Top of my bucket list for years has been to swim with the mighty Whale Sharks. I have tried in The Honduras and Belize and it’s always been the wrong time of year or bad weather conditions. This time around, with April being peak season for whale sharks to migrate to Donsol, Luzon I had a good feeling about my chances.

Donsol was a small fishing village until word of these giant visitors got out, placing it on the tourist map. I could have taken a 14 hour bus from Manila and saved the £££ but I couldn’t face it straight off the 10.5 hour bus back from the rice terraces. Plus I had tripped down the bunk bed steps at my hostel in Manila and sprained my ankle 😬One minute I’m stepping down, next minute I’m flying across the dorm room head first into someone else’s bed, dropping my things everywhere and waking everyone up. To finish my ankle off, I tripped again on the same step immediately after 🤦🏻‍♀️

So I spent the money on the flight from Manila to Legazpi airport, which is right next to a perfectly cone shaped active volcano. I sat next to a beautiful 90 year old local woman wearing a denim mini dress who told me of her 12 children with a wry smile, admitting that one or two would have been enough but there was no birth control back then 😂 Atleast they are all still alive she said, and she knows most of her grandchildren’s names but understandably not their birthdays.

I stayed at the Agaluz Homestay in Donsol and the lovely Marion came to pick me up from the airport. Marion and family live in a nice house with one room for each of their grown up children who never actually come to stay so they decided to open it up to visitors instead. ‘Welcome home’ said Host Dad when I arrived. Also staying were two cute and very well behaved grandchildren. Rooms here are very basic but you get home cooked food and the personal touch.

The next morning I went straight to register at the Whale Shark (locally known as Butanding) Interaction Centre – a swollen ankle was not going to stop me even if I did have to hobble up the steps onto the boat. It’s very well organised – no prebooking required but you must register when the centre opens at 7.15 and pay a small fee plus boat and guides, in total about £10. They place you into groups (maximum 6 people) and ensure that you watch a video detailing the rules. Absolutely no touching and don’t get too close. Whale sharks are an endangered species with only 1000 identified world wide. Some whale shark facts – on average they are 5-10 metres long and weigh 20 tons. To put it in perspective they are the size of a bus.

There were 5 crew members on my boat – a spotter who I didn’t notice perched up top until later on, driver and general crew, and the Butanding Interaction Officer (BIO) who gets in the water with you.

I deliberately made the trip to Donsol instead of the more easily accessible Oslob (on the island of Cebu) as I did some research and listened to many warnings of how the whale sharks in Oslob are fed to attract them. I heard tales of the whale sharks having cuts on their heads from bumping the boats for food and it being a free for all with dozens of tourists in the water. I only wanted to see a whale shark if was possible without harming or disrupting them, and if this meant not seeing one at all then so be it.

Our boat set off and the BIO, probably in his 50s who chain smoked in between swimming, said they already had a sighting and to get ready. What this actually means is you have about 5 seconds to get your snorkel mask and fins on and sit on the edge of the moving boat, while he shouts ‘Faster! Faster!!’ then when he shouts ‘JUMP!!’ you all leap into the water and swim as fast as you can to catch him up. I wore a lifejacket thinking that if my ankle gave way then I wouldn’t drown but soon realised that being extra buoyant combined with holding a hired GoPro and only kicking with one leg really limits your speed. I was soon left behind after a fleeting glimpse of huge grey fin through slightly murky water.

Eveyone got back on the boat and as soon we sat down the guide shouted ‘GET READY!!!’ again. The next time I was just watching the fin go out of sight again when I was suddenly propelled forwards at a speed far greater than I can swim even using both my arms and legs. The little guide was pulling me by one arm – I have absolutely no idea how he did this (he didn’t even have flippers) but I have never moved so fast in the water in my life. All of sudden I looked down and I was swimming above the head of the biggest fish on earth. This one was about 7 metres long. The water had cleared completely and I could see every detail on it’s beautiful spotted blue / grey skin. Even the little fish attached to its sides and eating off of it. I cannot describe the feeling of entering the world of this gentle giant for a few moments, until it outswims you and you watch it’s long body pass by. These are not my own photos as I can’t access my memory stick until I get home but new friend Steve kindly provided them from his trip (credit to his friend Li) to give you an idea of what a Whale Shark looks like!

