“Butanding”, everyone has heard of it one time or another but have you seen a real one or for that matter, any of your friends? It was with this anticipation that we went to Donsol, Sorsogon, now world-famous for butanding. We left Naga City at 4:30am hoping to be on time for the 8:00 am briefing at the Butanding Interaction Center. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the 135-kilometer trip took us just two hours and 20 minutes. Signs peppered the way to help us reach Donsol via Daraga, Albay. We reached the shores before 7am and had ample time to take breakfast before the start of Center hours at 7:30am.

        Registration was quick and the video presentation/briefing was waived because of a brownout. We were assigned a boat (motorized outrigger canoes), a spotter, and a Butanding Interaction Officer (BIO) to guide us. It cost P2,500.00 for a maximum of seven guest passengers, one to four hours on the sea. In addition, we had to pay P100.00 registration fee for each local and P300.00 each for foreigners like our companion Karola Klier, a German teaching at the Ateneo de Naga University. We also had to rent a set of snorkel and fins for P300.00, the better to help us look at the whale sharks.

        Our friend Karola was so surprised to learn that she was the only one in our group who knew how to swim and was willing to dive in the open seas in search of these butanding. “Filipinos live in 7,000 islands and are surrounded by bodies of water and yet, very few know how to swim. In Germany, we live in a continent and we have no seas and yet everybody has to learn how to swim starting in grade school, “she says with a laugh. Yes, how ironic. Most of the tourists in Donsol were foreigners. There were very few locals. Part of the reason could be that most Filipinos are deathly afraid of deep waters. Most will swim only where their feet can still touch the ground

        I counted seven boats on the lookout for their butanding and within an hour, our butanding was spotted. Now, here’s the rub: you have got to dive and swim fast following your BIO within 20-30 seconds in the direction of the whale shark. Otherwise, you will miss it. It took five dives and eight sightings of butanding before I could muster the courage to dive away from our boat into the middle of the deep sea. Holding hands with our BIO, and wearing a life vest, 1 managed to get to the place where the butanding was. Looking underwater through my snorkel mask, I saw a butanding with mouth wide open. Aghhhh!!! I was so scared. Never before have I seen such a huge creature. The one I saw wasn’t even big but it was about six meters long! I felt like it would bite me or eat me. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

        A butanding is a shark by species only (it cannot bite nor chew). It is a very gentle, non-carnivorous creature. The only reason it opens its big mouth is so it can catch small shrimps, fish and plankton (plant and animal organisms).

        I took a second look at the butanding and I saw about three meters beneath me, a dotted giant fish so serene, so calm. It was very gently moving and within ten seconds it dove deeper and was gone from sight.

        At Sea World in San Diego, California, we paid U$50 dollars each person for a chance to see dolphins, whales, sea lions, penguins, etc. But even if I had fun seeing them, I felt sad knowing these creatures live in captivity. Here, we have the biggest fish in the world, the butanding in its natural habitat. We can swim along with it, enjoy its beauty without great sacrifice on its part. Here, the encounter is done with great respect. No wonder. Time magazine voted it Best Animal Encounter in Asia.

        Now, the question, can we see the butanding from the boat? Yes, but for the most part, only the silhouette. The butanding is after all, submerged in the water at least three meters below the surface. And for optimum viewing, pray it’s a sunny, bright day the better to see what is underwater. But still the best thing to do is get into the deep waters.

        So if you want to have a close encounter with the butanding, learn how to swim. If you can’t learn how to swim, learn how to use the snorkel and fins: with a lift vest and a BIO beside you, you can make it. If not, then there’s the alternative which two of my friends were asking: do they have a rope tied to the boat so they can pull you back just in case...

        I went to Donsol; I saw the butanding; and I conquered my fear of the giant creature. Hope, you can, too.

        For info:contact 0927-233-03-64 or email at: ecotour_donsol@yahoo.com.