Swimming with Whale Sharks

I kid you not, that's what I've been doing!!! Swimming with whale sharks was never on my list of things to do merely because it's one of the unachievable things that will never happen.....right?? And yet here I am to tell you that I've swum with 5 whale sharks.

After speaking with Derreck he told us that there's this little fishing village in the middle of no where and there's absolutely nothing to do OTHER than go swimming with whale sharks. It was now 1 and a half days before I was due to fly back to Thailand. So I got on the phone to Reservations at Philippine Airlines and changed my flights. Best $25 I've ever spent.

Once I had made my way to Legazpi and then Donsol I went to bed that night actively dreaming of whale sharks and secretly thinking that surely this was not about to happen. The next morning I made my way over to the tourist centre and signed up for a day of whale shark swimming. There were 6 of us tourists, 2 spotters and the captain. What happens is, the spotter (yup, you guessed it) spots a whale shark. Us naive tourists can't even see what the hell he's actually spotting. Then the other spotter kits up in his snorkelling equipment and yells for the rest of us to do the same. It's actually all quite chaotic and frantic. Then he jumps in the water and you follow him and he yells again to look down. Then out of no where an 8 meter whale shark appears right in front of you and you just about shit yourself!!!

We spotted our first fish about half an hour in. I got pretty close to it but was still very intimidated and so didn't push the issue of trying to keep up with him. The second one we saw was slightly smaller but I got a little closer and my confidence increased. Then we didn't see a damn thing for over an hour. We were all beginning to think that the whale sharks had decided on this day to stop coming to Donsol and so resigned to the fact that it was all over. We were cruising around, not really talking and the spotters were looking increasingly frustrated and disappointed..................and then suddenly all hell broke loose!!!!!

The spotter started yelling to the captain that he'd found one. The boat swung around and the other spotter started kitting up, shouting the orders for us to follow suite.

"GET READY, LEFT SIDE, LEFT SIDE. NOT THE RIGHT SIDE. QUICKLY QUICKLY COME ON LET'S GO. LET'S GO....... NOW" (Real Jack Bower like)

Then once you're ready and about to go you do a final check to see the direction to swim in and you drop into the water. That's when it all becomes a whole other ball game. Everything goes quiet and you just see this massive animal gliding gracefully toward you. This time around I was in the front of the queue and manged to get right up to the whale shark's head. I swear to you this guy was about a meter and a half away from me. At one point he even looked up to check what the hell was going on up above him. They have the most amazing blue-grey, silver spotted backs and when you're that close it is something truly amazing to witness. This particular whale shark decided to hang around for a bit longer and so I swam next to him and sometimes directly above him for about 3 minutes. Then he just turned to one side, making a motion that a Cessna might as it banks to the left for a dive down to the ground, and it disappeared into the depths.

That was the 3rd one. No sooner had we got back on board the boat that more yelling began and it was time to kit up again. The 4th whale shark we saw was by far the best one. He hung around for a while, then dipped a couple meters deeper but then came back up again. Having my new found knowledge on board that I could dive to 18 meters I decided to go low and get a glimpse of his belly. Unfortunately I was a bit tired from keeping up with the spotted monster and so couldn't get too deep. Actually I think the reason is that I've drunk beer for about 54 days out of 61 and my gut was unfortunately giving me a bit of drag so that's why I only got 4 meters down. But 4 meters was enough and I did catch a glimpse of his impressive shiny white belly. The 5th one came along shortly afterwards and then it got quite again so we headed back to shore.

Man o man what a day. All I can say is that every single one of you needs to come to the Philippines and go swim with these largest fish of the sea. It was an awesome experience and I wish I could have done it again. As I mentioned before there's bugger all else to do in Donsol once you've done the whale shark thing so instead of paying 800 potatoes (pesos) a night in Donsol I made the journey back to Legaspi (for 2 nights) and then flew out yesterday back to Manila. I was paying 250 pesos a night in Legaspi but you get what you pay for. The room was clearly designed for midget hobbits and the bathroom was so small that when you're sitting on the bog you can actually rest your head comfortably on the wall in front of you. This also means, unfortunately, that you can't take your book into the bog because there's no room to read it, although I imagine if you had to position yourself sideways then it might be possible.

