Because we had to see the whale sharks

April 22, 2013

Because we had to see the whale sharks

thousands and thousands of fireflies

I am writing this post as I make my way home to Manila from Donsol, Sorsogon, the Whale Shark Capital of the world.

Donsol and its whale sharks were actually part of our Grand Bicol Getaway itinerary, but we had to come back just barely three weeks after we last visited it because we missed one thing during our last trip: the whale sharks.

Yup, we didn't see a hint of these beautiful animals during our last visit.

But since we couldn't just leave it at that, we did what any sane person would do: we lied to our friends about seeing the whale sharks then vowed to ourselves that we would come back to Donsol as soon as possible to make good on the lie.

So last Friday, we took the 8:00 PM Cagsawa bus going to Legaspi (Php 850), arrived at Legaspi at about 8 AM, had breakfast at the station then rented a van to Donsol. Renting a van cost the six of us Php1,200, which was decidedly more expensive than taking public transport (which costs Php75/person) but we wanted to get there early to be able to reserve a slot at the Butanding Tourism Center so we paid up.

We were fully expecting to start looking for the butandings (what locals call the animals) at 2 PM, the same schedule we had the last time, but when we got there at around 10 AM, the folks at the tourism center said we should go NOW since there were sightings. So off we went, and by 11 AM we were already looking at this:

They are HUUGGGEEE. photo taken by our Butanding Interaction Officer

We had a total of three sightings that day. It was awesome.

Now on a more serious note, I know that lately, Oslob, Cebu has been gaining popularity as another place to see whale sharks, but I beg you, if you wish to see whale sharks, go to Donsol and not Cebu. The groups offering whale shark interaction tours in Cebu are being questioned for some of their practices (Read about them here), while in Donsol, everyone is even made to watch a short orientation video on how to properly interact with the animals before they head off. Also, the experience in Donsol is just much more natural than that in Cebu (you shouldn't be feeding wild animals, you know).

Random info:

It will cost you Php3,500 to rent a boat to go looking for whale sharks. This is good for 7 people. The services of a butanding interaction officer (basically, your guide) and spotters come with the boat.
we stayed in Vitton Beach Resort, which is just beside the Butanding Tourism Center and has a life-size statue of a whale shark. hehe. A standard room for 4 costs about Php2,300
Fire-flies watching is also a popular activity in Donsol. There are two places to go fireflies watching here, by the Donsol River and in Ugod. I liked the Ugod tour better. Fireflies watching cost Php1,200 for six people.
If you do take the Ugod tour, there's a small eatery there where you can eat huge crabs and shrimp. We paid Php350 per person for a complete meal consisting of crabs, shrimps, cucumber salad, laing, rice and water. Now I'm hungry.
If you're the religious type, you can also visit the grotto located at the top of a mountain. I think you have to climb 500 steps to get there, but it's very pretty.