DIVE HAPPY

The Philippines are one of the premier dive destinations for seeing whale sharks, especially from the island of Ticao

I spend a lot of time dreaming about where I can go diving next. South East Asia is home to the richest marine biodiversity in the world, and virtually every country in the region has scores of unique dive sites that I would dearly love to visit. Recently I've been thinking about the Philippines, after reading about the town of Donsol on Calvin Tang's blog (check out his excellent photographs on that page). Donsol is apparently one of the best places in the world to see whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world. It's a creature I've been fascinated by ever since I first snorkelled with them off the coast of Exmouth in Western Australia.

At Donsol you can see 10 to 12 whale sharks within a couple of hours if you're lucky - I've just got to go and see it for myself. Calvin mentioned a German dive instructor called Tom on his blog who now works at the Bicol dive centre on the island of Ticao, just off the coast from Donsol - a perfect place by the sounds of it to be based to snorkel with the whale sharks and also see the manta rays that regularly stop by near the island. I've subsequently been talking to Tom by email and he's told me they've just discovered a Japanese warship wrecksite too and that they've also launched a conservation site for Ticao's manta rays. We're really hoping we can go and visit Ticao next March, when the whale shark season is in full swing. (See this article from Camperspoint.com with a blow-by-blow account of snorkelling with the whale sharks.).

One of the things I love about diving is that it opens up so many new things to you. Before I heard about Donsol, I knew virtually nothing about the Philippines. I just about knew where it was and that was it. The news here in Thailand carries continual stories of the unrest against president Gloria Arroyo which made me a little concerned about how safe it was to be a tourist there. Tom reassured me that if you don't go to the Mindanao region then you'll be absolutely fine. Now I've been studying maps of the Philippines and have started to get a little bit familiar with its geography and its thousands of islands. Tiger Airways do budget flights from Singapore to Manila, and we can get another budget flight with Tiger or AirAsia from Bangkok to Singapore. Donsol is on the same island as Manila, although it looks like several hours' drive to get down there. A good chance to see something of the Philippines countryside. Here's hoping we get it all together next March so I can write a real article reporting what we did.

Other useful links:
Wikipediagives a good map and general stats on the Philippines. Lonely Planet has a brief overview of what to see and do in the Philippines, as does Wikitravel. World66 is somewhat more comprehensive, while the awesome Dive Site Directory has a handful of comprehensive Philippines diving reviews.