Whale Sharks in Puerto? May 16, 2009

Whaleshark (courtesy of Duncan Murrell)


A School of Eagle Rays that Came Swimming Toward Us
(courtesy of Duncan Murrell)


Me, Swimming with a Giant Manta Ray with a 3 meter wingspan
(courtesy of Duncan Murrell)

To view more pictures of the Butanding, taken with my grocery store bought Kodak plastic camera, click here. To view more of Duncan's fabulous images, click here.

The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, (Butanding, in Tagalong) is the largest living fish species in the world. It can grow to be 12 meters (40 feet) long and weigh up to 15 tons. These beautiful and massive creatures are the gentle giants of the sea. They feed on plankton and krill (small shrimp) and move slowly through warm ocean waters. For more information on whale sharks click here.

The tiny town of Donsol in Southern Luzon is known as the only place in the Philippines to spot whale sharks. May is considered to be off-season for whale shark watching, and it is entirely possible to go out and come back without having spotted any at all. The reports I’d been hearing from fellow travelers about their experiences in Donsol weren’t great—because of the popularity of the activity and the lack of whale sharks people were reporting sightings of one whale shark sighting in one day with 8 to 10 boats on its tail and up to 100 people in snorkeling gear swimming around trying to follow it. Since, one of the primary reasons I had come to the Philippines was to see the whale sharks—I was prepared to take two flights from Palawan and give it a gander anyway.

But while in El Nido, I heard about a British photographer named Duncan who was photographing whale sharks in Puerto—apparently he was willing to take groups of up to 6 tourists from the Banwa guest house with him on his boat. I called the Butanding Center in Donsol to see whether they knew of the existence of whale sharks in Puerto and they told me that there were none. But the Banwa guest house in Puerto confirmed that Duncan had indeed been taking people to see the whale sharks for the past 6 days. So, Galit, Debbie and I changed our plans to fly to Donsol and made a beeline back to Puerto.

Swimming With Duncan, Whale Sharks, Manta Rays, and Eagle Rays.

Duncan Murrell has spent a good part of his life photographing marine wildlife. Before the Philippines he spent 20 years in Alaska photographing the humpback whales. He has been following the whale sharks in Puerto on and off over the past 2+ years, and will occasionally take tourists when the conditions are good. Unlike in Donsol, we were only one boat with five snorkelers and we had the whale sharks and the ocean all to ourselves.

I was incredibly lucky to witness a rare phenomenon that Duncan had encountered only once before: because the water was so full of plankton and krill—whale sharks, and schools of Eagle Rays and giant Manta Rays were feeding together. This is how it went:

Our spotter signaled for us to jump into the ocean because he had spotted the wings of mantas jetting out of the water. I jumped in the water and as I was adjusting my mask Galit started screaming and pointing behind me. I thought she was warning me about the bamboo floaters on the outrigger that were perilously close to my head but as I turned around to grab a hold of them a baby whale shark measuring approximately 4 meters (12 feet) nearly ran into me. This massive animal was inches away, completely unperturbed by our boat or my presence. I was so excited that I could barely breathe and I completely forgot to take its picture. Later, while I was following a school of eagle rays swimming with a few giant manta rays, a 9 meter Butanding came to swim peacefully beside me. Because she was moving slowly, I was able to observe her closely and watch the various species of cleaner fish that had attached themselves to her sides and tails. At one point, she opened her gills to breathe and an 8 inch cleaner fish that had been feeding in the area got sucked right in and met a terrible fate.

There are no words I could write that could come close to describing the experience of swimming with this majestic animal. And unfortunately, because my underwater camera died the day before, I also have no video or decent pictures (except for the ones I took with a cheap underwater camera). Duncan was kind enough to provide me with a few images he took with his professional grade camera. To see Duncan’s images, click here.

Puerto Princesa, May 15, 2009

Snake Island

Galit on Snake Island

Starfish Island

To view more photos of Honda Bay, click here.

All around Palawan, the locals speak of Puerto Princesa ("Puerto" as it is affectionately called) as if it were New York City--for every problem, the solution lies somewhere in Puerto. The media touts it as one of the country's cleanest and greenest cities, but most guidebook writers will tell you to that Puerto is a dump and that you should treat it as a one night stop on your way to the rest of Palawan's beaches.

So, I arrived in Puerto at night and took the first jeepney I could find early the following morning. I had no plans of coming back. Like all final things, that, of course, changed. So, now I can tell you another story of Puerto. There are a ton of “do not miss” things to do in and around Puerto and you should budget at least three full days to do them. The first of these is Honda Bay.

