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.