Donsol, Ticao Island, Manta Bowl

[el-gee]

Hello!
Im doing some snorkelling in Donsol looking for whale sharks in mid-February, and then will stay a couple of nights in Ticao Island, where I plan to dive in Manta Bowl hopefully finding some mantas.
Anyone been there? Worth the trip? I know the diving isnt great except for the mantas, do you confirm this? Have you actually SEEN mantas there or is it all just marketing?
Thanks!!

 

[Dive-Boarder]

You will see whale sharks in Donsol for sure, but in February maybe expect to have to make more than one trip into the bay. A friend of mine ran Giddys place in Donsol for a year or so... They saw mantas regularly in the bowl, but not every trip. I understand that it was not always possible to drop down when the current was running though. Good luck

 

[Patchy13]

Hey,

My wife and I recently (Dec 2012) visited Donsol, while it was a very relaxing place, we didnt see any whale sharks on our trip, apparently they saw 8 the day before! I guess thats just the luck of the draw with wild animals

We dived Manta Bowl, no Mantas (our DM said there had been none sighted there for 6 years), there was a ripping current and we had to use reef hooks to not get swept away, and more scarily down in a down current which starts at around 24 - 25 metres. We had two other dives which were at San Miguel Island, they were just ok, nothing like other parts of the Philippines we visited (El Nido, Malapascua).

Cheers

 

[okidoki]

The word is that the mantas have been fished out, due to it's unprotected status they have been caught for their gills for Chinese medicine. If any one has recently spotted mantas in the area please do not publicly post this until the mantas have protective status.

Sent from my VegaComb using Tapatalk 2

 

[TGeorgio]

Let me know how your trip goes in Feb. I am planning to go in March and would be great to hear suggestions.

 

[mlsantos]

its sad to hear that these are the reports regarding ticao island. because this is just not true, I was a guide there for a couple of seasons and into the whaleshark season we would constantly see manta rays at manta bowl. It must have been the guid you were with. Ussually the mantas come out on teh out going tide... this is when manta bowls current is at its weakest. But if you go on the incoming tide there is also so much to see, whalesharks are a common sighting, white and blak tips are almost assured and once in awhile there is a great hammer head that does make its prescence felt. Not to mention the school of giant trevally that ussually joins you at the safety stop. That being said manta bowl is not the only good diing in the area, the san miguel group of islands offer world class macro diving and its not on a sandy slope mind you. There are ghost pipefish, frogfish, loads of nudibranchs and even a spot where you can see mandarin fish feeding during the day, I have yet to see that anywhere else. Give this destination a chance and most like ly you wont be disappointed. make sure you go with the seasoned guides and i maybe biased but you can find most of them working for donsol eco tour.

 

[ridgey]

Thanks for that as i have 10 days there in Sept. and was getting a bit worried

 

[el-gee]

Just in terms of feedback..
The trip was fantastic. We saw a whale shark one our snorkelling tour in Donsol, but only one, and shared with a lot of boats, so it's not an abundant species there anymore, I guess, also judging by other reports. But alas we were lucky and it was amazing, so I recommend anyone to go give it a try. Although something must seriously be done to control the way operators act down there, with over 10 boats sometimes following a shark, as in our case. Interestingly, the animal was quite deep and didn't seem too disturbed. But i'm sure that in some cases, the animal gets disturbed.

We dove Manta Bowl six times over two days and saw no mantas. The couple who were diving with us, dove the third day and finally saw one! So they are there, but it's a matter of luck. Saw some other interesting stuff, like a school of tunas and a whitetip reef shark, but all in all it's a pretty barrend landscape under water there, so I'm not sure it's worth the try.

We were blessed, on the 2-hour boat trip back from Ticao to Donsol, with an ad-hoc sighting of a whale shark swimming undisturbed at the surface. That was amazing and also a sign that you might not find what you look for, but if you travel with open heart, magical wildlife encounters, such as this was, can happen, and will happen.