Swimming with turtles – Apo Island, Philippines

Two years ago I visited Reunion Island near Mauritius for two weeks, and one of the enduring memories of that trip was a visit I made to the sea turtle sanctuary situated on the island. Injured turtles are rehabilitated in large tanks adjacent to the sea, and once they have recovered they are released. During their stay, visitors to the sanctuary can view these beautiful animals swimming around in the tank through a massive 5 m wide glass window. I watched the turtles swimming around for almost an hour and filmed and photographed them to my hearts delight. I made a vow to myself that one day I would try and film them while swimming alongside them. That dream has now come true 🙂

We took a special three day side trip to the town of Dumaguete on the island of Negros when we were in Cebu, specifically to visit the small island of Apo, whose reefs been a protected sanctuary for several years now. As a result, sea turtles tend to stop over in the waters around the island to feed on the sea grass for several months of the year, before heading to their breeding grounds. As there are no natural predators in the area, the turtles are very relaxed, and the islanders now earn an income by guiding travellers out to the reef to see the turtles, rather than by catching and eating the turtles. We booked a room at Harold’s Mansion in Dumaguete for three nights, left our luggage there and then travelled to Apo with their dive boat on the second day, where we were met by a local guide who took us swimming with the turtles. The guides also stop inconsiderate tourists from touching the turtles and stepping on the coral – we saw Chinese tourists doing both during our first swim, and our guide had to intervene and warn them. We were horrified…

I shot some really amazing footage of seven turtles within two hours of arriving at Apo island, and afterwards I just lifted stills from the video footage in Premiere Pro. I am really happy with my new Go Pro 5 Hero Black which I bought in Thailand on sale….it is so much better than my previous Go Pro HD I owned a few years back. Akhona and I were joined by two other travelers for this amazing experience as each guide looks after four people to make it manageable.

After a somewhat exhausting swim for around two hours, we got back on board the boat and were then transferred one by one in the smallest boat I have ever seen with our dry bags containing clothing for the next day to the island itself, where we had booked a room for the night at Mario’s Place. We wanted to have time to roam around the island and then go out to swim with the turtles early the next morning before the day trippers arrived.

We enjoyed a relaxing time walking around the village on the island in the afternoon, and made our way over to the other side in about 25mins. The villagers were generally friendly and we found another four homestay-type accommodations run by local people during our walk. Most travelers stay at Liberty Lodge and Mario’s, but it was good to know that there are other options.

Akhona is becoming quite a proficient snorkeler and is quite capable of keeping up with the sleek, fast-moving turtles who glide so gracefully through the water. We have our own full face masks and fins to make snorkeling easier when swimming against currents.

I shot the video below on our second swim with the turtles which we did without a guide, straight from the main beach. After swimming for around 5 mins we spotted the first turtle, and for me it was a special experience as we had come upon the turtle without a guide. About 10mins later we came upon the second turtle, and I had an opportunity to film Akhona swimming next to the turtle…It was a sublime experience…