Our journey overland from Malapascua to Leyte, then on to Samar was meant to take 2 days but instead lasted 3. We seemed to have always just missed that bus or jeepney and much of the time was spent frustratingly waiting around for our transport to fill with passengers. Samar and Leyte have some of the most beautiful countryside we have seen yet in the Philippines but we did not stop to appreciate it for long, we had lots of ground to cover, our travel days lasting at least 8 hours. A final Jeepney and tricycle ride and we had finally reached the place we had come all this way for.

Rolling into the town of Donsol after 3 days of rough transport it felt anti-climatic to the journey that preceded it. Other than the occasional views of Mayon volcano, the town appeared the same as the countless other fishing villages we passed in Samar and Leyte trying to get here. Tucked away on the southern coast of Luzon, no matter which direction traveling, Donsol is difficult to reach but from December to May tourists make the long haul trip here in search of the “butanding” also known as whale sharks.

It was up early to make it to the visitors center for when it opened. Snorkel gear and fins rented, we joined up with a group of 2 Swedes, 1 Dutch and a local World Wild Life Fund volunteer for our boat trip out to see the sharks. Due to their insane migration patterns very little is known of whale sharks and only a few places in the world do they ever congregate in any kind of numbers. Donsol is one of these places and it wasn’t until roughly 10 years ago that any eco-tourism infrastructure was put in place. SCUBA diving is not allowed and groups are limited to 6 per boat plus a guide known as a Butanding Interaction Officer in an attempt to lessen the negative affect tourists can have on these huge creatures. The center shows a video of proper swimming etiquette around the sharks which is a nice conservation effort, but later we learned from the WWF volunteer that zero of the dollars made from the tourism industry in Donsol gets reinvested in conservation and instead goes to the pocket of the local government. Can’t say this surprised me in a country with such a poor environmental record but since the experience of a lifetime costs 15USD, I’m sure tourists wouldn’t complain paying more knowing the extra dollars are being spent protecting the whale sharks.

Having seen a whale shark in Thailand years ago while diving, the experience has stuck with me and is something I continually talk about to this day. I couldn’t wait for Lianna to experience something so amazing but the thought of swimming alongside a fish of mammoth proportions left her more than a little anxious while we searched around for sharks near the surface. With a small one sighted everyone was over the side of the boat in a matter of seconds and suddenly a young whale shark came into view and allowed us to swim alongside it for a minute or so before diving down. Soon after, we were back on the boat searching for more.

Lianna, not realizing how she would react to such a large fish began to question whether or not she could handle being up close to a large one. It was then our spotter noticed a fin at the surface of the water and our boat was moved into position to intercept. Lianna began to shed some tears and started hyperventilating then decided this wasn’t for her. She wasn’t going in. Following the lead of the Butanding Interaction Officer, the rest of us piled into the water followed surprisingly, by Lianna who changed her mind at the last second. Nothing could prepare us for what we saw next, as the whale shark the size of a school bus appeared out of the blue and was heading towards us mouth wide open.

Three times the size of the whale shark I’d seen in the past this was a true giant over 10 meters long. Preoccupied with feeding on the tiny plankton, the shark remained feeding at the surface for over 15 minutes barely moving making it easy for us to keep up. We watched in awe as its huge mouth filtered gallons of water barely giving the annoying tourists a glance while we dove and surfaced all around him.

Hearing some commotion and yelling above the water I surfaced and heard Filipino being yelled in my direction. When I felt something bump my foot I quickly looked into the water realizing another whale shark had come out of nowhere and at an alarming speed passing barely underneath our group. Lucky to have been just out of the way in time, everyone was caught off guard as Lianna announced she was ready to get back on the boat. It was then a third shark made an appearance and allowed us a few more precious minutes of swimming time with it. When our legs became too tired we left the shark for the next boat who was just arriving. We had two more brief encounters with some slightly smaller sharks before our time was up and we headed back. Too good to do just once I made plans to go again the next day.

Lianna opted to sleep in after our long days traveling but its certainly not everyday you have the opportunity to swim with giants and I left again in the early hours of the morning for the visitors center. Again, I was not disappointed as our trip consisted of spotting over 8 whale sharks although nothing quite topped the enormous shark at the surface the day prior. An added bonus was seeing a huge school of bottle nose dolphins swimming by with some flying completely out of the water.

Southern Luzon’s other main attraction is Mt Mayon dubbed “the most perfect volcano in the world” due to its perfect cylindrical shape and later that day we took a bus to Legazpi to spend a night and enjoy the views. Certainly not dormant, Mayon volcano is one of the most dangerous in the world and it was just in December that villages within a certain radius were placed in refugee camps due to lava and ash spewing form its crater. I visited Cagsawa ruins early the next morning where in 1814, 1200 people sought refuge in a church only to be buried alive by the falling debris. Clouds covered most of the peak but after waiting 15 minutes the perfect shaped cone became visible. I was lucky to time my visit with the clear skies only lasting 10 more minutes until the clouds moved back in, but the sight of the volcano amongst the rice terraces in the morning light made for one of the most beautiful sights i’ve seen yet in the Phillipines.

The remainder of the our day was spent waiting around for an 11 hour night bus to Manilla but with endless views of the volcano from most of the town the hours passed quite quickly and before we knew it we were on our way back to Manilla.