Leyte is an island in the Vasayas area of the Philippines. Its claim to fame is that its the island General MacArthur landed on when he returned to the Philippines during World War 2.
Now Leyte is famous for a number of pristine dive sites around Sogod Bay in the southern tip of the island. And, from November to May, this area is also known for whale sharks, who visit that time of year to feed on the rich plankton in the area. I joined 13 other people on a snorkeling tour organized by our dive center to an area about 90 minutes away. It was in a small bay and there were a score of locals in kayaks strung out around the area acting as spotters. When they saw one, our larger boat would get to the area, slow down, and we’d all jump off with our snorkels, wet suits (because of the jellyfish in the area) and fins and chase down the whale shark. There was one other boat in the area and it was a bit of a friendly scrum as we all jostled together above the rapidly moving shark.
As you can see from the videos below, these large animals are wonderfully graceful as they move through the water scooping in plankton. In the first video you can see how large the shark is relative to the diver who briefly swam next to it. Adult sharks average about 12 meters (39 feet) in length.
I had also planned on diving the four other days I was there. Unfortunately, that didn’t come to pass. On the three hour drive down from the airport we stopped at a McDonalds, thinking it would be a safe place to eat. Unfortunately I got the worst food poisoning I’ve had in a number of years. It was a true Big Mac Attack. So I only ended up diving one of those days. Those things happen. And it was still a nice couple of dives that one day.
The areas surrounding both our dive site and our whale shark site were stunningly beautiful.
I stay at Peter’s Dive Resort which was really nice and very well managed.
