Novato, CA at 12:35pm PDT.
Two days of vacation left.... Deciding how to spend the last days... Looks like it will be more wreck diving! The wreck diving here is phenomenal. There aren't many places that have this caliber of wreck diving so we are going to make the most of it. The wrecks are HUGE!!! And Awesome!!!
Heading out for a day on the boat and three more wreck dives this morning in Coron.
Yesterday we did the most amazing wreck dives! The ships were huge and we got to go inside and swim thru the compartments. Both were Japanese wrecks sunk by the US in September and October of 1944 during World War 2. From the outside it looks like a reef. Then, when you venture inward it's a surreal experience. There are 10 wrecks in the area. We saw two yesterday, Tangat Wreck and an oil tanker, Taie Maru.
Although it was not as I imagined it would be, it was still a memorable experience...
Bodies drift on the surface, while others frantically move their arms and legs attempting to swim. The splashes and kicks of dozens of swimmers on the surface make it hard to see the faint spots of the gentle giant below. Getting kicked in the chest, stomach, and face were not uncommon. Being pulled, pushed or dunked as the mad dash played out to see what we all traveled so far to see - a whale shark. For most it feels like you are swimming for your life- in part to keep up with the swift elegant whale shark below, while it slowly thrusts its tail side to side cutting its way through the sea, and partly because , if you aren't a strong swimmer, you could surely drown in this water stampede. I take a deep breath and hold it as I dive down. The mayhem at the surface fades as the light blue spots grow larger and more crisp. I clear my head and take in this experience. Serenity. Calm. Amazing. For a few moments I realize my vision of swimming with this huge fish. I swim along side him surveying the creature. Despite the insanity above and my close interaction, he seems undisturbed. I kick hard to keep up while he effortlessly glides. There is something humbling about swimming alongside him. He gracefully continues. My sudden need for air makes me look upward toward the sky. I search for a pocket of water that's unoccupied and slowly ascend back into the chaos.
Whale sharks are the largest fish in the ocean. This particular whale shark was over 20 feet long but they can be as long as 60 feet. Whale sharks migrate through a channel off Southern Luzon, Philippines. We were told that this time of year it's not a question of if you will see one, but how many you will see. What we experienced was far from the information provided. I'm not sure if things have changed or if it was always misrepresented. In any case this is what it was like.
Groups of six hire a boat and a BIO. BIO's are Butanding interaction Officers. Butanding is what whale sharks are called in the Philippines. The BIOs job is to ensure that the interaction experience is carried out in a way that ensures our safety as well as not disturbing the Whale shark. There are several rules that are to be followed. Only one boat per whale shark. Only 6 in the water at a time maintaing a safe distance. Only 15 minutes in the water with the whale shark and a three hour maximum time whale shark spotting. 30 boats whale shark spotting at a time.
This was our second attempt to see one. The first day a few boats saw some- but we quickly learned that there was no guarantee. Many had many attempts with no luck. Could the dwindling numbers be climate related? Or perhaps the effects of tourism are paying a toll? or just a coincidence?
Much like the first day we cruise the channel on a small bangka. It's Matt, Nicole, Liisa and our two new Japanese friends. Two hours go by with no luck. The captain, boat staff, spotter and BIO scanned the waters for the large shadow. No technological enhancements are used for the search. This was our second attempt to see one. We were already discussing whether we wanted to give it one last shot and stay another day. Then, suddenly, all the boats start speeding in the same direction. We are all thinking, "how's this going to work?" Of course we are thinking of the rules which are shown in a briefing video and reinforced by signs and the BIO. Maybe we take turns? As we all approach the site of the single whale shark it seems all 30 boats have converged on a path with the hopes it will intersect with the whale shark first. The boats slow, chaos and yelling commence. Our BIO tells us to get ready. We all don our gear and wait, sitting on the boats edge... Looking for our BIO to guide us, unclear how he knows where the Shark is. The waters are teeming with boats.... All there for their serene experience swimming with the largest fish in the ocean. We see a few groups of six jump in the water... They are swimming and thrashing about but it's unclear whether they actually see a whale shark. Our guide must have spotted it, he directs the captain where to go. We pull ahead of the pack and then we are told to jump. We slide off the boat into the water and discover this huge creature below us. We swim and kick hard to keep up with it on the surface. We had some time with it to ourselves maybe 1 minute - hard to say as it felt like a flash in time - and it took a minute to really register that it was real. Soon after other BIOs realized that we were swimming with the whale shark, they maneuvered their boats into the path and started to unload passengers. As the whale shark caught up with this group so did we. Now there are easily 50 swimmers all trying to catch a glimpse of the fish. Many were so caught up in the chaos that they could not see the faded blue spots of the whale shark below. For those who knew what they were looking for, it was hard to see past the bubbles and splashes from the crowd. It was not uncommon to be kicked in the face, chest or stomach... I started to wonder if this was worth it. Then my BIO guide spotted me, he grabbed me by the arm and hauled me in the direction of the butanding. He kept pointing and swimming and pointing and swimming. He kept a firm grip on my arm while he cleared a path for me. I followed the fish for another few minutes. The fish went deeper, I grew tired and we all went back to the boat. It took a while to collect everyone, as the groups of swimmers had commingled. We also learned that one of our Japanese friends jumped into the water without a life vest even though he didn't know how to swim. He must have had a scare as another boat picked him up.
Despite the cluster f**k, we were all grinning ear to ear. It was exhilarating. I quickly learned it was much more enjoyable to dive down next to it... We dove with it 2 more times. A unique and strangely satisfying experience.
After a month of traveling around Thailand, laos, and Vietnam, im back in the Philippines. Oh, how Ive missed being called mam, the pop music and sitting at manila airport. Luckily we only have a three hour layover on our way to Coron, Palawan to sit on a nice beach and go diving for the last 5 days of vacation.
The sun deck on our Junk boat. It was actually a quite nice boat, not sure why there called Junks.
Hạ Long, Quảng Ninh, Vietnam at 9:27am ICT.