For more info on the whale shark thing and some epic photos (not of me unfortunately), click on the link below.

http://www.sergeyphoto.com/underwater/donsol.html

Now I'm back in Bangkok and about to embark on a nightmare of a journey. After going to bed at 2 in the morning and then waking up at 7 this morning to get to the airport I've been told that the only way back to Ko Tao is by 11 hour bus ride and then a further 2 and half hour ferry. It's a 4 day weekend over here at the moment and so sleeper trains are all fully booked. Once I get to Ko Tao I'm going to sign up for my Open Water 1 qualification and do some diving. Then just a few more days chilling on the beach and then it's all over. I can't believe how quickly it's all gone.
See you all soon.

Baj

The Team from Tamaraw

On our day of travel Greg and myself made sure of what time the ferry left by checking with the Department of Tourism. The dude said 9 bells in the morning so we made sure we were there by 8:15. You can imagine our frustration when the guy at the ferry told us we had rocked up 2 hours too early. The ferry left at 11. Shot dude from the Department of Tourism...first day on the job was it, or did you just do that for a laugh? Anyway once on board the ferry we experienced the full force of what can only be described as Earth's best functioning air-conditioning system. Honestly it was 3o degrees plus outside and about minus 11 inside. Greg was in his hoody 20 minutes into the trip and I was in front of him cursing about the fact that I had put my long sleeves right at the bottom of my bag.

After the ferry we hopped into a mini-taxi (the type you see on the N2 when going down the South Coast packed with about 22 passengers on board. We managed 16 passengers and it was a stretch believe me. Greg and I sat in the very back row of the taxi because that's what was left. The very back seat was obviously designed to place your groceries on after you've been to Shoprite Checkers and clearly wasn't intended for human occupation. So there we were, Greg, myself and one other guy in the grocery section, and space was pretty tight. Filipinos by nature are quite small people and none of them are heavy set, so I'm not sure what the hell Greg and I did to deserve sitting behind the biggest Filipino in all of the Philippines. The guy in front of us was just leaning back and falling asleep and cramping our space even further. Both Greg and myself had severe knee injuries on completion of the ride.

After the taxi ride it was time for a 45 km Jeepney ride to Puerto Galera. This was a superb little ride and I only wish we had managed to do it during the day. We were high above the coast line and the views must have been magnificent. Greg and myself had the best dry mielie (no butter) of our lives on this particular stretch. On the ride itself we had all manner of passengers boarding the Jeepney. Some lady with a huge black bin hopped on and inside she had a tuna fish along with some other stuff I wasn't sure off. Along the way the driver stopped the Jeepney and did some shopping at the local fish market along the road. No one cares and no one is in a rush. Life beats at a good pace over here in Philip's Jeans.

So finally after 13 hours we arrived in Puerto Galera where we hooked up with Wayne and Kelly. They had found a superb little secluded beach called Tamaraw Beach and we literally had it to ourselves. We were staying in the Tamaraw Hotel and it was pretty swish by my travelling standards, decked out with air-con and hot water. The 4 of us shared a room with 2 double beds. Greg was the little spoon and I was the big spoon.

Our first day was a beach day and Greg, Wayne and Kelly made some diving enquiries at the only diving shop along the stretch. The next day we all went diving. Well I didn't dive per say, just did some free diving but I discovered a new talent which I was quite surprised by. I was following the guys diving below and then free diving down to them every now and again and had a look at what they were looking at. I reached my new personal best depth the following day where I learned after the dive that I had successfully free dived down to 18 meters. It's pretty intimidating if you haven't done it before because the surface of the water is a seriously shit long way above you in the distance.

