Take the “swim along” with whale sharks challenge

By BONG PEDALINO (PIA Southern Leyte)
March 9, 2008

PINTUYAN, Southern Leyte  –  Move over, “sing-along”, because the “in” thing in this town is “swim along.”

Leisure and pleasure seekers, amateur or veteran adventurers, or the plain curious sight-seeing guests can have the challenge of a lifetime when they swim and get up-close with a menacing, giant whale shark in the seawaters of this municipality – exactly a swim along spectacle to behold.

Moncher Bardos, the Tourism Operations Officer of Pintuyan, described the world’s largest mammal which they called “Tiki-Tiki” as six to nine meters long, and the mouth opening is about one meter wide.

Its round body cartilage is about 18 inches thick, so strong barnacles have stuck for all their lives.

In an extremely lucky day, some eight “Tiki-Tki” will be frolicking with a determined swimmer, Bardos said.

Now, if that kind of a whale shark interaction is not adventure-challenge for you, might as well stay in the boat and enjoy the passing scene just the same.

A lone Tiki-Tiki, or a school of them can be seen in a distance of 50 meters away to the sea from the Pintuyan shoreline.

Bardos, who is also the President of the Southern Leyte Association of Tourism Officers (SLATO), disclosed that Greeg Bloom of “Lonely Planet”, an international travel magazine has been calling him twice already to relay his desire to come to shoot.

The swim-along whale shark interaction takes three hours, from 5:30 to 8:30 in the morning, with three tourists riding in one boat, plus the tour guide and operator.

Boat rental for one trip is P500 with a maximum of three persons as passengers, a spotter’s fee of P400, naturalist guide of P300, and a conservation fee of P250, which is to be charged per individual.

A homestay program on board and lodging for those who want to stay is being offered, in which P400.00 is the cost of the food consisting of three meals, two snacks and mineral water, and the accommodation for the night is P200, for a total of P600 per person per day.

This modest business operation is being managed by a People’s organization, the “KASAKA”, or the Kapunungang Sun-okanon alang sa Kalambuan, Bardos said.

Swim along with whale sharks is best undertaken during the months of November up to April for maximum exposure.

For two years in a row, this natural sight with sea creatures had attracted quite a number of foreign tourists, the number one visitors of which were from Germany. In 2006, some 215 German nationals had a swim along, but this decreased to 176 last year, 2007.

Next in number were the Chinese nationals, where there were only three visitors in 2006 but this shot up to 117 in 2007. The third largest group were the British citizens, numbering 38 in 2006, and 96 in 2007.

But domestic visitors, or Filipinos from various parts of the country going in the area, were not to be outdone: in 2006, some 308 Pinoys experienced swim along, and this number increased to 341 in 2007.