Whale Shark update Donsol – May

Donsol whale shark update – May 10 2008 – 8 days in Donsol

We took a trip to Donsol to see if there were any late season whale sharks still in the bay. We spent 8 days there and had some great sightings, even though the weather was not cooperating because it is the beginning of the typhoon season.

Whaleshark Spotting in Donsol Bay -  video of us with whale sharks

The whale shark spotting boats cost 3,500 pesos for the day and the expense can be shared by up to 7 people.

This makes for an incredibly cheap day costing only 500 pesos per person to see a most amazing animal. The 300 peso park fee good for one week. If you don’t have your own snorkel gear it will set you back another 300 pesos to rent gear.

The tourist center is a bit unorganized in the morning but just set back and don’t get into too big a hurry while they match up groups to the different boats.

If you are a smaller group and want to swim with less people there is no problem – just divide the 3,500 pesos by the amount of swimmers and you will have the whole boat to yourself.

On Sundays in particular, there is a lot of competition out there between the crowds of swimmers all trying to keep up with the whale sharks.

In theory there is only supposed to be one tourist barge per shark, but the spotters are under a lot of pressure to perform for the visitors.

When the fish are scarce the boats  will converge on the ones that are available.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

It was flat calm today  but there had been heavy rains lately so the visibility was not good.

The BIO (Butanding Interaction Officer) mentioned that with good conditions, the guidelines request the swimmers stay 3 to 4 meters away from the fish.

Today, because of the low visibility, it was ok to approach within a meter but not to touch the sharks because that causes them to descend.

From 4 meters distant, it might not be possible to see the fish at all.

Our guide was a powerful swimmer and took the weaker swimmers one at a time with him.

This guy could really move and flew to the lead dragging along all that dead weight.

Everyone got a chance to see at least two whale sharks.

Beth didn’t use fins but was able to have 2 great encounters and then decided to spend the rest of the day on deck listening to her ipod.

We landed up swimming with 8 whale sharks today and saw the shadows of several others but didn’t get close to them.

The key to seeing as many sharks as possible is to watch the direction the fish is heading and don’t stop swimming because it’s hard to catch up once you start falling behind.

It can be a bit much if you get behind the pack but sometimes the whale shark will shift directions and you might be at the head of the crowd if the fish turns.

It is an unforgettable experience!

Monday May 12 2008

We decided to give the whale sharks another look but the conditions were poor because we had a lot of rain last night.

There was one time when we all jumped in but there was only a vague shadow passing by underneath because they were running deep. (These pictures are from yesterday)

It was a disappointment to all of us on the boat but that’s the breaks sometimes.

One new development is that the burger shop next door to the Santiago Lodging House in Donsol, has turned into an internet cafe with very good speed and 3 new terminals – 35 pesos an hour.

Another discovery to me was that the Hernandez Lodging House has good food.

We plan to give it another shot tomorrow just to see if it’s a fluke that there were no sharks today or it they all started their migration. May is considered to be the tail end of the season.

Some of my best times in the Philippines have been in Donsol because you meet so many interesting people in addition to seeing the sharks.

Tuesday May 13 2008

My companions decided to give the whale shark watching a pass today because it rained for a good part of the night. The visibility decreases when the rivers pour a lot of debris into the bay. It seems that the sharks stay deeper with these conditions so they decided to give it a go tomorrow instead.

I went down to see if there was an empty spot on one of the boats but there were only small groups so the cost would be quite high.The 3,500 peso boat fee is split by the number of passengers.

A German guy and his girl offered to let me share their boat which was gracious but I didn’t want to spring for the 1,200 pesos considering the weather conditions.

Wed May 14 2008

Wind and rain make poor whale shark watching conditions. We got plenty of both today. It rained most of the night and the wind started up this morning as well but we decided to take the 15 peso tricycle ride down to the tourist center and have a look anyway.

There were a few tourists down there but it was obviously not a day for shark watching.

We went down the beach to help some guys slide their boats to high ground because they were taking a good pounding from the surf.

All the other boat men had already taken their boats up the river into protected waters. It was a bit of a job moving the boats up the beach but there were long slabs of driftwood that were set under the keel that acted like a big ramp.