The first dive "we" did was about 10 meters and we saw some epic stuff. The highlight without a doubt was spotting a 2 meter long sea snake. We were all trying to get as close as possible and he obviously got a little ticked off. I had to go back to the surface for a lung refill and as I was going up he decided to swim towards me and diagonally up at the same time. Very strange behaviour indeed for a snake that usually just rummages along the bottom looking for grub. You can imagine my panic when I got to the surface and so did he. The guy literally came out the water a good 15 cms and just looked me square in the eye above the water. Crazy stuff!!! Luckily he lost interest after that and descended back to where he belonged.

We also saw a Lion fish as well as some other cool stuff. I tell you what hey, the ocean has some pretty exotic stuff in it. Got to get in it as often as possible when I'm back in Durbs. The next day we did a wreck dive which is where I got down to 18 meters. Greg and the boys were quite surprised to see me down there with them (as was I) and the wreck was pretty cool with some sizable fish occupying the jol.

Nights in Tamaraw were spent drinking beer and playing table tennis. Wayne, your missus has a serously sharp serve on her. Kelly you're the best girl table tennis player I've ever seen. I'm sure Waynis really enjoyed the thumping you gave him that one night. Keep practising Wayne and for shit sakes pull you pants up dude!!!!

While on the second and last day of diving we met a Canadian couple (hey). They were very interesting people and it was after speaking to the guy (Derreck) that my Philippines trip took a new and awesome turn.

The Crew from Borocay

Ok so quite a lot has happened since I last spoke to you guys and plans have changed and I'm still in the Philippines, although I'll be making my way back to Thailand tomorrow to continue the final leg of the journey. The reason I've been so "slack" in updating the blog is that in the last 2 days the closest internet cafe has been 50 kms away. I've been out in the sticks doing some pretty awesome stuff which I'll tell you about in a minute.

Right so I mentioned previously that we were about to head out on another boat trip around the island of Borocay. This we did, and we had a pretty sweet day out, yet again, as is always the case on these boat trips. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather and so spent the better half of the day on the boat rather than taking advantage of some good snorkelling like the rest of the crew. The snorkelling we did was actually in pretty shallow water but the coral and the colours of some of the fish was quite spectacular. After lunch we missioned around the final side of the island and discovered a stretch of beach that for some reason the tourism trade hadn't yet infiltrated and so decided to stop for a beer. After that it was back to where we started. All in all a good day out and once again the weather was perfect and we couldn't have asked for more. Well, the fishing could have been better. Bren, at the moment that tackle box is just weighing me down, gonna have to catch something big sooner or later.

The next night (I think it was the next night) we all celebrated another successful day out in the sun by getting pretty drunk and staying out til 4 or 5 in the morning. Needless to say on evenings such as these it's always good to have the camera with you in case a few funny moments arise. And this they did, here's a selection of the best bits.

Anyway so now that Borocay was ticked off the list it was time for Greg and myself to find a new island while the rest of the Borocay crew made their way back to work. Next on the list was Puerto Galera.

Manila and Boracay

Right Robyn calm down, I'm back again and ready to tell you about Philip's Jeans so far. The flight from Bangkok to Manila was just shy of 3 hours and I was pretty keen to get there and have a beer with Greg. I arrived in Terminal 2 and Greg arrived in Terminal 1. We had both made pretty bad plans (none) and to be honest I don't think we both quite knew how we were going to find each other. In the end I went to Terminal 1 to meet Greg and Greg went to Terminal 2 to find me. As you can guess we both crossed paths and never ever did find each other at the airport.

All I had on me was the name of the guesthouse we were staying at and I had my doubts as to how well known it would be. The taxi driver assured me he knew exactly where it was and that Greg had misspelled the name of the place I was staying in. Greg had written 'Friendly's Guesthouse' and my driver told me that he was going to take me to Fendy's Guesthouse. An honest mistake I suppose but I knew from the word go that we were not going to the right place. Anyway to cut a long story short, both Friendly's and Fendy's are about 1 km away from each other and I did eventually find Greg.

