a 5-6 hour trip that included snorkeling with sea lions for about an hour, then we went to Balandra Beach where we were the only ones there for lunch: burritos, ceviche, beer, sodas, snacks and some relaxing time, then back over to the whale shark area for our AMAZING experience.   We swam with several huge whale sharks!  Our guide was in the water with us the entire time taking pictures and videos which she then emailed to us, which was all included in the price.  We hopped in a cab at the port to get to the marina ( the free Princess shuttle does not go to the marina)  and the only downside was it was rather difficult to get a cab back to Pichelingue where the ship was.  Best excursion ever!!! 

[konatyme]

In 2017, we went with Espiritu Baja and had a wonderful time. They picked us up in a small boat right close to where the ship was docked and took us across to the bay to the excursion office where we paid for our (pre-arranged and booked) excursion to snorkel with the whale sharks. After paying and getting the long wetsuits we wanted, we went out looking for the whale sharks. It was about a 15-minute boat ride and we spotted one right away. We ended up getting into the water 3 different times in slightly different places and had a terrific time.