Dancing for joy after whale shark sighting…
Added to website: 25 October 2006
Rays of sunlight glinted down through the clear, calm surface waters next to the Sta. Sofia MPA. The two of us were completing our safety stop at the end of our coral identification training dive. “Divers up!” I called as we broke the surface and prepared to swim back to the boat. “Shark! Shark! Shark!” came the response from our excited boat skipper, Loni as he jumped about wildly on deck pointing at the water close to us. No time to lose. I scanned the surface for a dorsal fin. None. Head down into the water. Nothing. “Where?” I asked my buddy, Matt. “There!” came the response as though I was blind. Sure enough, just 4m to my left and even closer to Matt, a whale shark was cruising by just beneath the surface. As the 5m youngster passed us in our front row seats, we could not believe our luck!
Directly in front of the shark another dive team surfaced. Slightly dubious at our excited calls, they too looked into the water to be greeted by the sight of the shark descending into the MPA away from the five rather odd looking human creatures on the surface. I have not dived since without having to take a look upward at least once every few minutes.
This was the first whale shark sighting for us all which was given away by the size of the grins on our faces over the next 48-hours. We were kept busy re-telling the story to everybody back at base for the rest of the day. The previous PS, Olly Wood, declared the whale shark to be the LRCP Fish of the Year, 2006 and so it was only right (though some may say biased) that I declared it Fish of the Day later that evening.
The remainder of the week was not only spent learning science but also the Filipino national dance called the Tinikling. To the uninitiated, this involves dancing to music between two rather large bamboo sticks whilst trying not to get your ankles crushed by your friends who are slapping the sticks together hard around your feet. We had been asked to perform this dance at the 49th Founding Anniversary Dinner of Padre Burgos. After three weeks of tuition, blood, sweat, tears (yes it hurts when your feet get caught!) and our teachers pulling their hair out in frustration, we were ready for our big night, complete with the girls in the most orange outfits you will ever see.
As we danced out to centre stage in front of mayors, congressmen and most of Padre Burgos, the crowd went wild. Adrenalin and smiling faces kept us going and five minutes later we exited stage left to rapturous applause (or was it laughter?) in appreciation of our weeks of hard work. Following this, various awards were presented to the townsfolk including one to Coral Cay Conservation for all of its education and conservation work in the municipality.
Coral Cay Conservation has built up an incredible relationship, indeed friendship, with the people of Padre Burgos over the past three years as a result of our strong community efforts. By being deeply involved with educational and social events such as the town festival, Coral Cay Conservation has been able to promote its message to a wider and more attentive audience.
Matt Doggett
Project Scientist
LRCP
