Whalesharks of Southern Leyte, Philippines

[klemens Gann]

[acelockco]

Dude, that is freaking amazing!!! You were right on top of them. I have to go on a whale shark dive one of these days. So cool!

[klemens Gann]

ha,ha that position actually came natural as you only allowed to snorkel with them.
Skin diving with a huge Gates housing for the FX 1 is more trhan I could take without practice so I tried to get as much footage snorkeling as I could with out shaking the camera around too much. Happy you liked it and yes it's definately worth a trip, not only for the whalesharks...
I will have some more to show here in a few days.
Cheers klemens

[The Publisher]

Was that shot in Donsol?

[klemens Gann]

southern Leyte

[acelockco]

I can't wait to hear more about the trip.

[klemens Gann]

The Whalesharks arrive in southern Leyte at early December and usually stay through the month of April. The Whalesharks are seen at different locations like Sunok Island or like in my case at Limasawa Island.
You usually arrive at Limasawa Island at lunchtime as this is the besttime to spot the sharks because the sun is high. The local dive masters and boat boys recognize the Whaleshark as a dark moving pattern under the surface.
The boat drops you off in front of the shark and you follow the shark with fins, mask and snorkel. Some snorkelers (of good physical health) stayed with the Whaleshark for more than 2 hours. If you lucky they swim in the direction of the bay where it's getting really shallow and the shark is just a meter underneath you. When they swim over the sandy bottom where they are very well visible and make a lifelong dream come true.
Filming the sharks turned out quite difficult as it is extremely difficult to hold the camera still while snorkeling and free diving limits you in time, considering that you have to adjust shutter speed, aperture, white balance and get correct framing.
Regardless of any problems associated with the shoot, I absolutely enjoyed it and it's an experience not to be missed.
If I would do it gain?
Are you kidding, any time, any day!
Some more info:

http://www.worldphotolocations.com/l...=1070608182042