Sothern Leyte Whalesharks

Discovered a place in Philippines which offer a better whaleshark experience than Donsol. The dive boat is bigger and you have the option to be on scuba. Also water vis is way better than Donsol. Season runs from Nov to March.

From Singapore, there is even a budget airline (Cebu Pacific) flying directly into Cebu. i paid SGD 251 (USD 163) for my return airfare, all taxes included. Not bad for a 4 hr flight. Only downside is a baggage allowance of only 15kg for check in.

Here are some of the pics:

even met a fellow wetpixelian on the boat - diverdon

a little video on the trip can be viewed here:

http://eric7han.multiply.com/video/item/1

Good stuff Eric. Fun video, love the soundtrack.

Great information! I need to give that a try. Are there as many sharks as Donsol? Is there a specific best time (sweet spot) to go that you know of? Viz certainly looks better

excellent stuff Eric.

I have a bunch of friends there now, i know they had 3 sharks the day before yesterday

tks fellas

From now to March would be a great time to go, although the peak is March. If u hate flying into Manila for connection, try via Singapore as i have mentioned. Better shopping in Changi Airport as well for the layover/stopover/connection.

There are 2 operators there - Sogod Bay Scuba Resort and Peter's Dive Resort. I went with the latter (www.whaleofadive.com)

The dive operators engage the locals at Sonok Village as spotters. The village elders have walkie talkies so they share info on where the whalesharks are along the bay. Are there as many whalesharks? Let's just say the spotters never fail to locate them on my trip, till we got tired of getting in and out of the water

By the way, the best reef dives are the 3 house reefs. I wouldn't bother to do any other boat dives, other than Napantau, which is probably the best dive site in Southern Leyte and comparable to Bunaken, Sipadan and Crysrtal Bay (Bali). Dive it during some currents and you definitely see more fish action than when all is calm and easy. The down side is the wall will prob end in 15min during currents.

All said, the whalesharks alone are worth the trip. But if you have a week to spare, i would strongly suugest you split the week btw Malapascua and Sogod Bay. I don;t think the resort will do whaleshark dives everyday, unless yours is the only dive group in the resort. Have fun and go before the crowd got wind of this place.....

eric

Eric,

Nice pics! I was one of folks Mike V was referring to that were in Southern Leyte last month. We were there from Dec 27-30 and stayed over at Sogod Bay Scuba Resort. We got three whales sharks our first day, but got skunked on our second and last day. Got a few pics but not as nice as yours!

I second that about Napantao Wall. Very nice indeed. Beautiful coral in the shallows. But not sure I would put it up there with Sipidan. Maybe Bunaken...

I've wrote a brief trip report over on scubaboard.com with a few pics

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=172311

edit: just watched your slideshow/ video... OMG you had two whale sharks buzz you on bothsides and then hang around!! Nice!

pakman, i must say we got really lucky....the day didn't start great with overcast skies and light drizzles....

even the resort owner hasn't seen what we saw that day. And actually, there were 3 whalesharks in the scene, but i was too busy with the 2 at the surface feeding

It was right after that that all aboard decided we couldn't top that and should break for lunch and hot tea in the cold weather.

unlike your DMs, my guides suggested against using strobes. Politely i must say, for the enjoyment of all underwater. Then they all came round asking for their whaleshark photos. Well don;t blame me for the underexposure

unlike your DMs, my guides suggested against using strobes. Politely i must say, for the enjoyment of all underwater. Then they all came round asking for their whaleshark photos. Well don;t blame me for the underexposure

In hindsight, I was wondering if we should have refrained from using strobes. Maybe explains the excellent interaction you guys had whereas ours were probably happy to get away from the u/w paparazzi...