Whale sharks in Tenggol island, Malaysia

If the Whale sharks continue to camp in the Malaysian waters off Tenggol island , Malaysia will soon become THE place to dive with the majestic whalesharks.

I couldn't resist as I find these animals so fascinating and I went there with my buddy and partner in crime, Noor Hadi. Although I must have seen at least 30 whale sharks in the last 3 years ( mainly snokelling in Donsol ), but diving with whale sharks is still one helluva experience. You just do not know when or where they will appear.

We decided to do a budget trip and went there by bus on Thursday night. It was a 40 seater bus ( all tickets on Executive or Luxury liner /buses were sold out ) and we reached at 5 am. Killing 3.5 hrs wondering the street of Dungun can be no fun as even small hotels were full.

The first day we did 3 dives and 2 were in areas that the whale sharks have frequent. On the third dive at Gua Rajawali, our group of around 8 ( 6 were divers from UKM~ fun people ) saw the whale shark except me as I had wondered off further out from the reef. It was a small whale shark and there are good photographs and video of Hadi avoiding being slapped by the shark.

The next day we did a 3rd dive at Gua Rajawali again and this time we went into the water at around 5.30pm. There were 12 divers and I dived with a fellow called Chan who is doing his Masters in UKM. We swan ahead of the rest as they were taking a long time getting into the water. It was just a simple dive. Just dive parallel to the reef about 50 meters away .

Chan swam just above me at around the 10 meters depth mark and we swam for some 25 minutes in blue water ( visibility was just 5 meters ) seeing nothing but plankton. It can really be a real strain on the eyes as you see black shadow in the water and you think its a shark. Chan then signaled to me that he has had enough and wanted to surface because of a headache. I decided to surface with him and as the area that we were diving had a lot of boats, I deployed my safety sausage. I struggled with the release clip of the sausage for awhile and finally inflated the sausage. As I swam upwards towards Chan, I realized that I had dropped my camera with the attached HDI Video light that weighs like a ton. As the camera would sink, I decided to give the sausage to Chan and asked him to go up whilst I go down and search for my camera.

I prayed that the depth was not too deep and with 100 bars of air, I ventured downwards in almost pitched darkness. After a few kicks, I saw the bottom and it was a flat garden of soft corals. The depth was just 25 meters. After just a few seconds of search, I saw my camera. I picked it up and slowly ascend. As visibility was getting bad, I switched on my video light and sang the song "you light up my life" ( just kidding, actually I was beginning to feel a little nervous ). Then it all happened!!!!

I saw a one 0.75 meters length cobia ( a species that always seem to be the tour guide of Mantas and whale sharks ), then another and as I turned left, I saw the eyeball of the whaleshark. Honestly, the whaleshark appeared right in front of me and I think it must be the light that had attached it or my body odour. I immediately switched on my camera and happily videoed it for the next 2 minutes. The shark seem so curious and I could see its eye focusing on me wondering what sort of strange creature I am . I swam right in front of it twice to shot the video of its mouth and face with all the cobias and remoras and we were avoiding each other from near fatal collision. Then all of a sudden, my camera powered off. I thought it must be the battery. Not now!! the whale shark is still there. I turned it on again and then cursed myself. I forgot to turned on the video button and had actually not recorded the whale shark the whole time. Shit!!

I turned it on and whispered to the whaleshark ..."please stay for more video shots". It did. I then took the video that I have attached for you all to see on www.youtube.com/redwhaleshark .

The shark this time was swimming a little faster and I had some difficulty keeping up with it and after 2 minutes decided to let him go as it was no point chasing him.

It was an experience that I will never forget and the constant thought that my first sight was the eyes of the whaleshark still sent a little tinkering thru my body.

I saw a few videos taken of the sharks during my weekend stay at Tenggol and ahem...none was as lengthy as mine ( all just say..your shark swam slow lah....blah blah blah ) and from the markings at the side of the sharks, I must say that there are definitely more than 5 different sharks in and around Tenggol now ( 2 babies and 3 medium to large sharks ). This has never happened before and one day, Malaysia may become famous for the whale sharks as Ningaloo reef in Australia.

So guys, you need not go far to dive with whalesharks...sacrifice some time and comfort, stay at Tenggol and see the sharks whilst they are still there. For the sake of some of my friends who are going there soon, I hope they will still be there until mid September....if they are i will go again.

see www.youtube.com/redwhaleshark

Donsol Whale Shark Trip

For those who have no seen a Whale shark, you must head out to Donsol, a small sleeping coastal village in the region of Sorsogon in Luzon, Philippines. Here during the months of January to June, whale sharks in the tens decend into the bay to feed on the planktons. An average of about 10 sharks are spotted daily and these figures are less than last year's average because some fucking taiwanese are directly or indirectly killing whale sharks for their fins for the Asian shark fin market.

I went there last year and this year and the differences were strongly felt. Last year I saw about 9 whale sharks on our own ( the rule is that only one boat can approach a whale shark and that only 6 swimmers can swim along a whale shark at any one time ) whlist this year I only saw 3 and there were something like 18 swimmers in the water trying to get a glimpse of the shark.
As there were so few sharks and so many boats ( 77 on a Saturday morning ), everyone broke the rule and just jumped in.

The whale shark interaction as it is called is very unigue. Swimming with a whale shark especially the huge one that is around 10 meters in length with its mouth wide open and heading towards you is one hell of an experience. I almost wanted to swim into the mouth and out thru one of its 6 gills openning located just behind the head as I sometimes feel like a tiny plankton besides this animal. The whale shark is such a playful and gentle animal and if it does not feel threaten, it will just swim around you. Someone must tell the shark to maintain a 3 meters distance from humans as it is sometimes not possible for us to do this. Most times you can easily reached out and touch the shark but we are not allowed to do this as we can remove the protective membrance of the shark and it will then suffer from bacteria attack. This i was told. I strongly feel that the only sea animal or rather mammal that I want to touch is dolphine.

Besides the whale sharks, Donsol offers great diving at Manta Basin where we saw 6 mantas in 3 dives and lots of macro in nearby St Migual islands.

I would definitely go there again next year as where can you only spend less than USD500 for a 5/4 nights vacation with whale sharks.