Swimming with the Whale Sharks

majestic whale shark

When we first heard of Donsol and the idea of swimming with the biggest fish in the ocean we knew this was something we had to do.   It is definitely one of the highlights of our honeymoon! Donsol is located on the south-eastern tip of Luzon (the main island) and was a small quiet fishing village until about 10 years ago.  That’s when the world got wind of the large concentration of whale sharks that gather in the waters off the shore from February to May each year and eco-tourism began.  They call it eco-tourism as the interaction with the whale sharks occurs in its natural habitat and is controlled to ensure the least amount of stress to the fish.

friendly giant so close you can pet it

The whale shark or buntanding as it’s locally known, is described as the gentle giant of the ocean.  Though the largest fish in the ocean it is quite harmless as it feeds exclusively on plankton.  It can grow up to 18 meters in size so imagine a public transit bus moving gracefully through the water with mouth open capturing all the plankton it can.  It comes up, feeds and then dives back down into the deep blue.  We were quite shocked at how close they swam to the shore, at times, we were no more than 100 meters off the coast.   Researchers think that the whale sharks come to this area to feed on the abundance of plankton found in the water, but as of recently they have started finding baby whale sharks in the area so mating may be another factor.

fun under water

Let us tell you how it works.  Donsol is now geared towards the  hordes of tourists that show up each year for a swim with the buntanding and is a very well oiled machine.  When you show up in town the first stop is the tourism office to sign in and pay your registration fee (which goes towards the conservation effort and is valid for one week) and watch the mandatory video.  The video explains the do’s and don’t of interacting with the whale shark: no scuba gear, no flash photography, no more than six swimmers per whale shark and lastly, you are not allowed to get too close to the fish (for your safety as the tail can do some serious damage).  You can hire your own boat if you want to go in the afternoon or you can line up and share a boat first thing in the morning (8 am start time).  Again, it’s a maximum of 6 people per boat.

first dive: concentrating (aka: praying)

Once on the boat with your mask, snorkel and fins (and fins are a must as though you may be a strong swimmer, the whale sharks is way stronger!) the captain circles in the water while the spotter and the BIO (Buntanding Interaction Officer) looks for the buntanding’s dark shadow below the surface.  Once one is spotted the captain turns off the engine and we all get ready to jump in with our hearts pounding with excitement and anticipation and, for the first time around, a bit of fear!  On the BIO’s command, everyone jumps into the water and the chase is on.  Our BIO was amazing and always managed to place us in the path of the whale shark so the first thing you see is its big mouth coming towards you.  There’s no words to describe the feeling of seeing this gigantic fish coming straight at you, having to dive out of its way and then frantically turning around and trying to keep up next to it.  It was just amazing!!!  We were so close to this giant that we could easily reach out and pet it as it swam by us.  We were very lucky as well, as we got to swim with 11 sharks in our three hour outing.   We were told that there is another place in the Philippines south of Tacloban (on the island Leyte) that is less touristy but it was a bit out of our way so we didn’t go check it out.

check out the sack under its stomach

Before we sign off we have to share a somewhat embarrassing and funny story.  We decided we didn’t want to stay in a resort and found ourselves a small cottage in the heart of the fishing village.  On our last day we were supposed to check out at noon but as no one else was moving in, we convinced the caretaker to let us stay until 5 pm when we had to catch our bus.  Everything was gong smoothly until about noon, when S was brushing her teeth and M shouted, “don’t move, there‘s an F’ing huge spider next to you”.   M kept his eye on the massive spider, while S slowly made her way over the kitchen counter, over the bed and out the door.  We were pretty freaked out as not only was this one of the biggest we had ever seen (up to this point), was missing two legs (hello, evil fighting spider!!) and it had this massive growth or sack attached to its stomach.  So, we slowly and carefully packed all of our stuff and moved to the porch where we spent the next five hours :).  We told the lady taking care of the place to be careful that there was a huge spider on the wall by the bathroom and she just laughed, gave us a weird look and walked away.   Losers.

For more pictures of our Donsol visit click HERE (password: whaleshark)

Until next time, your scaredy cat city-folk,  S&M

Mt. Mayon as seen from Legazpi bus station

on a high at the end of a day

best outdoor drying rack... ever!

traffic jam on the streets of Donsol

kicked out by the spider five hours before departure

beach in front of our bungalo