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Published: February 24th 2009
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Hi all currently writting this from Manilla after a 12hour bus journey and have had maybe 1/2hours sleep since 7am yesterday its now 10am today here. : (
So at the end of my last blog I set off for Donsol on the train from Manila, next we had to find the bus station we new it was in the Taft/EDSA train staion area, but where was anybodies guess, so after asking a few locals and police, we finally found the station and the bus we thought was meant to be leaving at 6pm, it was a public bus so the seat was ripped and defoamed and my window didnt stay open without my water bottle propping it up, which was ok apart from I then had to have my rucksack and day bag on the floor in front of me, not the most comfortable of positions. 2hours later the bus then leaves crammed to the full capacity, it was a very uncomfortable and bumpy 10hr bus drive with the driver going like a maniac, which is not helped by being able to see nofink cos of the dark, but for only 400pesos (7 quid) its a bargain. Eventually arrived in
Legaspi where we was dropped off on the other side of town, so we then got a trike to the main bus terminal and then had to get a minibus into Donsol, about 1hr later the minibus was filled so off we went, arrived in Donsol and the Whale Shark HQ is know wer near town so then had to get a trike to the centre, eventually arrived there and registered for the diving, then went and stayed at Jolees villas (i fink it was called), a really nice place and only 500pesos each for an aircon room (400 if just a fan), so eventually went to sleep at 11 am, (we set off at 4.30pm from Manila).
So the next day was the whale shark diving, the locals call them Butanding, and wat an amazing day it was I fink we saw about 8 whale sharks, and got to swim along with 4 of them for a bit of time, another great highlight for me was for one of the sharks I was the only person swimming with it, a truly humbling experience just me and a 6m long whale shark in the ope blue water, for a
good few minutes definitely a memory I will cherish forever, as at the last moment the whale shark turned vertically upwards open and closed its mouth and then dived down again into the deep, and i was the only person there to see it. Amazing.
So guess wat i did it the next day although i did burn my shoulders a little (they are still sore now.)
Today was just as amazing as the day before as we saw about 13 whale sharks today, the highlight today was a baby whale shark maybe 2.5m long which only 3 of us was swimming along with so it was nice and relaxed for the baby. Another highlight was as we was following 1 whale shark as it started to descend another emerged from the deep which we could then follow, was so lucky to see that and i got it all on film.
Now the whole experience was amazing, but i did have my reservations about the interactivity with the sharks, and the amount of people round 1 shark, sadly i still have those reservations as one shark we was following, another group joined in and one of them swam down
and touched the sharks tail fin, its immediate reaction was to dive down, and i felt its tail fin hit against my leg with a force as it suddenly changed direction. Another occasion was one shark we was viewing clearly had a large gash near its dorsal fin which clearly looked like it was from a propeller blade, from one of the boats here? Who knows, but it possibly could be as the sharks do drift along at the surface. Then sadly my final shark of the 2 days, this was what i expected the whole experience to be like (which it thankfully was not), the poor shark had 4 boats around it and then 15-20 people surrounding the creature, it seemed panicked and i withdrew from this circus scene as it did not feel rite. But as I said im thankful and hopeful that this is not wat the experience will become in the future as the tourism industry grows here.
So after this, and i bought the necessary t-shirt bcos the experienced deserved at least that, plus it was cheap to do the whole experience as over the 2days it cost me about 1300pesos (20quid) i would
have happily payed more than double for the same experience, as it truley is once in a lifetime. So the cost all in all inc transport to & from Manila, 2 nites accom, snorkelling and all food was about 3500pesos (50 pounds) great value for money on any budget.
Then it was the fun part of getting back to Manila, first the trike into Donsol town which stopped by a jeepney, he said was going to Legaspi so on we got, 1hr later we arrive in Drogas, the Jeepney man lied and felt no remorse so be careful of this scam, so another Jeepney to the main bus terminal in Legaspi and we waited for our posh aircon bus, nice and roomey but to bloody cold, you need socks trousers and a jumper to keep warm in the bus as they do like puttin the aircon in artic mode. But finally rocked up into Manila in a diferent district to where the bus from Legaspi leaves form, which brings me to here and feeling like im gonna pass out cos its nice and warm in here and a little dark, perfect sleeping conditions, but only 5 hours till i gotta
get the ferry down to Coron so looking forward to it.
So thats me for now but I need to give a HUGE congrats to Nik & Trev you have now gave me the excuse my dear mother has been looking for, for me to come home for a holiday, which of course i will.
And as for you mother I will try and call you in Coron as its still an 8 hour time difference and havent been anywer yet with time to call you at the rite time of day that has international calling, so will try to get in touch in the next few days, if not i will use this amazing technology called email, so learn how to use it.
So anyway hope every1 is havin fun back home im off to go asleep in the cinema for a couple of hours (air con, dark and hopefully no1 around so i can have a nice little nap.) Although the internet here is stupidly cheap only 60pesos for 3 hours (1 pound) Bargain! Speak to you all soon. : )
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Shiela
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Great experience!
We did the whale encounter on the morning of Feb. 23. It's really a great experience! We had fun spotting and swimming with the whales. Though can't remember how many whales we saw for 4 hours in the sea, all I can say is they were huge of about 4 meters to 10 meters long.