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Donsol Shark Viewing period runs November through May, historically peaking between February and April. It’s definitely the cheapest option available and the low cost of Philippines accommodation and food further makes this a good budget destination to see Whale Sharks.
Donsol may not have the same volume of whale sharks as other locations - throughout the entire season maybe 200 unique sharks pass through Donsol Bay and at any given time there may not be more than 10 in the bay. |
It’s a very natural experience using a snorkel instead of using helicopters or feeding techniques to find the sharks. You hop on a boat, hopefully a spotter finds one, jump in, and have an amazing experience. You should also check when Holy Week, the week before Easter, occurs, as there will be an influx of visitors not to mention higher travel and accommodation costs.
GET IN:
International Arrival
The easiest way is to catch an onward flight from Manila to Legazpi. From Legazpi Airport avoid the taxi rank offering rides of 1,500 PHP (which can be negotiated down to 1,000 PHP) and hop in a tri-cycle to the Legazpi transport terminal (40-50 PHP). Board a UV Express mini-van for the one hour ride to Donsol (75 PHP). In Donsol town take another tri-cycle to your hotel (40-50 PHP).
Domestic Arrival
From Manila night buses complete the eight hour ride on a daily basis - a higher frequency of buses go to Legazpi.
From Cebu, if you don’t want to fly you can take an overnight ferry to Masbate - posted departures online show 3-4 departures per week. Masbate to Pilar (10 minutes south of Donsol) ferries every few hours.
INTERACTION EXPERIENCE:
Out of the Water
The dive center is in the center of the resort area and within walking distance or short tri-cycle ride of most hotels.
Boats with a six person maximum go out in three “waves” - 7:30am, 11:00am, and 2:00pm, although in practice the boats tend to go out as soon as six people are ready. As a solo traveler I was assigned with other people travelling in groups of two or three.
Boats do not always leave in the afternoon. Most people head out in the morning and two people I met tried to go in the afternoon but noone else was interested. The boat costs 3,500 PHP in total, so if six people go you’d pay 575 PHP. In one instance, five of us were ready to go at 9:30 and rather wait for a sixth we all paid 700 PHP.
For your first interaction you will need to pay a 300 PHP registration fee valid for five days and watch a ten minute safety and introductory video. Each subsequent visit you sign a similar waiver.
Snorkel, mask, and fins are available for rent at the interaction center for 300 PHP and its a good idea to check they work given the high volume of previous usage. The rentals are good for the day but you’ll probably only head out once.
On the Water
There is a limit of 30 boats on the water at a single time - 30 x 6 = 180 people which is a ton of swimmers even if there are a lot of sightings. On the days I went boats on the water varied from 5 - 10.
If a whale shark is spotted in the first few minutes all of the boats that have just left in the “wave” will congregate around this shark and give all their participants 2-3 passes at swimming with the whale shark. The boat will stop in front of where the shark is expected to go, everyone jumps into the water, and you wait for the shark to arrive; once it makes it’s appearance swim with it as long as you can.
When there are 10 boats around a single shark it gets a little hectic. The official Dive Rules state that there is a one boat to one shark limit but I think to accommodate everyone who’s come a long distance for this experience they break this rule. One day a whale shark interaction was with 10-15 people at a time around a single shark and this was still enjoyable; another day it was 20-30 people, with a smaller shark too, and this was much less enjoyable.
Shark sizes range from 5 meters to 10 meters. My experience was that the smaller sharks stayed closer to the surface (thus longer encounter experience) then the larger sharks.
You are suppose to stay 3 meters away from the head and side and 4 meters away from the tail - but underwater visibility is poor and in most cases your about 2 meters or less away. With all the people around its possible to accidentally bump the whale shark but any intentional grabbing and your boat will head back to shore.
I did three interactions, one per day, in total - all leaving between 7:30 and 10:00:
First - One whale shark - 6/7 meters, we spent an hour swimming with the shark hopping on and off the boat 7-8 times. After an hour we headed back to the center because it was unlikely we’d see another shark and after pestering this one for an hour it was best to leave it along.
Second - no sightings. Three hours is a long time to be on a boat.
Third - five sightings, three interactions - first whale shark was 4-5 meters and 30 other people around it at the same time.; second and third whale sharks were 9-10 meters but after the initial pass the sharks dove deeper and unable to swim beside them. We saw two others (could have been the same or the ones that dove deeper) but they were no longer near the surface by the time our boat was in a position to jump.
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
Fireflies - highly rated on TripAdvisor and large clusters are supposedly more impressive than the one’s you may see in your backyard. Long walk or tri-cycle from the whale shark center.
Island and Legazpi Area Day Trips - if you have immediate success and see a bunch of whale sharks on your first day there are other islands to snorkel and sites around Legazpi.
Scuba - Manta Bowl; PADI courses are available but I believe there is a minimum (4) of participants required.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS:
Vitton, Woodland, and Elysia resorts are all a short 100-500 meter walk from the whale shark center. All have pools, bar areas, and beach access. The beaches are clean but incredibly narrow.
Woodland has three person dorms available for 500 PHP per night.
