Saturday, February 17, 2007

Mayon and the Butandings




Here are excerpts from an article I wrote for PDI, published last quarter of 2006:


Recently, news that whale sharks have been spotted 15 minutes from Legaspi prompted my family to take a trip to the famed city under the shadow of the imposing Mayon. With the volcano having a mini-eruption, we figured that even if we were unlucky spotting butandings, we could at least catch the breathtaking sight of Mayon spewing lava. We arrived in the late afternoon just in time to view Mayon’s majesty. By nightfall, glowing rocks and trickles of lava could be seen slowly seeping from the volcano’s crater and moving down its perfectly gentle slopes. “Are we sure we’re far enough Dad?” Kiko, my 12 year old son asked with an anxious look on his face. Thankfully, Mayon’s show of restiveness was relatively mild this year.

The next day found us having breakfast in a little thatched hut along the black sand beach of Barangay Bigaa. The locals had just begun to organize themselves to cope with the expected onrush of tourists. Each boat was required to have a Butanding Interaction Officer (BIO) to guide and regulate the animal interactions. A few boats were already out searching the waters. The excitement was palpable.

The paddle-powered “sibid-sibid”is a perfect boat to silently approach the shy butanding but I was apprehensive knowing it would take hours to cover the area. Even when Joe, our boatman, signaled a sighting I was skeptical. Boatmen though have a way of seeing things that a typical tourist would never see until the last minute. But it seemed the butandings were not surfacing long enough for a chance to swim with them.

Just before noon though, that all changed. A jumble of boats gathered around a single spot and shouts of glee were the unmistakable signs that something was up. From about 200 meters I saw the dorsal fin and a tail briefly break surface. Swimmers began jumping in the water. I donned my mask and fins and slipped into the water to where I thought the shark would surface away from all the tourists. Within seconds a juvenile shark not more than 15 feet in length passed slowly a few feet away from me. Its tiny eyes looking straight at me, the shark turned and went back toward the swimmers and boats. Chasing after it, I found myself in the middle of at least 20 swimmers ogling the butanding. I saw my nervous son on a sibid-sibid and talked him into the water. When he finally jumped in with me another butanding had appeared. It was an adult 20 footer with a heavily scarred dorsal and caudal fin, old wounds unmistakably from an encounter with a boat’s propeller. We christened her “Putol” because of her wounds. In the gin-clear water, Kiko met his first butanding and with a gasp he exclaimed, “It’s so B-I-G!” Accompanying the shark were smaller fish called remoras that can attach themselves onto sharks with a suction-like feature at the top of their heads.

Trianna, my 7-year-old daughter, was also in the water being pulled by my wife excitedly toward the smaller shark. The BIO had warned us not to touch the shark or shout out loud when you first see the butanding because it might get spooked. And true enough my daughter hardly said a word in the water although her eyes were never wider. Later on, Trianna exclaimed to Elena, “Did you hear me screaming in my head Mom?”

We nicknamed the juvenile shark “Kulit” because it was the most playful. Once, Kulit went by the shoreline not more than 10 meters from the beach. Another time, Kulit went under the sibid-sibid, gently nudged it and slowly lifted the skiff almost out of the water! My nephew, Andy was swimming in the late afternoon, when he spotted the biggest butanding yet. We took turns chasing the female behemoth that must have been over 30 feet in length!

The next day, the giant female was again spotted, this time with a similar-sized shark tailing it. Putol was there too. The 3 animals circled slowly in the midst of at least a dozen swimmers, truly an amazing sight. As we reluctantly packed up at the end of the second day, you could see the locals pride in playing host to satisfied visitors. Our hospitable hosts jokingly called us “lokal-poren” to differentiate us from the foreign tourists already making their way to Legaspi.

If you’re planning a trip to see the butandings of Legaspi, make sure you bring a lifejacket, swimming goggles or mask and a pair of fins. In the water, the sandy floor slopes down steeply just meters from the shore so be prepared to jump into clear waters without seeing the bottom. Most boats are not motorized (thankfully. Nobody wants to be hit with a prop like Putol) so be prepared to use a paddle. If you are a strong swimmer, you will get to see the sharks longer. If not, you’ll need some luck and a good BIO to place you in the path of these slow swimming creatures. Look for Joe in Bgy. Bigaa. He has the uncanny ability of spotting butandings even before they surface.

No one yet knows for sure why these animals frequent Legaspi and Donsol. Are they feeding? Are they mating? Are the butandings of Legaspi the same individuals as those in Donsol? These are exciting questions that researchers need to answer. Donsol’s whale sharks are plentiful from December to May while those in Legaspi seem to congregate from June onwards making whale shark watching a year-round event in the Bicol region.

Adding Photos


I noticed that the more exciting blogs have pictures and even video. I wonder when words eventually go out of style?


Anyway I chose this photo that sorta represents one side of me...

Genesis

We all have to start from somewhere. I know I'm late in the game... but better late than never. For a while I fell into that "fear of the unknown" crap. Blogs? Ano yun? Alien... foreign... too technical... wouldn't know how to post...

Well I thought the best way to find out what this craze is all about is to JUST DO IT. So reader, be patient with me as I start this journey.