I realised I haven’t been paying much
attention to this blog. Felt quite bad about it, so tot of posting, sharing my
recent awesome trip to MoalBoal & Oslob, Philippines. The main objective
(for me personally) was to see with my own eyes how the community in Oslob takes
care of the beautiful whale sharks.
“Butanding,
or whale shark (Rhincodon
typus), is a slow-moving filter-feeding animal that is considered
as the largest fish in the sea, measuring 40 feet or more. This distinctively
yellow-marked shark is the only member of its genus Rhincodon and
its family, Rhincodontidae, which is grouped into the subclass
Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes.” - WikiPilipinas
The
whole phenomenon on the feeding of the whalesharks began in late 2011. WAIT! f you don’t know the story there’s this article written by a
traveller Ian Ord explaining how it all started and how he described his feelings was exactly the
same as mine!!!! Read his story.
And mine goes like this….. There was
only 4 divers going on this trip and some of us are very particular when it
comes to diving especially when it’s an overseas trip. Due to the fact the
amount of money we had to pay, of course the expectation is there. Usually we have this
bucket list of things to see, but on this trip it was only the whalesharks the
rest was bonus for us. We heard that the areas where we will be diving (if we
are lucky) might stumble into a sardine ball… but we were unlucky *bleurgh*.
The dive centre we went with was Outer ReefAdventure. Roger is such a gentle guy… he was so
awesome with us. Putting up with our crazy demands LOL! Thanks to roger’s wife
we get to have yummy cakes during our intervals + we get to bring sum back
home.. LUV U NEIME! And to Joan a newly graduated DM who I seriously think will
do great in the future… LUV U TOO JOAN!
the boat
Thats Roger (left), Joan at the back
On the day of the whaleshark expedition, we
had to wake up damn early. The trip to oslob takes us 2 hrs. The whalesharks
will only be there in the morning. Once we got there, the DM briefed us on the
rules and regulations ie. How close we can be to the whaleshark, not to use
flash, not to touch, etc. I like how they are strict with the dos and don’ts.
The view from the shore.. beautiful! Fishermen starting to feed the whale sharks.
Briefing session
The depth was only 16m but on that day the sea was abit rough so we will be expecting
some surface current. We didn’t go on the boat instead we swam from the shores
which was logical enough coz it wasn’t that far. Due to the current, the vis
was not that good… probably 10m but I was still happy! Once we reached the dive
spot, we waited until the DM gave us the *TINK TINK TINK* signal….. we looked
up, and there they were. THE WHALESHARKS!
It was insane! I stopped breathing
for few secs.. I didn’t take any pictures, I just hovered and stare. And when I
turn around there was 2 more. I look to the left another 2. In total there were
8 of ‘em. I was in awe.
And then I remembered we only have 60 min with these
creatures so I started taking pictures and videos. My neck was starting to hurt
but I didn’t give a crap. When our 60mins was up, the DM signalled us to swim
towards the shore. I wanted to stay longer but having that 60mins experience
was undeniably super duper awesome!
Once we reached the shore we couldn’t stop
talking, screaming and laughing. We were too happy!
There was silence during
the drive back to Moalboal. I guess every1 was reminiscing that 60mins of pure
joy, unexplainable ‘no words can describe’ experience…… coz I was.
Thats me!
All in all we were satisfied that the
whalesharks looked healthy, hardly any scratches or injuries to their body and
fins. The government and fishermen made sure there were no boats with engines
around oslob. I do believe there is more to the whaleshark phenomenon than what
we see over there in oslob. I just hope that they will continue implementing
the strict rules, and also whatever they plan in the future, whatever tiff that
is going on between villagers, government, protest groups will not be at the
expense of the whalesharks.
Here
are other articles you can read:
Recent
photoshoot with a model… beautiful!
Recently a photo of a tourist riding on the
back of a whaleshark surface on the internet, I was extremely upset and angry. The photo went viral…………….. not sure what happened after
that. I hope the tour operator gets a hefty fine or banned from operating... idiots! Too soothe my angry soul here's a video of a close up
Some u/w photos i took during the trip.
electric clam... wow!
i called this the alien nudi
i had trouble taking pics of this black frogfish
i luv this pic. The turtle wasnt afraid of us.. he had this "cudnt be bothered" look n just swam above me
