Butanding! (2nd of a series)

Did you know that so many divers around the world have yet to even see a whale shark (aka Butanding)?  They may have been to other places where whale sharks have been sighted (such as off the coasts of Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia, some as well in Latin America) but sightings have been so few.  And, yet, here in our own country, in a very small laid-back rural town south of Luzon, you stand a more than 50% chance of seeing not just one whale shark if you go at the right months? - no need to even dive, just snorkel! No need to spend so much on air tickets on long flights, it's just an hour's flight away from Manila!

Photo taken from the Albay Tourism website

Best time of the year to go on a whale shark excursion?   March to May.  We were told that the whale sharks start appearing in March but peak season really starts in April and will gradually taper off towards the end of May (I was also told that there are more jellyfishes in the water during the month of May).  Even though the locals there will say that the whale sharks are wild animals and there is no guarantee you will see one, it's almost a certainty you will see at least 2 during April.

Photo also taken from the Albay Tourism website.  It's a big mouth but nothing to be scared of!

Going on a whale shark interaction basically means you and your family or friends hop on a banca with the 4-5 crew mentioned in my previous post.

Here's one of our spotters.  Note how close we are to the shoreline and note also Mt. Mayon in the background

Once a spotter has spotted a whale shark, the BIO will tell you which side of the boat you have to sit on, then you don your snorkeling gear and fins and wait for him to tell you to jump in the water.  Once in the water, it's a mad dash err swim to where the whale shark will hopefully cross your path and you get to either just sight him for a few moments or he gracefully glides by and you get the chance to swim a little bit at his side for a few breath-taking minutes.

Let's face it, look at a picture of a whale shark and he looks big but ungainly, poorly shaped, even ugly some would say.  But, put him in his home, the sea, and you watch him gracefully glide by totally at his element, a dark shape at first before the distinguishing deep black blue with white spots appears before your eyes and you feel small compared to his sheer bulk.  You realize there is a God - who else could think of something that looks so ungainly and ugly to be transformed into something so graceful and beautiful, all you could think of is "Thank you Lord for letting me see that Butanding..."

On the day we went, we took the 7am batch; we jumped off the boat (or Banca) 8 times and I saw 5 Whale sharks!  On our first 2 jumps, we saw nothing.  On our third jump, I saw only a dark shape way down the water as the Butanding had decided to go deep.  On the 4th jump, as I swam to where my family group had gone on ahead (I always made sure to let my kids and wife jump first), at first  didn't see anything in the murky water then suddenly - heartstoppingly - our first whale shark appeared.  He glided so slowly, I could see his eye, could see the details of his body - and then the sunlight broke through the water and everything sharpened and there I was with a silly grin in my mask and then I realized I didn't have my underwater camera - Aaarrgh!!!  On our subsequent jumps after that first encounter, we saw a whale shark - each encounter unique and uplifting.  On our 3rd shark sighting, I only actually saw the tail - and what a tail - only half was jutting out of the water and it towered majestically (like a plane's tail fin) above the swimmers' heads!

For some reason, the whale sharks only show up during mornings till noon.  There are 2 batches of boats going out each morning, the first at 7am and the second at 10:30am and only a maximum of 30 boats can go out per batch.  Each boat is supposed to only carry a maximum of 6 passengers/swimmers and will be out on the water for 3 hours at most.  Trust me - on peak seasons, those 30 boats slots go fast!

A trio of boats on the look-out for Butandings.  The spotters are on top.

So here's a tip - you can pre-register the day before.  We arrived on a Saturday noon at Donsol so that afternoon (the Visitor's center closes at 5pm) we walked and pre-registered for a trip the next day, even already picked out  our snorkeling gear, tried on fins for the right fit and had them reserved.

Here we are posing in front of the Butanding visitors center with our pre-selected gear and fins

Another tip:  if you can, go on a weekday.  There are more visitors on weekends, especially Sundays (some groups drive out to Donsol from Legaspi City just for the morning).  On the Sunday morning that we went for our whale shark excursion, there really were 30 boats out in Donsol's coastline.  It's rare that each of the 30 boats will have their own individual whale shark at each turn - more typically, the spotters will keep looking at the horizon for the whale shark's shadow but also keep an eye out on the other boats.  If they know a boat has already seen a whale shark, they will manuever their boat(s) in the direction where they hope the whale shark will go.  It's possible you will see batches of people from different boats lined up to take their turns at jumping and hoping to see the whale shark before it swims into the deep.  It's either the whale shark eventually gets tired with so many people swimming on top or at it's side or, in our case, spooked because some irritating foreigner will try to dive and go much closer to the whale shark, even touch it and/or snap a photo with flash (both of which are not allowed).  So, more boats could mean less sightings or crowded swimming lanes.  On a Tuesday morning, as we looked out from our beach front at Amor resort, there were very few boats out Butanding hunting...

So, which time would be better to go searching for Butandings, 7am or 10:30am?  Well, the locals say there are likely more sightings if you go on the 10:30am trips - something to do with the sun already out and the sharks stay more near the surface feeding closer to noon (it's also better for underwater visibility and, more importantly, underwater photography or video-taking).  The downside is, it's a lot lot hotter and you should take lots and lots of sunblock (and bring a hat/sunglasses).  Like I said, we took the 7am trip, not knowing any better at that time, and I still got to see 5 Butandings.  A friend of mine was there a week ago and she also took the 7am boat and saw 10 sharks.  A 7-7:30am trip means you're done around 10-10:30am so you'll still have time to go back to your resort, rest, shower and change, eat lunch, pack up and drive over to Legaspi airport for your flight home.  But at 7am, the water is COLD.  Even if I had worn a long-sleeved rashguard, it was still a shock of cold water every time we jumped in (although you certainly won't notice it anymore once a whale shark comes into view, hehe).  So, if you don't like cold water too much or have kids swimming with you, I'd suggest taking the 10:30am batch.

For those without exercise (i.e. the couch potatoes), you need to start exercising and build some stamina.  You will certainly be doing a number of jumping into the water, swimming and trying to catch-up with the shark(s), and then hauling yourself up the boat.  The more you can swim, the more swim-time you possibly get with a whaleshark.  For the stronger swimmers, they don't wear life-vests so they can swim faster and keep up.  Having fins certainly help...

One last tip - you don't need a fancy (and expensive) diver's underwater camera.  Any of those point-and-shoots that are good for up to 3 meters underwater will be good enough - you're only going snorkeling after all.  Make sure that you're camera is on full-charge and switched on once you jump in the water, no fumbling over the controls - sightings can come suddenly and be over quickly (I never got to take a pic or video underwater!).  Flash photography is not allowed and could disturb the whale shark so, before buying that camera, check out it's capability of taking pics underwater without a flash or see if can take video underwater).  Oh, and make sure your camera strap is not loose or frayed and that it's wrapped securely around your wrist - with all that jumping and swimming, one mistake could mean bye-bye camera as it sinks into the deep.

Finally, don't forget to tip your crew, especially the BIO if he's going to swim with you or your kids and makes sure you get to see a Butanding.

Next post - what else is there to do in Donsol