Fifty kilometers north of Dumaguete lies Bais City, a coastal town in Negros known mostly for sugar refinery and its protected reefs. One very VERY early morning, my friends and I took our bikes aboard a bus so we could check out the wild dolphins in Bais Bay. From the bus stop in town, we cycled towards the sunrise to Capiñahan Wharf (KAH-PIN-YAH-HAN) where the tour boat was waiting for us.
Much of the surrounding shoreline is dotted with mangroves. They are the source of the rich marine life in this area.
The Bais City Tourism official who handles these tours sucked. She added us to another tour group, and forgot to inform them of the time to meet. She told us we had to be in Bais by 6:30am — in fact, she called to make sure we were on the bus at 4:30 in the morning! — but the other group only got in at nearly 9. When we asked her to contact the other group — the tourism official simply disappeared!
Thus, we were at the pier waiting for over two hours before the rest of the people on our boat even showed up. Hungry, hot, annoyed, and cranky is not a good way to start the day! Even worse is the possibility that the dolphins wouldn’t even be there by the time we headed out to the water.
When the rest of the group showed up, my temper finally cooled off a bit. The boat chugged its way to the deeper part of the Tañon Strait, a protected marine sanctuary.
They say that the Tañon Strait hosts a lot of other wildlife besides dolphins. Sometimes even smaller species of whales are found here. The waters were pretty calm when we got to the middle of the bay…
And then… DOLPHINS!
These dolphins are wild! Don’t expect them do tricks for fish. Nonetheless, it was really amazing to see them in their natural habitat. When I was younger, I used to go to the southern part of the Philippines via a passenger ship instead of on a plane. Flying fish, small whales, and dolphins like these were a common sight. 🙂
Because the spotted dolphins were wild, our little boat had to go chase them around the open waters. Then they’d simply swim the other direction. What a tease! Hahaha.
Where did they go?
Oh they’re over there! Why are they so far away?
Hello baby!
After a long time chasing after dolphins, our boat docked at the Manjuyod sandbar where we stopped for lunch. At low tide, hundreds of feet the sandbar would be visible. When we got there, it was obviously NOT low tide. Pia takes a cooling dip.
After lunch, we headed back to the wharf and argued about the boat fee. I hate this part. I don’t wanna remember it anymore. I just wanna say that sometimes Philippine tourism sucks, ok? ESPECIALLY THAT MOTHEREFFING LADY WHO MANS THE BAIS TOURISM OFFICE. Seriously, when I think of her, a string of cuss words just plays through my mind.
Once on shore, we headed off to the historical La Planta hotel for drinks.
Waiting for the bus going back to Dumaguete City.
Sorry regular Ceres bus, we want airconditioning!
Unfold and Cycle 