FOOD:
Each resort has a restaurant and the fare isn’t too bad. Specialities of Donsol include Bicol Express, a pork belly, coconut, chile, and shrimp paste meal, and kinunot a similar ray or shark based meal.
Barracuda is the only upscale restaurant available. Higher prices, smaller portions but worth the splurge if you here more than one night. Its located between Vitton and Woodland resorts.
GET IN:
International Arrival
The easiest way is to catch an onward flight from Manila to Legazpi. From Legazpi Airport avoid the taxi rank offering rides of 1,500 PHP (which can be negotiated down to 1,000 PHP) and hop in a tri-cycle to the Legazpi transport terminal (40-50 PHP). Board a UV Express mini-van for the one hour ride to Donsol (75 PHP). In Donsol town take another tri-cycle to your hotel (40-50 PHP).
Domestic Arrival
From Manila night buses complete the eight hour ride on a daily basis - a higher frequency of buses go to Legazpi.
From Cebu, if you don’t want to fly you can take an overnight ferry to Masbate - posted departures online show 3-4 departures per week. Masbate to Pilar (10 minutes south of Donsol) ferries every few hours.
INTERACTION EXPERIENCE:
Out of the Water
The dive center is in the center of the resort area and within walking distance or short tri-cycle ride of most hotels.
Boats with a six person maximum go out in three “waves” - 7:30am, 11:00am, and 2:00pm, although in practice the boats tend to go out as soon as six people are ready. As a solo traveler I was assigned with other people travelling in groups of two or three.
Boats do not always leave in the afternoon. Most people head out in the morning and two people I met tried to go in the afternoon but noone else was interested. The boat costs 3,500 PHP in total, so if six people go you’d pay 575 PHP. In one instance, five of us were ready to go at 9:30 and rather wait for a sixth we all paid 700 PHP.
For your first interaction you will need to pay a 300 PHP registration fee valid for five days and watch a ten minute safety and introductory video. Each subsequent visit you sign a similar waiver.
Snorkel, mask, and fins are available for rent at the interaction center for 300 PHP and its a good idea to check they work given the high volume of previous usage. The rentals are good for the day but you’ll probably only head out once.
On the Water
There is a limit of 30 boats on the water at a single time - 30 x 6 = 180 people which is a ton of swimmers even if there are a lot of sightings. On the days I went boats on the water varied from 5 - 10.
If a whale shark is spotted in the first few minutes all of the boats that have just left in the “wave” will congregate around this shark and give all their participants 2-3 passes at swimming with the whale shark. The boat will stop in front of where the shark is expected to go, everyone jumps into the water, and you wait for the shark to arrive; once it makes it’s appearance swim with it as long as you can.
When there are 10 boats around a single shark it gets a little hectic. The official Dive Rules state that there is a one boat to one shark limit but I think to accommodate everyone who’s come a long distance for this experience they break this rule. One day a whale shark interaction was with 10-15 people at a time around a single shark and this was still enjoyable; another day it was 20-30 people, with a smaller shark too, and this was much less enjoyable.
Shark sizes range from 5 meters to 10 meters. My experience was that the smaller sharks stayed closer to the surface (thus longer encounter experience) then the larger sharks.
You are suppose to stay 3 meters away from the head and side and 4 meters away from the tail - but underwater visibility is poor and in most cases your about 2 meters or less away. With all the people around its possible to accidentally bump the whale shark but any intentional grabbing and your boat will head back to shore.
I did three interactions, one per day, in total - all leaving between 7:30 and 10:00:
First - One whale shark - 6/7 meters, we spent an hour swimming with the shark hopping on and off the boat 7-8 times. After an hour we headed back to the center because it was unlikely we’d see another shark and after pestering this one for an hour it was best to leave it along.
Second - no sightings. Three hours is a long time to be on a boat.
Third - five sightings, three interactions - first whale shark was 4-5 meters and 30 other people around it at the same time.; second and third whale sharks were 9-10 meters but after the initial pass the sharks dove deeper and unable to swim beside them. We saw two others (could have been the same or the ones that dove deeper) but they were no longer near the surface by the time our boat was in a position to jump.
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
Fireflies - highly rated on TripAdvisor and large clusters are supposedly more impressive than the one’s you may see in your backyard. Long walk or tri-cycle from the whale shark center.
Island and Legazpi Area Day Trips - if you have immediate success and see a bunch of whale sharks on your first day there are other islands to snorkel and sites around Legazpi.
Scuba - Manta Bowl; PADI courses are available but I believe there is a minimum (4) of participants required.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS:
Vitton, Woodland, and Elysia resorts are all a short 100-500 meter walk from the whale shark center. All have pools, bar areas, and beach access. The beaches are clean but incredibly narrow.
Woodland has three person dorms available for 500 PHP per night.
FOOD:
Each resort has a restaurant and the fare isn’t too bad. Specialities of Donsol include Bicol Express, a pork belly, coconut, chile, and shrimp paste meal, and kinunot a similar ray or shark based meal.
Barracuda is the only upscale restaurant available. Higher prices, smaller portions but worth the splurge if you here more than one night. Its located between Vitton and Woodland resorts.