From then on, the guide, my new hero, took me under his wing. I ditched the life jacket and he took charge of my camera – now I could swim at a normal pace 😂 For the next 10 sightings or so, he and I would jump together and he would position me in the water. Suddenly a shark would be approaching, swimming directly towards me with it’s huge mouth half open (which can be up to 2 metres) lined with thousands of tiny teeth. They filter feed, meaning they swim with their mouth open to scoop up plankton (not humans!). I admit to feeling a tiny bit scared the first time, as everyone else onboard also confessed, and coming up for air just to see where the other people in the group were. I probably did get too close by accident a few times because if it decides to move closer to you there isn’t much you can do!

Thanks to the BIO, I had several moments where I was the only person around, swimming alone alongside one of these huge creatures who weren’t at all interested in my presence. It was an absolutely incredible experience.

That evening I went to see the fireflies on a river cruise, the only other thing there is to do in Donsol. My Host Dad took me and waited while I went in a tiny boat with some of the same people from this morning’s trip, run by his cousin. Everybody is related in Donsol. We had to watch another rather bizzare video, starring the same presenters as the whale sharks version, who were comparing the fireflies to Disney World.

The guide explained that tourists were complaining that there was nothing to do at night, so they started taking visitors out on these sunset cruises to see these insects that light up the trees along the river.

To be honest it was nice, and I’ve never actually seen a firefly before, but it can never match the morning activities. After viewing four trees filled with the tiny shining insects, the guide asked if we wanted to visit another tree and it was a unanimous ‘thank you we have seen enough’ all round 😂

Marion had also called somebody to come and look at my ankle – apparently here they do an ancient massage treatment. Bizarrely I was supposed to meet this person at the entrance to the firefly cruise, which I thought was a bit strange, but they didn’t turn up. In the end a kind masseuse turned up at the house at 8pm to treat me on a donation basis. I was a little apprehensive about her waving my bruised foot around in circles but she worked miracles – so much so that I booked her for an hours massage the following day (for a few pounds, which even then she didn’t want to charge me for).

I had fun playing with the kids in the house and hanging out with 16 year housekeeper Rhea. I can’t quite get used to being called Miss Marianne though. After two days of delicious vegetable dinners and my hosts saying ‘wow you really are pure vegetarian’, I asked what spices were used. ‘We put fish sauce instead of salt’ was the answer. I give up! 🤦🏻‍♀️ The green jackfruit cooked in coconut milk was delicious though.

I went out again with the Whale Sharks the next day – Marion had told me about a guest who stayed for two weeks and went everyday, which I now understand. This time I didn’t get such an amazing guide although he did have a Filipino couple to deal with who could not swim – after a few goes hanging off a float they conceded defeat and watched from the boat. You do have be a reasonably confident swimmer as you will be jumping from a moving boat (cue massive bruise on my arm!) and you’ll be swimming in seriously deep water. Thank you parents for swimming lessons when I was a kid!! 🙏

Second time around the whole thing was much more rushed – one time I didn’t jump in time and got left behind on the boat. At least I didn’t get left in the water like one girl when our boat took off a bit too early.

Everybody stopped on the runway and took a photo of the volcano

Having swam with at least 15 whale sharks from baby sized to absolutely huge, I doubted that I could top my experience so I booked a last minute flight to the next destination, Cebu. The cost of booking a flight the day before you travel is extortionate but it was worth every penny to fulfill a dream which had become a bit of an obsession 😎 Next stop, in search of the World’s Smallest Primate…