Donsol, Sorsogon

Ricky and I found this amazing little seaside restaurant called Siramsana: good, cheap, authentic food... just what we like!  And Ricky finally got a taste of the Bicol express he's been hearing so much about!

Lumpia, Bicol express in the back, and kinunot... my stingray cooked in coconut milk!

He's excited!

The main attraction in Donsol is swimming with the whale sharks, or butanding as they're known locally.  

We went out on a boat with 3 other people and a crew (including the spotter) and rode around the water for about 3 hours looking for whale sharks.  We had heard that groups who went out the previous day had seen one or two, but we were lucky enough to have 4 encounters!!

The first time we jumped into the water with our guide and all the other tourists from different boats, we didn't see anything because the butanding had gone too far below the surface.  We got back in the boat and tried to find it again, and we did!  

The second time we jumped in the water, I didn't see it at first so I dove down from the surface a little bit.  As I did, the humongous face of the whale shark became visible as it was slowly moving toward the surface! I had an underwater camera in my hand, but the enormity of the animal kind of startled me and I didn't take that picture.  We were able to swim along side it (and all the other tourists) with our snorkel gear and fins for a while before it dove down again.  Like I said, we were lucky enough to be able to do that 3 more times before we called it quits and headed for shore.

This was, by far, one of the wildest, coolest things I've ever done and I hope I can do it many more times before I go home!  

Also, we took a bunch of pictures with the underwater camera!  However, it needs to be developed so check back later for our pictures of the whale sharks!

Getting ready to jump in!

Our new friends and the crew after an amazing morning with the whale sharks

Lunch at Siramsana again!

On our last night, we walked around the town and stopped to get some street meat (BBQ) from a local stand.  We tried pork, hotdogs, pig intestines, and pig ears!  And I couldn't resist taking pictures of the kids cheesin'!

This kid was standing outside the only shop we found with cold drinks and Ricky bought him a Coke!

Cute kid!