Whale Shark in Anawangin Cove Zambales

If you haven’t experience boat riding, well going to Anawangin Cove is the right choice. You can go to Anawangin Cove by land, but this is only for people who can resist long hours of open field trekking. Boat ride is still the best choice.

Allow me to tell you a story. We had great boat riding experience the second time we went there. You know what, on our second day, from Anawangin Cove going to Capones Island, our bangkero (boatman) suddenly stopped on the middle of our trip; all of us wondered and asked why he stopped. He said “May nalampasan tayong Butanding (we passed by on top of a whale shark)”. So we decided to turn back to see the whale. We were really amazed on what we saw. 

This is not the actual picture, but the skin is similar to this picture

The boatman stopped the engine; it’s true, a mid-size whale sharp is exactly there at the bottom of our boat. I think that was just 4-5 meters deep from our boat. It’s not moving and we can see its huge back. We were five in the boat, including the boatman. Some of them took pictures, but it’s not clear. By bad, I haven't manage to get a clear picture too, but during that time we can see its huge head and the tail, maybe two times longer than our boat. After some few minutes of looking down, the boatman decided to start the engine again, maybe it’s because one of the passenger insisted “Kuya, tara na! Baka gumalaw pa yan, itaob ‘tong bangka natin.” So he immediately starts the engine and we headed to our destination, in Capones Island.

That was my first close encounter with a butanding. When we were on Capones Island, I asked Manong, the boatman, if there are really whale sharks consistently visiting the place, he said some of the old locals are also seeing some whale sharks before but that was very rare. So I am thinking that time, we are so lucky because we saw it during our island hoping in Anawangin and Capones Island. 

Ok, so the next time you're in the boat going to Anawangin Cove, or island hopping to Capones or Camarra Island, Don't sleep, take a glimpse on the water once in a while. You'll never know.