Whale Sharks and the Philippines- Chinese New Year

Greetings! Another amazing experience to write about. On 4 February, 2011, a bunch of cool teacher girls and I went swimming with whale sharks in Donsol, Philippines (a small coastal town about 600 km away from Manila). The Philippines is about a 3.5 hour plane ride from Singapore to Manila and then we had about an hour flight from Manila to Legazpi. Once we had landed in the *small* airport in Legazpi, it was about an hour drive to Donsol and the resort in which we stayed called the Elysia Beach Resort. The resort was very cute, clean, small, and the food was amazing. Very fresh and healthy.

So the whale sharks, butanding, as the locals call them, are also named "gentle giants" by the locals. The "gentle giants" name actually calmed some of my fears as I really did not know that much about whale sharks or what to expect with jumping in open water and swimming with them. All I knew was that I was going to be jumping off a boat when a whale shark was spotted and told to look down in the water. Who knew what else was going to be in that water!! (At least that was what I was thinking...).

My friends Linda and Tabitha and I were in the same boat with a guide who was in the safety video that we had to watch before the "Whale Shark Interaction". That's what swimming with the whale sharks is called--"the interaction". Haha. Anyway, we called the guide famous because he was in the video and he was actually very, very awesome. He had been swimming and learning about the whale sharks since 1998, when the Philippines basically announced they had whale sharks and people came to see. Some of those people were poachers and hunters, but since then, the whale sharks have been protected. It was amazing to see how this small coastal fishing town has transformed into tourist area (that is still pretty underdeveloped and "rustic") and how the locals revere these amazing animals. And I see why.

After about 2 hours of boating around and not spotting any whale sharks, we finally were told to "get ready". By this time, all of us were ready to just jump in and see a shark (which is actually a huge fish and not a whale or shark). Our guide knew right when and where to have us jump in, so we were ahead of all the other people in the water and got to see the shark right from the start of its head! Our guide said, "okay, put your head down----NOW" and we snorkeled and saw this huge head not that far away from us. AMAZING! At first I couldn't really believe it. The water was not that cold and then, wow---you're looking at something very close to you that you've never seen before in your life! I got to see the whale sharks 4 times. We swam with them and I got to see their spots, gills, eyes, the little fish that swim near them and keep them clean, their fins, etc. It was so surreal and peaceful. You see how small you are in the world.

So the whale sharks travel around and one of them that was tagged in Donsol by the World Wildlife Federation showed up in Taiwan at some point. They also find the whale sharks in Thailand at different times of the year.

So whale sharks are awesome and I wanted to take one home. And not to eat. They were really cute and gentle. I am glad people are protecting them and also enjoying them. Whale sharks are beautiful creatures! I suggest you do a little research now because they are that cool. :) Pics are on Facebook. The pics of the actual whale sharks from our underwater camera are being developed....