“On a small boat at the middle of the sea, I realized how little I need in life to live. The rest of what I own and have is just…luxury. I can only be grateful.” – Donna

This was the boat we used to get to the spot where the whale sharks frequently visited for food. There were 4 of us on the boat – 2 boat men paddling through the water, hubby and myself.

When we got to the spot, they asked us if we would like to just watch the sharks from the boat or if we would like to go in the water. I excitedly replied: “I most definitely will go in the water. I didn’t fly 24hrs to get to this side of the world, then took another 1hr flight from #Manila to #Cebu, then drove 3 hrs to get to #Oslob. I wouldn’t pass up the experience to share the sea with them.”

The boatman smiled and let me off the boat. We were made to wear life jackets, which made it a little difficult to go underwater to see the whale sharks more clearly. I requested that I take off my neon orange life jacket and reassured him that I knew how to swim.

There were 5 of them in the area. I was allowed to swim but not go near them not was I allowed to touch them. I dove underwater. I almost swallowed water in disbelief how close one was to where I was swimming. I could have touched him (it was a male). I sort of froze in awe! He was approximately the length of maybe 4 of me (6meters long) with a wide mouth of 1.5meters. When he swam away after moments of feeling each other’s presence in the water, I felt his tail touch my leg! Ahhhhhh….. 🙂

He left me breathless.