No one really believes this story & unfortunately we have no pics to support it but it’s true. At the end of March earlier this year we were on our way to S.Leyte for a funeral;conditions weren’t great with light rain & moderate sea. At about 6am, about ten miles out of Cebu Yacht club, near the Caubian islands off Bohol, we (1 boatman, 1 cousin) saw a spout of spray about 1000 metres away & went to investigate.At about 150 metres we slowed & idled up to the location & we could see the top of the head of a large whale which was moving, parrallel to us about 25-30feet away, we watched for several seconds until the head disappeared & a huge tail came vertically out of the water.We were all very excited at this & hung around for a few minutes hoping it would come back but it didn’t so we continued on our way.My boatman, Junmar, has fished all his life (he’s 25yrs old) & never seen one before. Not worth the effort of telling you might think, & probably so,but it doesn’t end there.

About 3 weeks later we were fishing in the same location, first day out for Richard from Malaysia, & we were trolling about 3 miles off the Danajon bank,the reef that runs around the top of Bohol, when Richard saw a huge splash behind & inshore of us.Being used to seeing fishermen using dynamite around there I didn’t even look round but just stated that it was probably that.On our way back an hour or two later, running much closer to the main reef, just past Middle Pass, all of us saw the same sight, a breaching whale about 2 miles in front of us.We pulled the lines in & sped towards where we had seen the whale; about 300metres in front of us we could see a spume of water coming from the top of the whale & as we approached it breached three times & then continued to blow water out of it’s head about every 15 seconds.It didn’t come out of the water again but we had seen it clearly at about 70-100m & later identified it as a Humpback.It was definitely one of the most impressive sights I’ve ever seen, approximately 40 feet & probably as many tons & cleared the water by almost 10 feet.As usual, when we see something interesting, we didn’t have a camera with us & the delay on my phone camera barely resulted in pics of a splash.

I don’t think it was the same whale on the two occasions because we’d fished there before & after seeing them & didn’t see them again.Next March/April we’ll spend a bit more time over there to see if they’re there again, with cameras next time.

Last Thursday we took the boat to Leyte, had one strike (Spanish Mackerel) off the top of Bohol which stripped the rigged bait & got away. Fished Friday around Limasawa Island, South Leyte but despite good conditions in the morning didn’t get a bite.By lunchtime the wind had got up to about 25-30knots so we pulled into P.Burgos, on the end of Sogod Bay left Mar on the boat & went over to Gunter’s place where we drank a few beers & a couple of bottles of wine.Richard checked in there & I went back to my place in Macrohon for an early night. On Saturday, with the wind still howling, fishing was out of the question so we jumped in the jeep & headed up the mountains to Canigtuan where we were going to see the falls, caves, pools etc but ground was mucky & Richard had blisters so just hung around one of the in laws’ place & chilled for an hour or two while the girls ate.Back to Maasin in pm for lunch at Kinamot, one of the best Philippino restaurants in the country & then back to Macrohon for more wine & another early night.Sunday am & the wind had calmed a bit but not enough to take the boat back to Cebu (I had to get back for a boxing event at the Waterfront) so we drove up to Bato & took the ferry. Boxing was good with all the Cebu guys winning their bouts; one to watch for you gamblers out there is a Super Featherweight by the name of ‘Bazooka’ Banal who really does have an awesome punch.

Following morning Ed,my driver, is late so we miss the early boat & end up on the 6pm back to Leyte; arrive 9ish & Ed has forgotten the keys so I spend an uncomfortable night on an armless plastic chair in a rat- infested sari bar being eaten by mosquitoes. Following morning, having arranged for keys to be sent to Ormoc on first fast ferry where Ed went to get them; I got a V hire back to Maasin & multicab to Macrohon. The weather, by now (Tuesday), had settled down a bit & Richard & I decided to take the boat back to Cebu while the Jen & kids went back in the jeep on the overnight barge.Uneventful trip back to Cebu, other than brief stop to investigate a ‘MayDay’ on the VHF; ‘Hallo,hallo,hallo,Mayday,mayday,mayday’ , no position or other details so we checked out the only other boat, a ferry to Bohol,that looked likely to carry a radio & that was OK so we carried on.

Wednesday: 4 hour fishing charter which was, unfortunately, totally uneventful;not even a strike.

Well, John’s gone set me up a blog, a concept which is totally new to me but which I find quite exciting.Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting stories, anecdotes, fishing reports, etc & really anything which I think would be interesting.Things like the Humpback Whales we saw twice in April this year only ten miles away from Cebu or the early morning trips to the fish market where I saw the biggest Snapper, Dogtooth, Trevally & Yellowfin Tuna I’ve ever seen, all in the same place, the same day(where do they come from cos we never see them when we’re fishing) .Or the time a couple of months ago when we saw a pod of Sailfish only a few miles out of the yacht club ,until then I’d never seen a Sailfish around here.

I’ll also be writing bits & pieces about Vom Hofe fishing tackle, particularly the reels. This German family emigrated to the US in 1847 & produced what are still considered to be the finest reels ever built until they sold out at the beginning of WW2.

I’ll be telling you about my golf experiences, a game I took up a couple of months ago mainly for the exercise, & which has taken me to different parts of the Philippines & in one or two cases an almost different world from the one we see every day here.

We welcome feedback & look forward to you sharing your stories with us.