Donsol Bay

The longest-running community-based whale-shark ecotourism site in Southeast Asia (since 1998), run under a strict BIO permit system: max 6 swimmers per boat, no flash photography, no touching, 3+ m distance, and SNORKEL ONLY — SCUBA with whale sharks is strictly prohibited. Whale sharks ("butanding") aggregate Nov–May on the plankton-rich outflow plume of the Donsol River; the same plankton that draws them limits visibility to 3–8 m. The deliberate ethical alternative to fed-shark Oslob.