Honda Bay:

10km north of Puerto Princesa is the unexpectedly beautiful Honda Bay. Galit and I took a tricycle there (500 pesos round-trip including unlimited wait time) and then rented a banca (an outrigger) and snorkeling gear from the super organized tourist office in Honda Bay. Truthfully, we weren’t expecting much; especially since the ocean in Honda Bay is dark green and totally unlike the gorgeous clear blue-green waters of El Nido or Port Barton. But then we arrived in Snake Island—a curious Island that is shaped like a snake. Where the island curves, the ocean comes in to create shallow internal lakes lined with bright green mangrove trees. The highlight of Snake Island for me was snorkeling. Although the coral reef isn’t extensive, the locals have accustomed the fish to being fed as a result, tons of huge fish have set up their home in the area. Galit and I took a bag of sliced bread and as soon as we threw out a piece we would find ourselves surrounded by hundreds of fish, many of them measuring well over 15 inches. Some of the fish are so tame that they’ll take the bread straight from your hand! Among the notable sightings were a 2 foot long adult batfish, a four foot long barracuda, and an 18 inch trigger fish. This, of course, was the moment when my brand new underwater camera decided to die so unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture the moment. :( Beware of the trigger fish, he bit my friend Yohann.

Our next stop in Honda Bay was Starfish Island—named so, because of the large starfish that live there. Starfish Island, like several of the Islands in Honda Bay is what Filipinos call a lulubog-lilitaw—a floating and sinking island—that appears and disappears with the change in tide. During high tide, when most of the Island is submerged it creates the illusion that one is walking on water in the middle of the ocean. Like in Port Barton and El Nido, the water around both Snake and Starfish Islands is crystal clear and changes in color from clear to turquoise to green.

Travel Tips: It isn’t worth going to Honda Bay during low tide. The beauty of the Islands is completely lost. Ask to be taken to the reef instead of Pandan Island. The reef has gorgeous coral in very shallow water, decent visibility, and most of the fish you’ll see around Palawan.

Diving Japanese Shipwrecks in Coron, May 13, 2008

Adult Batfish on the Luzong Gunboat


Left: The Olympia Maru before it sank.
Late on the afternoon of September 23, 1944, Fast Carrier Task Force (TF) 38 under the command of Vice Admiral "Bull" Halsey positioned itself for an attack on a Japanese supply convoy hiding in Coron Bay. At 5:50am on September 24, 1944, 180 Hellcat and Helldiver planes lifted off the American fast carrier force ship stationed in the Leyte Gulf of the Philippine Sea and headed off on the 350 kilometer flight to Coron Bay. This was to be the longest carrier based attack ever carried out. At 9:00am a wave of bomber planes burst out of a cloud bank high above Coron Bay and commenced their rapid descent towards their unsuspecting targets. After a frenzied 45 minute attack the planes left, leaving behind at least 14 sunken ships. 10 aircraft attacked the Olympia Maru; the fourth apparently scored a direct hit perhaps on a fuel tank, and the engine was disabled. At 1:30 pm there was a raging fire--the ship started sinking and at 2:26 pm she went down stern first, taking with her 19 Japanese sailors.


I dived three of the wrecks sunken by the US in 1944: the Olympia Maru, the Taiei Maru, and the Luzong Gunboat. The Olympia Maru, the deepest of the three lies at about 35 meters under water. Coron is slated to have the best wreck diving in the world, but I confess that I was rather disappointed--I had never done a wreck dive and I expected it to be more about the variety of marine life than about exploring the wreck itself. But apparently, wreck diving is all about exploring the wreck. The wrecks are nearly intact, however poor visibility makes it difficult to appreciate the wreck in its entirety or to get a sense of how massive the ships are. While it is pretty cool to be on a World War II ship, one probably needs some understanding of ship building mechanics to really “ooh and awe”—apparently the Olympia had massive boilers—and while I’m positive I floated in front of them I have no idea what a boiler is or what it looks like so sadly, the excitement was completely lost on me. There were plenty of fish, but nothing I hadn’t already seen while snorkeling in Port Barton. Since the Filipinos haven’t been throwing cyanide at the wrecks, the coral is more varied and diverse than on the reefs. Coron Town itself is a bit of a hell hole. The town is dirty and miserable and completely devoid of charm; apart from wreck diving there is nothing to do. There is however a cool fish market, except that you have to pass through the pig slaughtering market first. But I got a lobster for $1.75 and they cooked it at my guest house for free. That rocked.

