We rerouted our Philippines trip after a friend of Nigel's told us about the sardines...

Hundreds of thousands of them congregate just offshore from Panagsama Beach. You don't need a boat to get to see them. You just swim out from the beach, and they're right there.

They used to mass off Pescador Island, but (according to this source) they were fished out. A few years ago, the population started to rebuild itself, but here, rather than in their original haunt. Realizing their potential as a tourist asset, locals launched a massive effort to protect them.

We headed for the water pretty much as soon as we got here yesterday.

We swam out, registering that there are also lots of other pretty fish among the coral. You don't have to go far before you encounter an impressive drop-off, a massive wall of coral separating the land from the ocean.

We headed right, encountering shoals of tiny fish (whether these were baby sardines or something else we're not qualified to judge).

Columns of sunlight struck deep down into the clear water, like an inverted cathedral.

Then we headed left, dodging the boats (these are a bit of a pain, as you have to keep watching out for them, but some swimmers like the reassurance that a support vessel provides).

And this was where the real show started.

Sardines... Everywhere.

Sardines, all the way down to the ocean floor, in huge stacks.

Sardines, shifting and circling and swirling as though someone was constantly painting and repainting them. Every now and then, one would turn slightly, glinting silver in the sunlight.

Mesmerizing.

And strewn across the vast canvas of argent sardines, like miniature jewelled brooches, were bright little reef fish.

No pictures, of course, as we don't do underwater photography.

We'd planned another sardine swim this morning, but the tide was too low to get out over the coral (even paddling in the shallows, though, we saw lots of pretty fish).

By the time we'd had breakfast, the water was back, but a stiff wind had blown up, lashing the sea into very inhospitable waves. We sat on our deck, surveying a bay full of choppy water, bouncing boats, and flailing swimmers.


We had sardines as a starter for lunch... I know this sounds kind of cruel, as we had been hanging out with their cuzzy bros only yesterday. But, as I said, the rules are strict, and a lot hangs on keeping them around, so we felt pretty confident we weren't killing the goose (as it were).

And, fried and crispy, they are really, really nice...


By the time lunch was done, the sea had started to look much calmer. So we ventured back in for another visit.

The water was a lot less clear than yesterday, but the fish were again impressive.

And -- we saw a turtle. A big one, a metre in length maybe, right beneath us in the shallows (Nigel was alerted to his presence by the light brush of a flipper). We followed him for a while as he grazed, close enough to see all the markings on his weatherbeaten shell. Tossed around just like us by the buffety little waves, he seemed completely unbothered by our gawking. He surfaced once. Then he was off, effortlessly swimming far faster than we could ever hope to follow him.

So, it's been awesome...

We're off again tomorrow. Two nights has been the perfect length of stay here, long enough to allow for a couple of sorties into the water, but short enough not to feel too oppressed by the somewhat cramped and frantic tourist village.

Very glad we made the detour...