By Niño Mark M. Sablan, 2bU! Correspondent
Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines–There was something mystical and gentle about dolphins—plus I’d never seen one—so when I went to Eskaya Beach Resort in Panglao Island, Bohol, several months ago and was informed that dolphin-watching was part of the itinerary, I was extremely delighted.
Eager and excited (and armed with sandwiches, an MP3 player and a digital camera), I woke up extra early to join our group in a little motorboat for what I expected would be an intimate time with the dolphins.
It took us almost an hour before we spotted our first school of dolphins and the moment I laid eyes on them, I felt like a kid seeing his first, well, dolphin. It was just pretty disappointing how, when we tried to zoom close for a better view, they would suddenly stay underwater. I guess the sound of our motor (15 motors actually, since there were 14 other motorboats with us during that morning) scared them.
So for an hour or so, the typical scene was a school of dolphins would surface, all 15 motorboats would try to get as close as possible and then the dolphins would disappear. Another group would surface somewhere and the whole process would be repeated.
At the end of the day though, I was a satisfied little boy.
A couple of months after my Bohol trip, I flew to Cebu and was billeted at the Badian Island Resort and Spa. They offered dolphin-watching as one of their recommended activities but after pretty much having enough of dolphins during my recent Bohol trip, I decided not to go for it anymore.
However, I strangely ended up joining them.
For their dolphin-watching activity, Badian surprised me with their spacious yacht equipped with tables and chairs, binoculars, a comfort room and lots of pansit and sandwiches. Just like my previous quest for dolphins, this one took a while before we spotted some Flippers.
After approximately 30 minutes, we saw our first batch of dashing dolphins darting out and in the water. I was saying wow every 10 seconds for about 30 minutes already when I realized how pretty close the dolphins were to our yacht—so much closer as opposed to how they were during my previous dolphin-watching experience.
And then something even better and more wow-inducing happened.
A good number of dolphins positioned themselves in front of our fast yacht, and sort of joined the ride. They swam with us and kept up with our speed, jumping out of the water from time to time. It was as if they were putting on a show. They knew we were watching—enjoying, actually—and they just went on and on and on entertaining us with their tagging-along and little jumps. This continued for a couple more hours.
And then we finally had to go back to the resort for lunch and other activities.
Seeing dolphins up close for the very first time was definitely an exciting experience and I want to do it again very soon.
Come to think of it, I now want to jump into the water and go swim with the dolphins next.
For more information on Badian Island Resort and Spa, visit www.badianhotel.com
E-mail the author at ninomarksablan@yahoo.com
December 12th, 2007 at 12:12 am
I didn’t know dolphin watching was an attraction in Badian.. I actually was in Badian 3 or 4 times this year, stay at this private beach house though… thanks for the information.