Whale Sharks in Cenderawasih Bay

We continued sailing south, pausing at the friendly Napenyaur Village where we were welcomed by the elders, loaded up with bananas and introduced to the production of the popular sago dish.
At first light the following morning we were tied up to a nearby bagan  enquiring about whale sharks in between being welcomed aboard, shown around and loaded down with cumi cumi (squid) by the very friendly crew of the bagan ‘Putra Merdeka 03’.
Bagan - a large fishing platform constructed with a central long boat and timber beams floated with bamboo. They are fitted with drop nets, rigging and lighting and crew can stay on these for up to 3 months at a time with a fish buyer coming and collecting the catch daily. They fish at night using the lights to attract their catch. We have seen this style of fishing mostly in Borneo and Indonesia. The Hui Bintang (Whale Shark) is thought to bring good luck to the fisherman, who throw out bait fish to keep them close by.

While there was no whale sharks at our first bagan we enjoyed the visit and departed with big smiles and waves as our new friends took turns at sipping from our gift of arak (rice wine).  It took 4 more bagans using my little Bahasa Indonesia and sign language before we hit pay dirt. No sooner had the fisherman said, “yes, besar ikan” (big fish) and pointed below, before we were jumping in the water.
It was amazing! Not waiting for the ladder, I dived off the side only to have one whale shark gently come right up to my face. At first we were nervous as maybe we could be on the menu, but after a while we realized how gentle these giant fish were.

At one point Simon almost collided with one coming around the side of the bagan net, but it slowly stopped and waited for Simon to move before it continued on it’s path.

Jean was still a little nervous and hung back for a while before we could finally snap a photo of her. She was even more nervous when the Jayapura constabulary pulled up fully armed with machine guns and knives. Turned out they only wanted to swim with the sharks too!

The whale sharks were like babies, coming up to bagan waiting to be fed. They were covered in remoras and had a school of small fish that swum permanently in front of their mouths. It was an amazing experience to be able to spend so much time swimming with these gentle giants. Unforgettable!

With increased popularity and awareness of the Birds Head Seascape more people are visiting the bagans due to the good chance of swimming with whale sharks. While there are no strict regulations in the area that we could see, we respected both the whale sharks and the bagan fisherman. It will not be long before more and more tourists come… With time to reflect in the peace of our surroundings we hope that it can remain an unspoiled paradise in the remotest corner of the world.

The following morning we say one last farewell to whale sharks and fisherman and set sail with the first rays, headed for the east coast of Cenderwasih Bay on our way to Jayapura.

Farewell Dinigat - hello Mantas & Tarziers!

Our new technique to find the whale sharks might have impressed the tourists however it did have its problems being the inability to avoid any stray jelly fish.

In the end it was the local spotters that came up with the goods and we got to swim with the whale sharks again. We did however go one better than them with a swim with the manta rays we found a few miles further on. We were told that as they are edible they are extremely rare.

Managing to sail most of the way to Bohol we passed under the power lines safely except for Amanda’s wobbly knees and anchored in Basiao Passage. The next morning after Sop I Pea (Chilean dish shared by Christian and Mane) while preparing to depart to town for supplies, the discovery of my missing wallet that Amanda was last in possession of resulted in a trip to the internet to cancel credit cards etc. While heading down the west coast of Bohol a few days later it turned up. The Red Horses had hidden it in the wardrobe.

The main town of Tagbilaran was a good spot to hire motorbikes for some inland travel. Unfortunately ours broke down an hour into the journey. We abandoned ours and borrowed Pontus’s machine, which we were on for 1 minute before it got a flat tire.

Eventually we did manage to see the Tarzier’s and the Chocolate Hills that are still quite green with all the rain.

After finding Tagbilaran through all the cooking smoke that blanketed the whole island at dinner time and accidentally traveling up 1 way streets the wrong way, we parked up our machines for the evening and went out for dinner to celebrate our survival. The next day we rode to some closer waterfalls on quieter roads.

We also found a cave that we attempted to explore using the camera flash as our source of light. With better equipment it is possible to go into the cave for 1 hour before it disappears.

With Robin and Pontus scheduled to depart soon for Japan, we headed south to Pacmilijan Is for a sail and snorkel and even managed to rendezvous with Gadfly mid ocean. With coral reef around we were unable to anchor but a small Banka kindly tied all 20 tonne of us to his bamboo outrigger – even towing us when the Banka up the front actually on the mooring headed off. We enjoyed a good sail back, where a farewell and birthday party was planned.

Whale Sharks & Red Horses

We had heard that the Whale sharks hang around Sogod Bay, southern Leyte so we decided to anchor at the town of San Roque and try to gather some intelligence as to their whereabouts. The good oil was the eastern tip of Leyte for Whale Sharks so bright an early the following morning we headed off. We spent all morning annoying the fishermen tacking between their nets and finally noticed a tourist boat (identified by the toilet on the back) close to the shore. A closer look revealed spotter boats looking for something. Once they all got excited we headed in closer, jumped in and were finally rewarded with our first Whale Shark.

In the end my flipper fell off and he cruised off into deeper water

The next morning we headed over to Capaquian where we met a local, Leo Baptisma. The main attraction once again was our dingy.

He wanted us to sample his Tuba (palm wine) and check out the pigs and fighting cocks. Later that evening Robin helped him killed a chicken and we roasted it over a beach fire with a drop of Tanduay.

Snorkeling around a rock in the bay somehow turned into a shellfish BBQ on the same rock thanks to Leo. This was the first time we heard about the treasure supposedly left behind by Hirihito after the Second World War.

There were 2 towns close by, the capital that had everything except beer and cigarettes and the other 15 miles south, with the beer and cigarettes??? Since we needed everything and beer we were committed to the two town circuit. The first town, San Jose was very nice and friendly and the second one, Dinigat town seemed as if half the population was pissed mid morning. Maybe it was just the area we were in. Anyway the beer was both expensive and only sold in 1-litre bottles, which don’t fit in our fridge so we left empty handed except for a list of some must see caves which apparently litter the area. We were fully equipped with our new wooden hand made goggles… a bargain at $1.20.

Caves on the Camotes & Bilaran

Our stop over on Gigantangan to find the snake cave proved to be a fruitless adventure and finally when we came across a pile of rocks in the middle of nowhere with an old cross sticking out of it we took the hint and turned back. Amanda and Sloop had the right idea staying aboard.

Pacijan Island (part of the Camotes Island group) further south on the other hand had plenty to see with underground pools, caves and inland lakes.

Poro Island where the boat was anchored had waterfalls that you could swim under and more caves.

The fresh water in these caves changes depth with the tide.

Once our bikes were safely delivered back to there owners we grabbed a few supplies, and stopped at one of the many Karaoke bars for Robins benefit on the way back to the boat. These 3 bars are all located almost side by side and the trick is to pick the one with the loudest speakers.

The allusive Whale Sharks is next on the list of must sees, so with our spotters we headed off to southern Leyte.