Filipino people seem to have a good time no matter what they are doing.

After that some of us decided to have a swim in the surf.

We picked up Peter, a Kiwi that came up the trail and had him join us on the trip back to the Santiago Lodging House back in town. I bought some gigantic shrimp from a fisherman that was walking along. It’s turning out to be a great day!

It does appear that the prime season for whale shark watching is winding down. The weather patterns seem to be changing and the sharks might be spending their holidays elsewhere. There have been very few sightings in the past few days.

Feb, Mar, and April are probably the best 3 months for regular sightings but I’ve seen a few in November as well.

Tuesday May 15 2008

The tour center made the decision not to send out any boats today because there were heavy rains all night so a lot more debris was washed into the bay. There was no chance that the whale sharks would be feeding in the bay today.

5 of us staying at the Santiago Lodging house decided to not waste the day just sitting around and headed to Mount Mayon, the volcano near Legazpi.

A shuttle bus makes the trip to Legazpi from Donsol for 60 pesos and we organized a private van to the lookout for 2000 pesos. 2 others had joined up with us so the cost was to be split 7 ways. The visibility on the mountain was poor but we had a good time.

Cagsawa ruins near Mt Mayon – youtube video

The weather was cool and windy on the volcano and we stopped at the Cagsawa ruins on the way back to Legazpi.

We are hoping that the weather clears up a bit and we have another chance at the whale sharks tomorrow.

update – I snapped this picture on my way up to Manila from Samar last week.

Friday May 16 2008

Today was windy and cloudy but there was a group of tourists at the center that wanted to get out on the water and look for the whale sharks.

Andy and Siobahn

No boats were on the beach but tied up in the river where thy would be protected from the weather. After much jockeying around at the tourist office we finally got out 7 tourists organized and took a 2 tricycles to the bridge on the river.

All the BIO’s ( Butanding Interaction Officers) had already gone home because they figured that it would be a bust as far as whale shark watching went today. Some of the waves were over a meter and it was very cloudy. We waited around on the boat until they rounded up a guide and some life jackets.

We spent all morning zig zagging quite some distance from shore and happened across a beauty skimming the surface! We really lucked out. Even the guide was surprised!

This was a beautiful dark colored shark in perfect condition. Most of us were able to stay with it for a long time. We only saw one fish that day but it was beautiful.

Your 300 peso park entrance fee is good for a week so it only costs 500 pesos to go if you have a boat full of 7 swimmers. Try to bring your own snorkel and fins because you will have a better fit on the mask and the fins will be your size.

The season kind of winds down in May. Today 3 boats went out and only two saw whale shark. The other one was skunked.

Donsol itself is growing rapidly so try not to wait too many seasons before you get down there for a look! above – Peter and Siobahn

Saturday May 17 whale shark update

The weather has let up a bit but there is still a good wind, however the rain stopped after pouring down most of the night. There is a typhoon passing through northern Luzon and we are on the southern edge of the low pressure system.

We teamed up with 4 others but got a very late start. It is best to have things organized the day before at the tourist center if you can but we were undecided because of the unpredictable weather. There were 12 boats out in the bay and we got word that 2 sharks had already been sighted before we got out there.

There was another sighting and all 12 boats converged into one big traffic jam. It was nuts with swimmers pulling, pushing and dunking each other but the whale shark didn’t seem to notice and hung around for 5 to 7 minutes.

It is getting late in the season and the whale sharks will start getting scarce as many migrate to areas with better weather. It is also a bit more difficult to swim in choppy waters.

If you are not comfortable in the water just wear one of the life jackets that are available on all the boats. You will not be able to dive down but you can still get a good view of the ones skimming the surface.

The pump boat takes a long time to turn around if someone runs into trouble. One of the guys on our boat didn’t quite have have a handle on it and the boat men jumped in to rescue him.

Donsol is a great place to spend a week on a budget and have a lot of fun at the same time.

Hi Arleene, easy on the Red Horse! The boys are still talking about how you drank them under the table. They are such amateurs!

Whale Shark of Donsol