Travel Tips:
Where to stay & dive: Sea Dive is the top diving resort in Coron. Accordingly, so are their prices. I stayed at the Sea Dive lodge which has overpriced small rooms with bedbugs, private bath, and fans for 600 pesos (approximately $13) (yes, I did say bedbugs, but this is the nicest place to stay in Coron and the others are simply grim.). Book in advance if you want A/C as they have very few rooms available. Sea Dive has one redeeming quality: a wi-fi enabled restaurant that overlooks the sea. It makes your (non-diving) time in Coron bearable. I did my dives with Cal Divers (up the street from Sea Dive)—it is the cheapest place to go in all of Coron; they charge 2800 pesos ($61) for three dives compared to 4000 pesos ($87) at Sea Dive. The wetsuits and BC’s are rattier, but they do the trick.

Gear you’ll need: It is worth investing in diving gloves or staying far away from the diving lines when diving the wrecks. The lines are full of tiny poisonous organisms (perhaps tiny jelly fish?) that will sting you hundreds of times on your hands (8 days later my hands are still itching uncontrollably and I have teeny tiny little blisters everywhere).

Getting there: The cheapest way to get to Coron from El Nido is via Atienza Shipping Lines, they run a cargo boat that operates on Fridays from El Nido to Coron and on Wednesdays from Coron to El Nido. The boat costs 950 pesos ($21) and leaves at midnight (saving you a night of hotel costs). There are small cots on the boat but they are usually below deck, where only Filipinos that are used to heat can bear to sleep. The cots are arranged in three rows with no space in between the cots at all. Imagine a refugee camp. Unless you get there super early (circa 8 or 9pm) expect to have to crawl over families of Filipinos, their chickens, TVs and children to find an extra spot. If you are lucky, the cargo boat won’t be carrying any cars and you can throw your mattress pad on the main deck and sleep under the stars with the dogs and other livestock. On all other days except Wednesdays you must shell out 2200 pesos ($48) for a bench spot on a Banca. Don’t drink too much water as the trip lasts 8 hours and the banca has no toilets.

El Nido, Palawan

The Bacuit Archipelago


Island Hopping in a Banca



Super Clear Water



A Juvenile Batfish in Small Lagoon


The Sunset View From My $13/ night Window


To view more of my pictures from El Nido, click here.

The Bacuit Archipelago is a cluster of limestone karsts that were formed 60 million years ago when the Indian subcontinent crashed into Asia. Massive rocks jet vertically out of the water in shades of black, cream and ochre. From their tops, patches of jungle and palm trees sprout out mysteriously like on a Chia Pet. Over the years the wind, sand and water have eroded the edges of the islands to form caves, holes and limestone rock cutouts where secret beaches and lagoons have formed. But my favorite, are the tiny little beaches with fine caramel sand that hide in the nooks and crannies desert island style. The water is painted in varying shades of emerald green, turquoise, and a color that most resembles mint ice cream but when it washes up on the shore it is crystal clear like water. The best part is that you’ll likely find yourself here all alone—on your own private beach—just like Gilligan.

The town of El Nido is a tiny and quaint port town with no beach of its own. But most of the guesthouses are lined up right at the edge of the water so that if you are lucky enough to find a beachside room, at high tide the waves will crash right onto your window. I stayed at the Alternative Pension, a charming backpacker friendly hippie guesthouse run by a family of weed-smoking Seventh Day Adventists. The brothers are named Israel, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Judah, Deuteronomy, Ascension and Rebecca. It is (hands down) the best guesthouse in El Nido if only for their restaurant which has round pods with beanbag chairs that hang in midair over the ocean. It’s the perfect place to watch the sunset although the 1980’s cheesy love songs that play non-stop can very well drive you crazy. Bring your ipod.

Unfortunately, the Islands in the Bacuit Archipelago have little to offer in the snorkeling department since most of the reefs have been killed due to dynamite and cyanide fishing.

Rescuing Laika, May 6, 2009

To see more pictures of Laika, click here.

“That cat makes plenty, plenty babies. She pregnant three times a year. Last time, she ate all her babies. I think she tired of having babies all the time. I don’t blame her. But what can I do? That is her life.”—Irene from Port Barton, reflecting on her cat’s life.

The dogs in Port Barton jump on top of garbage cans like cats scavenging for food. Chunks of hair are missing from their coats, their rib and hipbones protrude from their mange and flea covered skin. They flinch when approached because they are used to children kicking and throwing stones at them. Their eyes are dark and sad. Their only concern is their own survival.
I have never seen a mother dog let a stranger approach her newborn puppies, or let them roam the streets alone, or fail to keep them clean, or refuse to give them milk while her litter chases her and cries. But the dogs in Port Barton seem to have stopped caring, just like Irene’s cat. Whether it is because they too are tired of being pregnant all of the time or whether they are too preoccupied with their own survival to care for their young, I am not sure. But there are tens of tiny puppies running the streets of Port Barton alone.

