Phenomenal - as experiences go this is right up there
(Jane Coleman, UK)
If you have any doubts whatsoever about whether you should book this expedition or "the other holiday" you had in mind then I would recommend you download the application form, fill it in and submit it before all the berths are taken.
This experience is a one-off! The liveboard, the crew, the food etc are all faultless but everything pales into insignificance once you see the humpbacks. The tracking in the small boats is pure fun but once you catch up with the whales they are breathtaking.
The crew are extremely professional and know exactly how to provide you with unforgettable encounters with these wonderful animals. Observing the whales behaviour from the surface is amazing but that is surpassed once you enter the water and share the same space of water with the mothers their calves and their male escorts.
Words can't really do the expedition justice - you just have to undertake it yourself. Truly unforgettable!
(Dr S. Jowitt, UK)
Back home from Mexico so just wanted to send a brief note to thank you for our two fabulous trips with you this year. Wonderful wildlife experiences, but much more than that thanks to the ethos you have established with Aqua-Firma and also very good fun spending time with you both.
Of the two trips the Humpbacks were comfortably in the lead in terms of winning the hearts of Lesley and myself, possibly because we were so lucky to see such a wide range of behaviour during our week at Silverbanks, but our day of Manta Mania amongst the Whale Sharks ultimately made it a much closer battle between two brilliant trips!
(Nick & Lesley Atkins, UK) updated after their second trip in 2019
Silver Bank Humpback Whale Watching & Snorkelling & Whale Shark Research & Photography, Isla Mujeres
Snorkelling with Humpback whales!! Just blown away!!
No words can describe the feeling once you have your first encounter with the humpbacks and the babies!!
Following rowdies (a male group of humpbacks) across the ocean, watching them breach, slap the water with their flippers!! Tail slaps!! They had to drag us back to the mother ship every day!! The memories will be with me for ever!!
The boat and crew are excellent and the food to die for!!
And course there is the one and only Charlotte our Aqua-Firma guide, who after my 5th trip with her I can now call my friend and travel buddy!!
Where is the next adventure with Charlotte and Aqua-Firma going to be?!!
(Iain Dark, UK)
Awesome! Fabulous time had. Our tropical lodge was excellent, restaurant brilliant. Crew on boat fantastic and other members of party excellent company.... an unbelievably brilliant experience. Many thanks to all staff who helped organise our holiday.
(Ian & Rebecca, UK)
Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant!
The white water rafting was excellent, the guys running it were great fun and very professional.
Thank you for organising such a great trip! The whale watching was made all the more brilliant by Charlotte's presence with her knowledge and insight keeping us fully informed and turning me into a Humpback expert for back home. Add to that the pure fun we had from cocktails in the hot tub to wine soaked dinners, and we had just about the best liveaboard experience possible.
It is delightful to be part of the Aqua Firma family and I tell everyone that Aqua Firma trips are more than just holidays, they are expeditions that create life-highlight moments. My 'mind-camera' will never forget those amazing whale encounters and I constantly replay them in my head, marvelling at how close we got and how lucky we were.
Frankly, every Aqua Firma trip is a bucket list event and as one finishes we are already corresponding and conferring about adding another to the list - they do not disappoint! Thank you so much and we expect to hear from the team again soon for our 3rd, 4th and 5th experience with you.
(Sally Harbut, UK)
Amazing trip-so many highlights! Can't believe I hung in mid-ocean watching and listening to a humpback whale singing below me. Watching a calf breaching 50 ft away was spectacular and looking into the eyes of a mother and calf swimming past next to me was surreal.
I can't believe my husband said his experience with the humpbacks was better than the birth of his own child....or perhaps I can!
(Pat Roberts, UK)
Being in the water with the humpbacks exceeded my expectations - especially observing a sleeping, singing male. The session with the spyhopping, breaching, circling mother and calf was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, no doubt about it. Great food, great fun crew and learned lots too.
(Richard Cope, UK)
Looking directly into one of these giants' eyes was one of the most intense experiences in my life!
(Björn Koth, Germany)
Extraordinary. No surprise - I loved it. Good boat, good crew and a good bunch of people : )
(Peter Burns, UK)
What a week! Thanks so much for an incredible trip. To have a mother swim up to you with her calf and look you straight in the eye was extraordinary and a privilege. To watch and listen to a male singing underwater was a very special experience. Thank you to Charlotte & Aqua-Firma
P.S it's got to be unusual that a total group of strangers would get on so well ??..... but then perhaps you set an Aqua Firma filter for like-minded travellers!
(Rob Mann, UK)
This is one of those trips that should be on everyone's bucket list. The moment the 'whale watching' encounter becomes a 'human watching' encounter and you start to become the focus of interest/entertainment to 35 ton sea creatures is magical. Every time you thought that you had a measure of what to expect then something else happened to take your breath away. Key moments included listening to a singing whale for the best part of an hour, being surrounded by three whales with nowhere to go, watching a baby practice breaching while we were in the water with it, hanging over the side of the boat watching whales watching us, being the receiving end of a mother and baby lesson in how to splash the funny orange floating thing (i.e. us in the RIB).
There is no downside to this trip - apart from eating too much of the great food! We have been on six different trips with Aqua-Firma. Our fellow travellers are always great fun and having a leader who organises the land based activities, transport and accommodation ensures that the trip goes smoothly and enjoyably.
(Michael & Jan Wigley, UK)
We have travelled to all seven continents for a huge variety of wildlife experiences and this was right up there with the very best and we were immensely privileged to have seen every kind of Humpback Whale behaviour at close quarters.
Really happy with our first Aqua-Firma experience and looking forward to our second in the summer!
(Nick & Lesley Atkins, UK)
This was my 6th trip with Aqua-Firma and the best yet. There are no words that do it justice! Thank you so, so much.
(Susanna Alwen, UK)
