Manila to Legazpi to Donsol
Swimming with whale sharks
03.02.2011
27 °C
Manila the second time around was a different city. Instead of going to "old Manila" we opted to stay in the upmarket part of town called Makati. its basically the CBD. You would swear it was a different city. There were very few poor on the streets and the city looked modern and cosmopolitan with all the usual outlets. The people were different aswell, much more "effluent kimmy" . I even went for a run through one of the city parks. The shopping malls in this country are massive. We went to one in Makati and although it would be easily twice as the size of any i've been in Patti managed to get the floor plan down loaded in her brain in about 10 minutes. She is like a terminator. Boys went to see a 3D movie for $5 and we just chilled with a coffee.
We decided to take a flight to Legazpi and then onto a small fishing village called Donsol. Its in Donsol that you can swim with the "BUTANDING" or whale sharks. These animals can grow up to 18 meters long but are absolutely harmless. The journey here was once again long but not difficult. There is never a shortage of anyone willing to give you a lift in this country. You just have to negotiate for it. We stayed at a resort right on the water that was pretty ordinary except for the restaurant. Suffice to say it had the best chef in the Philippines, that we experienced anyway.
To say that the experience of swimming with the whale sharks was exhilarating would be an understatement. We were put on a banka boat and set off in a kind of flotilla scouring the bay where they graze for plankton. When one is spotted, the crewmen bring the boat up close and you are launched into the water off the still moving boat and the idea is to right yourself and snorkel gear and swim alongside for a while or until you bugger out or it decides its had enough of you and dives deep. We all managed to see and swim alongside them although the "meet and greet" is over in seconds. The reality of the experience is that it has become very popular with backpackers and it can be a scramble to get close to one. I dove down and was swimming on top of a giant for a few mad seconds and when i surfaced i felt like i was in a washing machine with swimmers all around me trying to get a look. You would have to be a reasonable swimmer to get a proper experience because they move through the water fairly quickly. Still all in all it was worth the journey. We felt very privileged.
We are back in Legazpi for one night and then to Manila and Hong Kong. The Philippines has been a great place to get some of that greeness off us and we are starting to hit our straps now.
Posted by mike1967 02:03 Archived in Philippines Tagged donsol Comments (0)