Yesterday as I sat on my terrace reading the last few pages of Sputnik Sweetheart, I heard a whimpering puppy. She was tiny--no more than 2 weeks old—she looked lost and was alone on the beach. I watched her for a while from my hammock. She was chasing after the nipples on a young female dog. The dog kept growling at her, but she wouldn’t stop whimpering and trying to latch on. Then, three teenagers walked by, one of them cooed at her. She yelped in excitement and chased after them—wagging her tail until she could no longer keep up with their pace. She finally gave up and curled up on the beach to whimper softly to herself.

I walked over to her. She was cold, wet and shaking and covered with sores. She had so many fleas that she looked like she had been dipped in brown toasted sesame seeds. She wagged her tail and looked at me with hopeful eyes. Although I cringed at the thought of touching her, I couldn’t bear her pain. I picked up her tiny little body and dipped it in the ocean hoping the salt would help kill the fleas, and then I scrubbed her with soap under a tap until she was shaking uncontrollably from the cold. She wrapped her tiny paws comfortably around my fingers and despite the salt and the soap on her open wounds she made no complaint. But the fleas were relentless. So I wrapped her in the hotel towel, bought a liter of milk at Ausan’s and some Johnson’s baby shampoo and went to the only person I knew might help me out—Irene—a sweet Filipino woman I met at a local restaurant called Judy’s Good Food.

Irene and I spent the next four hours picking out fleas with tweezers and brushing her fur with a fine-toothed comb that collected at least fifty fleas with each pass. We removed every last flea, cleaned every wound, and fed her milk from a baby bottle until she fell asleep. I named her Laika, because I found her while reading Sputnik Sweetheart* and because it was also the name of my beloved childhood dog. Irene promised that if Laika survived, she would take care of her until she could give her to a German family in Puerto that was looking to adopt a dog.

*Sputnik 2 was the name of the Russian satellite launched on November 3, 1957 that carried the first living passenger into orbit. She was a dog named Laika. This is a short film made on Sputnik 2’s launch. It won the audience award at the Rio de Janiero Film Festival in 2007. To view the video, click here. To read more about Sputnik click here.

This is a great video on the Laika and the Russian space program. To view it, click here. And this is a song about Laika by Mecano—I listened to it over and over when my childhood dog, Laika died. To listen to this song, click here.

Update: I met up with Irene in Puerto Princesa on May 20th and Laika is doing great. Irene has gotten too attached to her though, and has decided to keep her as her own.

Pictured Below: (left) Irene, Rodina and I with Laika at Judy's Good Food; (right) Removing Laika's fleas with a fine-toothed comb; (bottom) Irene and I putting ointment on Laika's wounds.

Port Barton, Palawan

This is the view from my $13 a night beach front cottage in Port Barton, Palawan. Port Barton is a sleepy little village in Palawan that lies on a small crescent shaped cove. You can run from one end to the other in about seven minutes. It is a place where you don't need any shoes, where locals invite you to eat at their homes and swim with their children in waterfalls. I spent five days here snorkeling, island hopping, taking care of a puppy dog with Irene and Rudina (my local friends) and reading Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami. The water in Port Barton is turquoise, blue and light green--like the color of mint ice-cream. Like everyone who visits, I fell in love with Port Barton and its people. To see more pictures from Port Barton, click here.

Although Port Barton feels idyllic there is another reality to Port Barton which the casual tourist can easily miss. Beyond the beach and past the two blocks that house the general store and the gas station are the muddy paths through thick grass that lead to the neighborhoods. There is no post office or bank or ATM. Here people literally hide their cash in between their mattresses. With only six hours of electricity a day, even those families who have small refrigerators have a hard time keeping food fresh. The wealthy can afford gas stoves, but most still cook outside on wood fires. Few houses have running water. There are no dentists, no garbage collection, and no pharmacy. There is no hospital--most children smile with rotten teeth. There is a school, but families must pay for their children to attend which means most of them get no education at all. The stores and restaurants and guesthouses that serve a small tourist industry are mostly family run businesses which means there is little in the way of jobs to be had. The locals grow their own food and fish to subsist. Two water supplies flow through the village and dump into the ocean carrying the unprocessed sewage and garbage into the ocean. More than 90% of Palawan's coral reefs have been destroyed by dynamite and cyanide fishing. Port Barton is beautiful, but it is also really poor. (below: my beach front cottage for $13/ night)

