Whale Shark swimming in the Phillipines

Most destinations we fly to there are certain things that the crew like to do. For example hanggliding in Rio de Janeiro, walking up Table mountain in Capetown, taking massages in Bangkok, visiting the Opera House in Sydney, and I can go on and on.. But now you have an idea what I mean. We have a new destination since a few months, the new Cebu/Clark trip. First one day to Cebu and then you fly to Clark the next day where you stay another day in Clark before heading back to the desert. In Cebu there are two things EVERYBODY likes to do, one is seeing the waterfall and some islands, and secondly swimming with whale sharks! Of course I like seeing waterfalls and islands, but when do I get another chance to actually swim with whale sharks, so my decision was made pretty easily. We got to the hotel around 5pm and we had to get up around 2.30am to meet down at 2.45 and leave the hotel at 3am, the ride down to where the whale sharks would be was about 3 hours!!! So we got prepared, I had my own pillow with me (obviously) and some earphones so I could take a nap on the bus. We were with 6 of us, 5 girls and 1 guy (who is a semi-girl haha). We arrived at the spot around 5.45am, and we could see the sunrise. I have seen many sunrises but this one was different, the colors all together were truly magical. I just stood there for a minute taking in the moment that I was in, and feeling truly blessed I have the opportunity to be able to do something like this with work. Around 6 we had a little briefing, of things to do and things not to do while swimming with the whale sharks. We were not allowed to touch them or get closer then 4 meters. Obviously they touched us and we did get closer then 4 meters. As we were in the boats going to the 'interaction area' we could already see some whale sharks, and they are massive!!! So once they told us we could go in the water I put on my goggles and got in the water slowly, kinda scared but very curious as well. The first time I looked underneath the water it scared me big time. There was one whale shark on my right and then once I looked on the left there was another one, really close-by!!! I wanted to scream but I couldn't, also because it was just unreal having those animals so close to me. It was one of those moment that you can take a hundred photos but all of them won't do justice for the experience and the feelings you felt at that time, it's hard to describe... Some girls I was with did not get the same feeling I guess, they were complaining the whole time, and at one point I just told them to stop complaining about things that it was cold and they couldn't take their phones on the boat. But not for Merel !!! I was loving every second of it. The bus ride back to the hotel took about 3 hours again as well, just had enough time to sleep for 3/4 hours before the flight to Clark. That flight would only take about 1 hour so it wasn't that long. Some people would climb the volcano in Clark but apparently you can't do that during rain season. So that was a shame, I just slept a lot, chilled and relaxed. It's been definitely an unforgettable experience, and I do have some photos that I can look at and think about this amazing day, and I will think about it for a long time!!!! Thank youuuu Philippines <3 xoxo until next time..!