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Published: March 12th 2012
Its Horrible Here
K - Evil Wife forced him to come here.
Calangaman IslandM – The Philippines wasn’t a part of our original travel plans, although to be honest these were never set in stone. When we started to flesh out the South-East Asia part of the trip we were looking for places that Kate hadn’t already been to that might be worth a quick look. The Philippines appealed for a number of reasons. Firstly, hardly anyone we met was planning to go there (we were starting to enjoy getting away from the tourist trail). Secondly the few that had been had all extended their trips and raved about the different islands. Finally we felt we might need a bit of sun and sand before we moved north into colder weather. Plans were made and expectations were exceeded, although with a bumpy start.
We arrived in Manila and quickly decided we needed to leave. Manila is a large conurbation of smaller towns and seems to lacks a real center. It was very, very hot (high 30’s) and frankly we couldn’t really find much to see and do other than stroll the neighborhoods which weren’t particularly remarkable (the tricked out Jeeps that they use for local transport are pretty cool though). After some frantic
Thresher Shark from below
Malapascua - photo courtesy of our DiveMASTER Orrin. research of the different beach/dive islands we plumped for Malapascua Island off the north coast of Cebu Island as opposed to the highly advertised white sands of Boracay on the basis that latter looked more developed. We were only in the Philippines for just over 2 weeks so the plan was to try one Island with a fall back if we felt we needed a change of scenery.
We got a cheap flight to Cebu Island and the next day got a 5 hour bus to the north and finally a 20 minute local boat to Malapascua Island. 10 days later we dragged ourselves away … and that was only for a very, very good reason, read on …
Malapascua Island has no cars, has some pretty white beaches and is surrounded by the type of blue water we hadn’t seen since the start of our trip 9 months ago in the Caribbean. The island is probably best known because it is supposedly the only place on earth you can dive with Thresher Sharks. These sharks live several hundred meters below the surface for most of the time but rise to shallow (20-30m) waters
A typical Malaspacuan Pygmy Seahorse
K - I know this is the one I saw. Hi Nobby! off the coast of Malapascua Island to be ‘cleaned’ by smaller fish. They do this each morning at a number of reefs around the island where groups of divers hover over the reefs to watch them be cleaned.
After a few days chilling on the island, a wonderful overnight trip to Calangaman Island (sleeping on the beach) and a few practice dives looking at the wonderful corals we hit the sack early ready for our 4.30am dive trip to see the sharks. We left the beach in the dark and were on site ready to dip into the water just as the sun rose. On reaching the top of the reef 30 m below we were rewarded with the sight of several odd looking sharks circling ahead of us. Apart from the very large tail and extremely large eyes we thought that Thresher sharks looked like 6-8 foot long shiny sardines. The sharks were not in the slightest bit concerned by the presence of the dozen or so divers and were happy to circle ahead of us just off the reef and periodically swim either over or between divers.
At the end of the dive I witnessed a
classic animal watching scene. It was similar to the funny photo I saw of a lion chewing the rear bumper of a car whilst the tourists on safari were staring forward looking for it. As we ended our dive I turned back for a last look at the shark scene to see a small group of divers waiting patiently looking away from me into the deep blue beyond. They were waiting for the next shark to arrive in front of them. What they didn’t realize was a large Thresher Shark was patrolling up and down their line barely 1-2 feet above them. I laughed so hard I nearly spat my regulator out. It was if the shark was wondering what they were all staring at. I recanted this back to one of the dive guides on my return to the boat. He laughed and told me that a shark had done the same thing to me and had swam right over me from behind, barely missing my head!
Kate wants to see three things before she hangs up her scuba gear – a giant Manta Ray, Seahorses and a Whale Shark. Although Mantas are sighted off Malapascua Island they
are rare and we didn’t see any on this trip. However there are many dive sites around the island where you can see Seahorses and Pygmy Seahorses (less than the size of your finger nail!). We saw plenty of these and Kate was very, very happy. In fact on one dive our dive leader and I virtually had to pull her away from a large fan coral that had 9 Pygmy Seahorses on it. We thought the excitement was virtually over, but then we heard about the opportunity to swim with Whale Sharks … more on that later.
Malapascua Island is a good base not just for its diving but for its mix of local life and basic tourist amenities. However note there are no ATMS. Re the diving, in addition to the above, the coral is very diverse and pretty and there are some interesting creatures to see although we were disappointed with the few large fish we saw. Apparently the locals used to fish with dynamite in these areas and as a result fish stocks are low. The island itself though is very interesting. The main beach, and most of the accomodation is on or near the
Whale Shark follows a fisherman
Oslob - Island of Cebu. Someone elses photo but from the day we swam with them main beach on the southern side of the island. The rest of the island is all full of bamboo huts where the locals live. They also have the odd dirt basketball court! Apart from a couple of concrete paths in one of the villages the only ‘roads’ are the numerous sand paths through the forest and the villages. Interacting with the locals here is pretty easy, just walk inland 50 yards inland from the beach.
One thing that you can’t miss on Malapascua Island is the cockerels. They are tied to perches everywhere. Seriously you can walk through a group of a dozen huts and seen 20-30 cockerels. Their crowing is constant - starting at about 3.30am and carrying on all day until after midnight. Bring ear plugs as the noise takes a few days to get used to. Oddly enough, other than fish, pork is the main protein here (like the rest of the Philippines). As such you see a lot pigs. So why all the cockerels?........ Cock fighting.
Cockfighting is huge in the Philippines. They say whatever you do, don’t come between a man and his chickens. When we were in Manila the local equivalent of
ESPN was advertising the Premier League Football one moment and the next moment advertising the local cockfighting. They show it live twice a week at 7- 8pm. No kidding!
