Whale Shark Interaction in Donsol
Trip Start
Jun 22, 2008
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157
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Trip End
Jul 04, 2013
Donsol, Luzon, Philippines
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The flight into Legazpi lands in the shadow of Mt. Mayon volcano which is a perfect cone of a mountain that dominates the otherwise flat landscape. It was getting ready to blow around Christmas time but the eruptions were not as violent as feared and it simmered down again without ever having any big explosions. When we arrived it was smoldering and you could see wisps of smoke coming from the cone. You can see the evidence that the volcano's eruptions have left the surrounding countryside lush and fertile. The foliage is bright green and the soil is dark and earthy. But the volcano is just a backdrop for the reason we are really here. About an hour down the road lies the town of Donsol which used to be a sleepy fishing village until if was transformed in order to save the whale sharks from being decimated. They were once over-fished to meet the demand for shark fins and as food for the locals. Now they are a tourist attraction and 30 boats line up daily to take snorkelers for whale shark interactions. There are strict rules about the conduct of the boats and the snorkelers in order to keep the whale sharks happy and healthy. The local economy now depends on the whale sharks returning during their migration season. The peak months for interactions are Feb, Mar and April and we were there just at the right time. Spotting them at this time is almost guaranteed. Of course, it depends on the abundance of their food source, plankton, and the mood of the whale sharks.
We definitely had our share of sightings. Not long after we were off in our assigned boat, the boatmen spotted one. Our BIO (Butanding Interactive Officer), told us to get our snorkle gear on and line up on the edge of the boat. We were going in the water. Ready, jump! We plunge in and start swimming as fast as we can in the direction of the whale shark before he decides to dive to deeper waters. Sometimes the shark would cooperate and move slowly and stay near the surface. Other times they would move quicker causing us to swim faster to keep up. It could be tiring. For those with cameras it was even more difficult because swimming with a camera in your hand isn't easy. And if you're trying to shoot video its all kicking while trying to remain steady (for pictures click link at end of story). We were in and out of the water several times on each trip out and we ended up with some very memorable encounters and enough video footage and pictures to put together a decent presentation. But the video still doesn't give the full sense of the experience. The whale sharks are the size of a bus and being within arms reach of something that big as it glides through the water is very exciting. Since they only eat plankton there was no threat to us unless the shark decided to change direction suddenly and gave you a whack with its tail. People even bring young children on these trips.
Along with the whale shark encounters we also took the 2 hour banca ride to Tikao Island for some diving and hopes of seeing manta rays at a site called the Manta Bowl. The mantas did not cooperate but we still had a couple of nice dives. The first one was a site that looked like a barrel of pickles exploded. There were green and purple sea cucumbers everywhere, some in large clusters just piled one on top of the other. Some were reaching out for food andothers were just laying around doing whatever sea cucumbers do when they aren't feeding. There were also some very large starfish, a sea snake, and some interesting nudibranchs. It's amazing the diversity of marine life just within the Philippines. Each place we go we find totally different landscapes and sea life. Its never a bad dive - not yet anyway. Aside from the diving, Tikao Island was a nice location for those wanting to drop out of life for a while and just relax. It's far from any major towns and it's not on the way to anywhere else that we could determine. A drawback of being that remote almost presented itself. In the morning we received a text message that there was an 8.8 earthquake in Chile and a tsunami was heading our way. Hmmmm. What do we do now? With no knowledge of what might really happen we noted the hill behind the resort as an option and reasoned that since there was a fair amount of land between us and the Pacific Ocean we would not have full impact of an approaching wave even though the water on our side might rise. In the end we decided it would be safer in the water so we went diving anyway. When we came back for lunch we heard the tsunami would arrive between 1 and 2:30pm. So we sat and ate our lunch and watched to see if the water would rise. Not a blip. Then we found out the whole thing was called off. Good thing we didn't change our plans. Nobody else on the island had changed their plans either as was evidenced by all the roosters being carried to participate in the afternoon cockfight and the pigs being loaded on boats to go to market.
We took the 2 hour boat ride back to Donsol where we spent the night at Vitton
Beach Resort which is right next to the where the boats for the whale sharks interaction are boarded. It's a nice hotel with a garden and outdoor bar/dining area. Very convenient to the whale sharks and the snack bar sells cans of Pringles of which I think we consumed 6 cans during our one night stay. I guess diving and whale shark chasing make you hungry for crappy, greasy snack foods. We were happy to see that at least they were made in Malaysia and didn't have to cross the globe before getting to us. We did eat more substantial meals on this trip including Bicol Express, a spicy pork dish which is a specialty in this region and Grilled Squid in a coconut cream sauce. Very tasty.
Pictures and Video from the Trip
Comments
I wish I was there
Nice going kids. When you get back to Niceville let me take you to a few places around here. I have a boat now....