Whale Shark Fail

So, if you remember this post about our new year goals, you would know Nick and I were super excited to go swimming with sharks while in the Philippines.  Don’t get your panties in a twist, these sharks aren’t deadly, just really big.  We made our plans and checked our list twice, and we were ready to see us some Whale Sharks in Donsol, Philippines.

After our awesome ATV adventure, we made the hour-long bus ride to our B&B in Donsol.  We were exhausted by this point because it was now some time on Friday afternoon, and we hadn’t slept in a bed since Wednesday night, but the show must go on!  Since we were cramming so much fun stuff into our trip, we unfortunately were only able to spend one night in Donsol, and thus begins our sad tale.

The staff at our B&B was very helpful, and showed us when and where we needed to be in the morning to get a boat for the Whale Shark interaction.  We had a tight time schedule because we needed to make a flight at noon.  In the morning it looked like we would not be able to get on a boat AND be back in time to catch our flight, but after much stress on my part, and bravery on Nick’s we managed to make our way onto a private boat that would make it back in time for us to catch our flight.  SCORE!

Our lovely B&B

The lookout

Obviously, this was at the beginning of our boat ride.

We were so pumped that we were going to be able to see Whale Sharks, and we settled in for our three-hour experience with lots of smiling and anticipation.  Our excitement started to wane the longer we were cruising around looking for sharks, but we weren’t going to give up hope.  Eventually we realized we would not see our sharks today.  The captain said that it was unseasonably cold, and because of that, the sharks weren’t surfacing.  *Cue sad music*

On the bright side, we got to work on our tans and enjoy some nice weather and scenery, and we made it back in time for our flight.

Moral of the story.  Don’t try to cram tons of stuff in one trip. Although, like us, sometimes that’s unavoidable if you only have a limited amount of time for all the fun stuff.  Oh well, better luck next time.

 

ATV adventure!

After finally arriving in Legaspi, Nick and I high-tailed it to the ATV company that we had been so excited about.  They specialize in ATV tours along the Mt. Mayon 2006 lava flow. Let me just say, it did not disappoint.

After some indecision on my part, Nick finally convinced me to drive my own ATV, and I am so glad I did!  We did a quick practice session to familiarize ourselves with the ATVs, and then we were off!!!  Since we were off-roading, we went over some really rough terrain, and through a little river, which added to the excitement even more! (If you notice the excessive use of exclamation points, you should realize that this was really exciting).  Our guide was really great and would stop periodically to take our picture, which was awesome because it’s hard to drive and take pictures at the same time (oh and stay on the path).

Along the way, we passed workers who were moving volcanic rock to use for building and other things.  They were always so excited to see us and would wave and yell “Hello!”  I was always eager to wave back, but it’s hard to drive an ATV over rocks one-handed.  If you haven’t tried it, take my word for it. 😉  After about 45 minutes of driving, we stopped to take a hike up on top of the lava flow and to get a view of the volcano itself.  Unfortunately it was cloudy the day we went, so we didn’t get a great view of the volcano, but it was still nice to take the hike and see God’s creation.

Once we got back from our hike, we took a short break, then got back on the ATVs for our ride back to the base camp.  We went a different way back which took us through some of the village around the volcano.  It was really interesting to see how the locals lived (not to mention a smoother ride for my bum bum).

If you ever go to Legaspi, Phillipines, check out Your Brother ATVs, it’ll be a blast! (get it?)