Whale sharks

Donsol is situated on the Northwest of Sorsogon Bay.  The municipality developed its tourism industry based off of whale shark sightings in the Philippine Sea.  The migration pattern of the sharks attracts visitors from all over the world from October through May to Donsol.  As many travel magazines and tour guides will tell you, it’s not whether you see a whale shark, it is how many of these gentle giants you will see when you go on the whale shark spotting boat ride.  Iris, Lucy, and I rented snorkeling gears, haggled to form a 6 party boat, and watched a whale shark sighting training video, and patiently waited until the next morning for the world renowned whale shark interaction.  We woke up early, gobbled down our breakfast, put on our swimming suits, lathered on sunscreen, and headed to the boat dock for the spotting trip.

The municipality whale shark awareness video warns the tourists that only 30 boats are allowed in the sea at any given time, each boat has three hours on the ocean to spot whale sharks, and there are only three boats permitted per one whale shark to minimize disturbance of the whale sharks habitat.  We boarded the whale shark spotting boat with our spotters and the first thing that I noticed was how loud the boat was.  Can we really spot a whale shark with this kind of noise?  Aren’t we supposed to be covert?  The 30 plus boats fanned out into the sea with sun-burnt spotters hanging on top of the boats searching for shadows in the water.  The breeze of the ocean, the dark tan of the guides, the calm water, and the enthusiastic tourists, all pointed to seeing the amazing creature.  “This is too easy”, I thought to myself, “they must have cornered to whale sharks to be this confident about the sighting”

 There was a buzz over the walkie-talkie, something was said, then our boat sped up.  Far away, a circle of boats was forming and our boat headed to that direction.  Tourists in snorkeling gears from a couple of boats were in the ocean when we got there.  Our whale shark guide told us “get ready NOW!” We put on our masks and fins, followed the guide’s instruction, and formed a line on one side of the boat, awaited his signal to slide in the water.  It was a frenzy as the boats gathered.  The 30 some boats formed a large circle, the tourists in the water were looking for the whale sharks, the people on board were geared up on the side of the boat waiting to slip into the ocean, the non-swimmers were taking pictures of the tourists in their fins and masks.  Even though the spotters, guides, and boat captains were yelling in a different language, I was focused, breathing under my mask, waiting for the whale shark moment. 

“False alarm, there’s no whale shark.” The tourists that were in the water got fished out.  We took off our snorkeling equipment and returned to our seats in disappointment.  Three hours went by quickly and it was time to turn back to shore.

Iris and I figured it must just be our luck that we didn’t see the whale shark on our first try.  Given the video and accounts of our colleagues, we headed out to the sea that very afternoon.  The boats fanned out from the dock, the spotters got in position, the enthusiasm of the tourists were not dampened.  This time, there was no false alarm, we rode for another three hours without seeing anything, not even wet tourists!

Do you know what Iris and I want to do after not seeing the whale sharks after two trips?  We want to return to Donsol with more people, our own hired boat, and spend a day on the sea until we see the elusive gentle giant! 

Road Trip

Easter week is one of the busiest travel weeks in the Philippines.  People flock out of Manila and return to their “provinces” to observe the holy week with their families.  If planning in advance isn’t your forte, it is most likely you’d be left behind in Manila or you’d have to venture the provincial highways. 

The last minute nature of Lucy’s trip and our desire to see the whale sharks in Donsol left us only with the driving option.  Iris and I briefly researched our destinations, tapped into our local travel connections, booked a few hotels, and we were set for the trip.  Against the advice of our Filipino colleagues of hiring a driver, we got a hold of a GPS and left for our destination.  The road trip rules were simple: 1) we will not stop in Quezon Province and 2) we will not drive after nightfall.

We left Iris’ at 6:40am.  Not counting the time that we got lost in Manila (yes, with a GPS) and stopping in Jolibee (Philippines' national fast food chain) it took us about 9 hours to arrive in Naga City.  Even though google map suggested that the trip to our final destination was 6 hours, checking with our local friends with ‘provincial’ knowledge paid off.  We were still about 4 hours away from Donsol after arriving Naga.

Naga Cathedral in the dusk was strangely beautiful.  The facade of the building was old, historical, detailed, as if it has stood in Naga City for centuries.  Yet, on top of the Cathedral, there was a cheap-looking electric cross beaming blue neon light into the night sky.  That evening, because of Easter, a mass was in session and the church was filled with followers.  The peaceful ceremony was a stark contrast to the buzzing Naga City traffic surrounding the Cathedral’s courtyard.

Lucy, Iris, and I took a trike to the San Francisco church, wondered around town on foot after the two church visits, and eventually arrived at the Chinese restaurant for a small feast before heading to bed.  The next morning, we'd find a flat tire but fortunately it only took P60 to patch up.  (There was surprisingly no foreigner price premium)  We were on schedule off to our whale shark encounter in no time!