Swimming with Whale Sharks in Donsol

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
8
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
1
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
8
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
4
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
8
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
70 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
157th/454
Top 40%
continent
Asia
country
Philippines
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$80 (typically $50 - $110)
Time of year visited
April
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Boat trip Snorkeling Wildlife - Sharks
All Tags
Adrenaline rush Beaches Islands Swimming
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

Spending a day or two on one of the Banka outrigger boats, chilling in the sun, enjoying the tropical bay and jumping into the water to snorkel with Whale Sharks.  It’s a great experience and Donsol is one of the very best places in the world to do this.

The only downside is that despite everyone, including the captains, sitting through a video in the visitor centres emphasising the rules and how important it is for only one boat to approach each Whale Shark, there is a mad rush from the various boats to approach it and a similarly mad rush from everyone to jump in the water to swim with the shark.  The unsustainability of this – the Whale Sharks tend to see all the people and dive to get away from them, leading to fewer Whale Sharks – and the general mass tourism feel do, unfortunately, take the shine a bit off the experience.

 

That being said, the rules are tightening and, if you’re keen to swim with Whale Sharks and are unable to scuba dive, this is a far better option than the likes of Oslob in the south of the Philippines where they feed the sharks and change their behaviour – both for the Whale Sharks and your experience.

Highlights

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#1 The moment when you jump in the water, get your bearings, and see a whale shark . . . priceless . . . and sadly without photo!

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#2 Spending the day in the outrigger, chilling and generally enjoying being on the water

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#3 Taking some time to do some easier snorkelling in the beautiful clear waters closer to the shore

Travel Tips

Give yourself couple of days to avoid disappointment and be prepared not to use the second day if the first has been a success.

Bring a good book – there is a lot of sailing around looking for the Whale Sharks.

Don’t necessarily jump and swim where everyone else is jumping.  I actually, by accident, swam the other direction to other tourists (who have just about as little idea as you do for where the Whale Shark is) and found a Whale Shark swimming just below me.  This was by far the highlight of the trip as I had it to myself for a wonderful minute or so.

March – April is the best time to try and see the sharks, as the visibility is best.  Although they start to arrive as early as November.

You can only snorkel with the Whale Sharks ie no scuba diving.  But, you can scuba dive nearby at Ticao Island in the Manta Bowl, where you have a good chance of seeing Mantra Rays and Whale Sharks.

We stayed at the Elysia Beach Resort, which was nice.

 

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Other close encounters with Marine Life

Swimming with Humpback Whales and relaxing in paradise in Vava’u
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Diving with Thresher Sharks at Malapascua Island
⭐⭐⭐

Scuba diving at Wolf and Darwin Islands in the Galapagos
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Diving with bull and tiger sharks by Beqa Island
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Chilling, diving and drinking in Caye Caulker
⭐⭐⭐

Diving and staying in guest houses in Central Raja Ampat
⭐⭐⭐

Sailing the Komodo Islands in November
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Island hopping the Galapagos Islands
⭐⭐⭐

Camping in Corcovado National Park
⭐⭐⭐

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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