Our one and only night in Manila was actually quite awesome and we milked the evening for all it was worth. First up as you can guess was a few beers across the street from Friendly's and it was myself, Greg, Greg's mates Chris and Dave, a Scotish dude who Chris had met earlier that afternoon and the Scotish dude's Filipino wife. Beers are pretty damn cheap here in the Philippines, so we had a lot of them. After dinner we headed around the corner to a place where the Filipino wife knew the owners. To say that we ate literally on the street is no under statement and the place was packed to the rafters so they had to get a special table from the back and dump it ominously close to the line on the road that seperates the left side from the right side. For dinner we had clams, mussels, pork kebabs, chicken pieces, garlic chicken fillets and a few other bits of meat along with a portion of rice each and I think the whole bill came to less than 10 pounds or R140, and that was for 3 of us and included beers. Superb!!

After dinner we took a ride in one of the many Jeepneys that cruise around Manila. You just hop on and pass your cash from passenger to passenger and it eventually finds it's way to the driver. The place we were trying to get to didnt' turn out to be our cup of tea so we took a walk back towards the guesthouse. Along the way we were nothing short of bombarded and harrassed by all manner of Filipinos trying to sell you anything from Rolex watches to cigarettes and paintings and all sorts of other stuff that you don't really need. Along with these street vendors you also have loads of beggars tugging at your arms and asking for money. Most of the beggars are little kids and some of these little guys are so cute and you really do feel sorry for them but word on the street is that there's actually a syndicate of these kids who all beg for money and then haul it all back to a house they share, and hand it over to an adult. Anyway, once back in our neck of the woods we decided to enter Coyote in Bed. This place had the same theme as Coyote Ugly but with absolutely none of the class as well as a severe shortage of the hot dancers you might expect to see. So we put that beer down to experience and moved on yet again, this time to the gem of the night. Once again we found ourselves literally sitting on the street but the chaos had subsided a bit and we were treated to some amazing street side live acts. The 3 guys that were playing the live music were brilliant, but what was even more spectacular was the fact that after every 2 songs or so someone from the street would ask if they could either get up and sing or play the guitar to which they were eagerly welcomed. We stayed there til 3 in the morning and it was superb.

The next day we had a flight to Kalibo so had a short morning to kill. We spent it walking around a bit and then caught a ride in possibly the smallest form of human transport ever built. I reckon you're supposed to take one each but it was definitely funnier this way.

After our 1 hour flight it was a further 2 hour bus ride and a final 20 minute boat ride into Boracay. Boracay they say is like the Philippines' Ko Phi Phi. It definitely is as picturesque as Ko Phi Phi but it isn't the same party island as Ko Phi Phi. But it really is awesome. The main beach is about 2 kilometers long and the beach sand feels like you're walking on your mom's baking flour. Without a doubt this is the bluest water I've ever seen and the visibilty of the water is incredible. All along the beach are loads of restaurants and dive shops as well as all sorts of accomodation to choose from. Generally, prices here seem to be a bit cheaper than Thailand and today we found a ridiculously cheap place to have sundowners at. One pound is equal to about 90 Pesos. This place serves ice cold beer on the beach for 25 Pesos, and if that's a bit steep then you can have the rum and coke which comes in at 20 Pesos. It's stupid - and we love it.

Tomorrow we've hired a sailing boat and a skipper who will take us around the island and surrounding dive spots for the whole day. That's 8 hours cruising on the catamaran style boats they have here and I reckon it should be pretty awesome. No noisy outboard engine like on the long-tail boats in Thailand.We did a short snorkel today but didn't see too much but I'm told that all the good spots are off the island so we'll see how that goes.

Then in a day or 2 myself and Greg will head to Peurto Galera where things are not quite so busy as Boracay and apparently the diving is world class.

See you again soon.

Israel

Hahahaaa....no i'm not going to Israel next, but in a bid to secure myself a small role in an authentic Israeli home video I am giving these 3 Israelis some air time on my blog (as promised). I met these guys while still in Ko Samui. Hope you guys are still having a good time.

