Snorkel and swim with Whale Sharks of the Philippine Islands |
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| Donsol,
Sorsogon, Philippine Islands If you are planning a visit to the Philippine Islands you just cannot miss this exciting adventure. To
sign up for this tour simply phone us or send an email to : butanding
tours that we have listed. The price is the
same whether you call direct or go through one of our associates. Keith
Jones - our Whale Shark tourism expert and naturalist. |
Trip
prices per person starting at: CLICK here to visit our webpage that contains the contact details for the many Philippine Travel Agencies we are associated with to market this tour. Call any of them or call us direct to book this tour. Same price.
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email:
keith@greywhale.com Typical Day Tour Itinerary from
Manila |
 Our strange looking dive boat, called a bangka and looking like a water spider! |
Trip Log,
May 31: |
If you are coming from another country we can assist you with air ticketing from Manila to Legaspi. Just ask us and we will provide the phone contact for some of our closest travel agency associates. Air tickets average $100 US R/T. |
Contact
information for Jones Adventures |
Manta rays may be sighted & snorkeled with on this tour. |
Donsol is a small remote, coastal fishing town, 350 miles from Manila, on the southwest coast of Luzon in the Philippines. It is visited by Whale Sharks each year from December until June. The local name for the sharks is Butanding. Of course the local fishermen were aware of them for years, but until 1998 they didn't realize what an opportunity the Butanding presented to bring tourist dollars to the area. |
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To the right is a photo of Boracay as a fast moving rain shower comes by to cool off the warm afternoon air. We visit this beautiful and relaxing island location after our whale shark encounter. |  |
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on the links below to navigate our site
Whale
sharks of Holbox Is. |
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Vijay
Phadke, April 22:
This letter by Vijay describes in detail the
experience his family had on their whale shark adventure. This small town becomes a busy place as tourists from all over the world arrive to watch these huge fish. Local fisherman assist as whale spotters. The fishermen with experience are known as “Butanding Interaction Officers” or BIO. We were team of seven, four from my family and three from my friend’s family. That night, all of us went to bed in excited state, not exactly knowing what we will be experiencing next day.
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The areas we will travel to in the Philippine Islands are full of good dive locations. Some people believe diving here is as good as anywhere in the world. Cebu is "THE" location for Thresher Sharks" Easy to add 2 days onto the end of the trip to do this dive! |
We
started our tour in a small motor boat called “Bunka”.
It was a 30 footer with balancing bamboo on both sides as per local
style. Alan asked us to be ready with out swimming gear, the snorkel
and fins etc. Jun climbed a bamboo cross to get a cleaner view of
the surroundings. He spotted the first Whale Shark just in 10 minutes,
hardly a kilometer away from the shore. There was a sudden excitement
in the crew and Jun started guiding the boatman, shouting in local
dialect. Alan told us that the boatman will position the boat correctly,
about 25 meters from the fish and then upon his signal “ GO”,
we have to jump in the water with him and start swimming towards
the fish as fast as we can! My heart was thumping and my fingers
went numb. . . . . . .
Click here to continue this trip log |
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Whale sharks sometimes feed at the surface. To the left notice the remora riding along just out of the water as this sharks scoops plankton from the surface. |
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| Snorkel with Whale Sharks at Donsol,
Philippine Islands copyright 2012, Keith Jones No images may be used without written permission of copyright holder Baja Jones Adventures & Jones Adventures in close and direct association with Butanding Tours We do more whale shark trips each year, to more locations than anyone else in the world! keith@greywhale.com or rowman1998@yahoo.com |
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| whale sharks worldwide More whale shark info Main gray whale watching page More whale shark info Blue whales of Loreto Gray whales of Baja Humpbacks of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Narwhals of Baffin Island, Canada about Baja Jones contact info for Baja Jones whale sharks worldwide Holbox Island Sea of Cortez, Bahia de Los Angeles whale sharks Donsol, the Phillippine Islands whale sharks whale shark trip photos 2005 whale watching in Baja, snorkeling with whale sharks, The Gray whale advocate homepage, Giant panda information, The Great Wall of China facts and information, Trip hotels, Beijing, Tourist attractions and sights, Chinese food, Xian segment of our trip, Chengdu segment of trip, | ||