The Philippines-May 2, 2009

This was the image that stared out at me during my 15 hour flight to Manila--a city which The Rough Guide describes as a "massive, clamorous conurbation that covers 636 square kilometers and is home to 10 million people". So the only thing that I knew when I landed in Manila was that I didn't want to be there. Instead, I wanted to be here--lying somewhere on a beach on the cover of this guidebook. So I took my guidebook to the lady at the information desk outside of my arrival gate and I pointed to the picture on the cover and asked "Do you know where I can fly that has beaches like this?" "Boracay has no more flights today ma'am and it is much expensive. But you can go to Palawan. El Nido." "Does it have green water like this?" "Yes, ma'am." "Are there any flights today there?" "I don't know ma'am but you can ask at national airlines terminal. Take the shuttle bus. You will like El Nido, ma'am."

Most countries put a lot of money into their airports. Afterall, airports are a visitors' first impression of a country whether they are staying for a visit or in transit. In Asian countries, where pride is a matter of national concern, airports are especially modern and bright and are often more technologically advanced than most Western airports. My first impression of the Philippines was Ninoy Aquino and it makes no attempt to disguise its country's poverty or state of disrepair. The shuttle bus that takes passengers from one terminal to another is a battered old haunt from the 1960's that is as dented as an old tin pot. The windows still have tattered hippie curtains although the windows themselves are long gone. It was a short bus--so people had to crowd in and hang off the sides of the door. I got off at the national airlines terminal and headed toward the door "Your ticket madam?", asked the guard. "I have to buy one.", I replied. "Where are you going?" "Wherever there's a flight." He looked at me and contorted his face into a disapproving look. "You don't know where you're going?" he asked again. "I'm trying to figure that out." I explained. He looked bewildered. "You have no companion?" Within the first 10 minutes of having exited immigration, I had already been asked this question three times. "No, I'm travelling alone." More looks of bewilderment. "You need to go to Philippine Airlines office.", he commanded while pointing me in the direction. There were of course no tickets to anywhere on Philippine Airlines. And getting to any of the other airline terminals meant waiting another half hour for the clunky terminal shuttle and I was hot and sweaty and tired of carrying a 21 kilo back pack but I was determined to get the hell out of Manila.

Somehow I ended up in front of a travel agent cum airline ticket scalper who claimed to have the last seat on Cebu Airlines to Puerto Princesa, Palawan. "5800 pesos." he quoted. I was more than certain that I was being ripped off, but I didn't care. "Ok, fine." I smiled. The old man's face broke into a huge toothy smile "My driver, he take you to travel agency, you pay, then he drop you at Cebu terminal, ok?" He picked up my 50 pound back pack and stuffed it and me into a mini van then waved goodbye shouting "Take good care of my driver!" At the travel agency a woman handed me a confirmation print out and I handed her my credit card. "I'm sorry Madam, cash only." she said. I was too tired to think and handed her the bills. I scanned my print out and asked her "Do you know why the arrival time is 14:30 but the departure time is 15:15?" She giggled and snatched the paper from my hand pretending to fix whatever was wrong.

I didn't check my confirmation papers again until I was standing in line at the airport and about to hand over my passport to the agent. The arrival time still said 14:30. Shit. Suddenly it hit me how sketchy this all seemed. The lady at the counter punched in my name and started asking me questions. "Where did you buy this ticket, ma'am?" Shit. "A travel agency." "Did you personally go to the travel agency?" Shit. "Yes." "How much did you pay?" I was starting to get nervous. "5800 pesos." "Did you pay with a credit card?" No, of course not. "Hmm...ma'am, you have no booking." "What! What do you mean I have no booking?" "You have no reservation, ma'am." "Are you saying I've been robbed?" "No, I'm saying you have no booking."

She handed me back my reservation paper. There was no travel agency name, no number, no address, no proof of payment, just one phone number in the place where my number should have been. Everything was pointing to me having been robbed, but I hoped the telephone number was the ticket scalpers'. If not, I was going to go hunt him down. I went to the tourist police and explained my predicament. The commander at the tourist police listened patiently stopping to shake his head and translate to his colleagues. He looked terribly disappointed and kept asking me questions. His colleague called the number on the paper. No answer. The siuation was looking bleak. One of the officers left and came back with a faxed copy of my itinerary. "Ma'am, the problem is...you paid too much. The cost of the flight was 4200 and you paid 5800...did the airline tell you that?" "No, the airline said I had no booking." He looked concerned and left again. He came back with a yellow piece of paper and handed it to me and said "Ma'am, here is your booking. Unfortunately, your flight is 5 hours delyed." I was so happy, I almost hugged him. Five hours later I was on my way to Palawan.