One of the English dive guys had been rearing a bird and it was due for its first fight on my birthday. As a result I spent my 45
th birthday at a cockfight cheering on a cockerel called Axel (named after the Guns’n’roses singer). His predecessor had a record of 1 win, 1 loss, 1 Chicken Hotpot. Could Axel do better?
Axel was a big boy, probably because he had been fed an interesting mixture of probably illegal substances in the 6 weeks or so prior to the fight. As a result it took quick some time to find a match for him. He started strongly and was definitely was on top but with one lucky swipe of these 4 inch blades it can all change. Unfortunately for Axel, it did. Despite a promising start within 60 seconds he was destined for the pot or the BBQ (winners takes the spoils).
As you can imagine this is a pretty testosterone fueled sport with heavy gambling and lots of
Breakfast is served
The morning after ... Calangaman Island shouting and screaming inside the small arena. With the amount of money riding on Axel his fight was definitely the Match of the Day. The build up takes a long time but the fights only last only a few seconds. The locals spend a lot of time outside the ring trying to match cocks of equal size (lots of "my cockerel’s bigger than your cockerel" going on). Next they tape a 4 inch blade to the cocks spur and cover it with a plastic guard to protect the handler. Then the cocks are taken to the ring and the betting begins. Whilst the bets are taken the cocks are warmed up by sparring with another of their owners cocks. Finally the blade guards are removed and the cocks are presented to each other and set free. Every few seconds the referee risks a severed artery to break the birds apart and set the off again. After a bit of "handbags" one lucky slash pretty quickly determines a winner. The loser is taken away for dinner by the winning owner.
I have included photos of the pre-match build up at the end of the blog but no dead cockerels. Whale Shark
Library photo unfortunately as I didn't have an underwater camera on me. The real images were very special though, so graceful. The fighting ring we went to (there are several on the island) was in the center of one of the smaller village. In and around the ring is dominated by the local men. Many are well lubricated on the local rum and get very excited screaming for the cock they have bet on. Around the outside the local women sell food, beer and rum. The kids run around watching, looking for souvenirs (chicken feet?) and the most nimble climb the palm trees to get a better view of the action. All in all a pretty interesting view into a different culture. I wonder how different an English cock fight back in the 19
th century was?
Malapascua Island was great and if it hadn’t been for one thing we would have stayed there until the last moment before we had to leave for Manila. But then we were told about the possibility of swimming with Whale Sharks off the coast of Oslob back on Cebu Island. Local fishermen discovered the Whale Sharks eating the shrimp they were fishing for about three years ago and now they offer boat trips out to see them. They ensure the Whale Sharks turn up
every morning by feeding them handfuls of shrimp off the back of their little rowing boats. There are debates raging about whether or not what they are doing is environmentally ok. We debated whether or not we should go. The fishermen have apparently been working with environmental groups on guidelines re the interactions and from what we saw they are doing a good job of controlling the tourists although as word gets out they may struggle. At the end of the day a 30-40 foot Wale Shark needs a lot more than a handful of shrimp to survive. I struggle to think that the sharks will keep coming to Oslob for a few shrimp if they aren’t getting them elsewhere. So after some angst we decided to go for it.
We got the boat back to Cebu Island, a 5 hour bus to Cebu City, a taxi across town and another 3 hour bus across town. By the time we arrived in Oslob is was getting dark. Oslob only has a couple of resorts and we were starting to get a little concerned about finding some accommodation. We stepped off the bus into the darkness only to find out
that the driver had pulled up outside a local house that was offering a home stay. A young girl met us at the bottom of the steps and led us to a private house just across the road facing the water. As it turns out the house was owned and built by an American Expat and we had probably our nicest and cheapest stay in the Philippines. After dropping our bags we asked where we might find some food. We were directed down the road a little to a BBQ. We went looking and we couldn’t find it, just a couple of small stores attached to peoples’ houses. We asked several people and found out the BBQ had closed for the night. Next thing we know we are being ushered towards the front of someone’s house, the BBQ is being lit and the neighbours are turning up with a selection of bits of meat and fish to BBQ. Needless to say we had a great night!
6am the next morning we are checking in for our Whale Shark Trip. By 6.15am we are in a small rowing boat with a local fisherman making the trip 150 yards out to
sea to look for Whale Sharks. By 6.20am we are alongside another little boat behind which are two large sharks. Although Whale Sharks are harmless there is something about seeing large fins moving through the water that is still a little disconcerting. I have no issue being under the water in my scuba gear with sharks but jumping in at the surface always makes me a little uneasy, even more so seeing the size of these guys. However by 6.23am I had decided to take the plunge.
Even though I was ready for it these guys were really big and really close and it took my breath away. Over the next couple of days I tried my best to measure them. I reckon I swam with Whale Sharks ranging from 20-35 feet long. They can get much larger. Under the water they look even bigger, particularly when you are only about 6 feet from them! They are very graceful. They move just like a smaller shark and after a few minutes of watching them you start to forget how large they are. When they are swimming with their mouths open to feed they reminded me of large goldfish feeding
in a pond! A very strange experience all round.
Anyway, back to the first few minutes of my first swim with the sharks. After watching me for a few minutes Kate jumps in behind me, about 10 feet from a Whale Shark. A fraction of a second later she shoots back through the surface spitting her snorkel out of her mouth shouting “Oh My God” (or words to that effect). That kind of sums up how you feel when you see your first Whale Shark under the water.
Malapascua Island was great but I am so glad we made the effort to go swim with the Whale Sharks. Over the next couple of days I spent probably 2 hours swimming with a number of different ones although I could have happily spent a lot longer with them. The Philippines was a last minute addition to our world trip but after seeing just a little of it I can easily see why people spend weeks or months exploring the different islands. I suspect we will be back one day.
Scoll down for more photos.
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