Snorkeling With Whale Sharks in Donsol, Philippines

Donsol in the Philippines, referred to by the locals as the ‘Whale Shark capital of the world’ is a small rural community that have changed their way of life from hunters to tourist guides!The whole town thrives on the money the tourists bring in, and hence they all strive to make everyone’s stay an enjoyable experience.They offer and actively promote whale shark interactions; the operations are managed by the local Tourism Board/local government and are supported by the World Wildlife Fund.

 

 The whale sharks come to the Donsol area from January to May due to the large amounts on plankton and also to mate.The snorkeling trips organized are limited by local law to a maximum of 20 boats at any one time and no more that 3 hours per trip (even the charter rate is controlled by law to avoid overcharging!).

 

 I had arranged 2 sessions of snorkeling with the whale sharks, and 2 days of diving.I was a little unsure of what to expect as we set out on the first day at about 10.30am.We had a group of 6, plus one guide and 3 spotters on our boat (a traditional Philippine outrigger style).For what seemed hours the boat just cruised around with all the staff just looking out to sea.Then suddenly one pointed and shouted “Bundanting!”(The local name for whale sharks), everyone quickly put on their fins/mask/snorkel and the guide told us to jump in…A few seconds later I was face to face with my first whale shark, about 10 meters long with its mouth open sucking up the plankton.It gently swam along only a few meters from the surface, and the whole group was able to swim beside it for a few minutes.Over the following few hours we had a total of 5 encounters with Buntunding; the best of which was one animal that tolerated our presence while it fed for more than 15 minutes!At times it came to less than 1 meter from the surface, and we had to actually avoid it!

 

 After an exhausting session, (whale sharks swim a lot faster that it seems!) we headed back to shore; all with big grins on our faces!

 

 My second day of whale shark interactions started early at 7am, again with the same number of people/crew on the boat; but the experience was much different (or maybe my attitude was!).We spotted our first whale shark within minutes of reaching the area.Over the next 3 hours we had 9 sightings/swims (some with the same animal).But the most memorable moment of all, was halfway through the trip when we saw a 12 meter + Buntanding which actually surfaced towards us, swimming along less than half a meter below the surface it was tolerant of me swimming next to it; close enough to touch!This gave me a fantastic opportunity to take some very close up photographs.

 

 Photographs by James Costello, Dolphin Dive Adventures & Services