| Swim with Whale Sharks of the Philippine Islands | ||
| 9
days in Manila, Donsol & Boracay. Snorkel and swim with Whale Sharks. Included: Not included: |
Click here to view a detailed 9 day itinerary.
It is easy to add scuba diving onto this Philippine whale shark tour. There is great diving all over the islands. Boracay has many dive spots and excellent dive shops offering daily dive boats. |
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 Our strange looking dive boat, called a bangka and looking like a water spider! |
Trip Log,
May 31: |
Trip itinerary 9 days |
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 January until June. The local name for the sharks is Butanding. Of course the local fishermen were aware of them for years, but didn't realize what an opportunity they presented to bring tourist dollars to the area. A team of foreign divers publicized the whale sharks here for the first time in year 1998. |
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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 |
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