Whale sharks

Whale sharks, or butanding, are filter feeders with no teeth that gather in large numbers at this time of year off the southeast coast of Luzon. We spent another night in Manila before making our connection plane to Legaspi, minivan to Donsol, and then tricycle to the place were were staying at near the Whale Shark Bothering Headquarters. We, like others, had come to harass this wildlife, and had to get the safety video (including sad commentary on tourist behaviour like "don't attempt to ride the butanding").

We shelled out our pesos and by 7:30 a.m. we were on the water, again in an outrigger canoe. It's pretty much like finding needles in a haystack, as far as I can tell. But our spotter did spot a couple, and they are beautiful. They also seemed completely unfazed by us; they could easily have dived or sped away from our snorkel-and-fin paddling, but did not. We followed one for almost 20 minutes before it dived away.