Steve

Map of the Philippines

Ko Samui and Beyond

Hello again. As I said I am already in Ko Samui and have been for the last 5 or 6 days, not really sure but that sounds about right. The first 2 days here were the last 2 days that myself, Bren, Laura and Otta were all together. Otta had to do a visa run and so legged it off to Cambodia and Bren and Laura left for Ireland and by now should be putting on a slide show for Laura's ballies in Jo'burg.

On our last full day together we went and saw a Monkey show. Like I said earlier, I'm not sure that supporting this kind of show is the "right" thing to do, but nevertheless we went and did it anyway. It didn't seem overly cruel to train these monkeys to do human-like impersonations and other than the fact that the monkeys kept staring out to the palm trees which their rope around their neck wouldn't allow them to reach, everything seemed A-Ok!!


I think the most entertaining part though was after the show when we stumbled upon the cage where they keep the Boa Constrictors. Next thing you know one of these things are being dragged out and slung over anyone's shoulder who cared to have a go.
Something I've wanted to do since I arrived here was hire something bigger than a 100cc scooter, so I splashed out and for the last 4 days I've been cruising the island on this baby.

My 200cc Honda Phantom. Sorry ballie, but I couldn't find a Yamaha equivalent, so had to settle on the Honda. Anyway I was quite sad when I handed it back this morning, but seeing as how one day's rental of this guy costs the same as 3 meals I thought it wise to concentrate on my needs and not my wants especially seeing as finances are running lower than I would like at this point in the trip. On that note I'm on a mission to cut corners so I can save cash for my next leg of the trip (more about that later). So at the moment I'm on a one main meal a day budget with Thai Pot Noodles filling the gaps in between.

Bren, Laura and Otta you'll be proud to know that I walked all the way into Chaweng Central this morning in the blazing heat cos I'm not hiring myself a bike for the next couple of days. Although you'll also be disapointed to know that I burnt the back of my legs quite severly yesterday. I swear I just pulled my baggies up a couple of centimeters and I was only lying on my stomach for about half an hour. Needless to say the Aloe Vera made an appearance last night.

Speaking of last night - after the Sharks previous victory in the Super 14 I thought I'd better give them some support. I found an English pub that was showing the game and arrived there last night at about 11:30. Kick off was at 1 in the morning but they were showing the Western Force vs Stormers game so I grabbed a beer and settled into the second half of that. The last time I checked wasn't Schalk Burger never going to play rugby again??? And yet there he was, crazy!!! And the last time I also checked, weren't the Western Force the crappest team in the competition? - so a Stormers loss at Newlands was not what I was expecting. Anyway more importantly the Sharks claimed their second consecutive victory over the Waratahs and even if it was a pretty average game a win is a win.

So that's about all that has been happening lately. Not a whole lot really and by travelling on my own I'm finding that I'm actually doing far less than before but it's good relax time and I'm enjoying it. However I don't reckon that I could do this on my ace for another 5 weeks. So with some gentle persuasion from Greg in China I've been convinced to join him and some friends in the Philippines for 11 days. This definitely wasn't in the grand master plan nor the budget, but as Greg so rightly put it, When am I going to be in this neck of the woods again, plus to have a jol with Greg at the same time is going to be epic. I'm flying into Manila on the 14th where we'll spend one night before catching another plane the next day to Kalibo. From Kalibo I think we're catching a bus and a boat to Boracay Island. And from there we'll just take one day at a time. I then fly back into Bangkok on the 25th, not quite sure what happens next after that but I'm sure I'll think of something. With a bit of luck Otta might join us but he's still deciding.

As usual here's a few snaps to sign off. The next update will be coming from the Philippines. Cheers guys. Ballie 1 and Candice, shot for the comments keep them coming. Looking forward to seeing all you guys in SA next month.

Later

I've got a resident rat in my room at the moment so I'm having to plug every hole in the bungalow to keep him out. Last night while I was reading, the little bugger hopped onto the bed next to me no less than 3 times. He just stares at me, as if he's testing my resiliance. A couple swats with my fishing rod and he seemed to back off.