Sean Chinn’s Snorkel Journeys: Part 2

In this ongoing series regular contributor and worldwide snorkel adventurer Sean Chinn shares his snorkel journeys.

A Snorkel Journey – Part 2

It was now 5 years since mine and Shenesse’s first holiday together and her reluctance to swim/snorkel in the sea was firmly behind her. In 2015 we embarked on a journey around South East Asia, which provided opportunities to enjoy some snorkelling together, and more impressively on her own.

While in Anilao, Philippines I was able to introduce her to being in the water with sharks for the first time. Granted, it wasn’t in ideal circumstances as the hotel we were staying at happened to have a large sea pool cut off from the ocean, where there were a couple of blacktip reef sharks kept in the pool. I’m still not sure of the reason for this and would have preferred them to be in the open ocean but while there Shenesse managed to get over a slight fear and went into the pool for a snorkel. She quickly realised most sharks such as small blacktips are not interested in people and will generally avoid close interactions with us.

While in Anilao we visited a quiet island beach and enjoyed some snorkelling together. 

We continued our journey exploring different islands in the Philippines and found ourselves in Cebu. Here we took a trip to Oslob, a place not without its controversies. Local fisherman originally thought of the whale sharks in the area as nuisances to their fishing livelihood. It was reported that a tourist paid one of the fisherman a lot of money compared to his normal earnings, to take them out to see the whale sharks. They realised that it would be more profitable to bring tourists out to see the whale sharks and a new tourist hotspot was born. It was my first time seeing whale sharks and although a little nervous Shenesse found the courage to enter the water and absolutely loved the experience. She quickly realised this was the type of snorkelling she loved.

My partner Shenesse swims with the biggest fish in the ocean. A majestic whale shark.

From the Philippines we went to Sipadan off the cost of Sabah, Borneo. A stunning marine protected area full of life. A real turtle heaven that’s great for snorkelers as well as divers. It was here that Shenesse’s snorkel journey took off and made me proud of her new found confidence. While on one particular dive along with one of my dive buddies partner. They followed us along the reef for the whole 50 minute dive. It was the longest amount of time she’d snorkelled non-stop and done it without me and without a life jacket. She even got to see an underwater scene I missed while diving as she saw a turtle swim through the dense school of bigeye trevally. A scene that would have made an amazing photo as they parted to let the turtle through.

My partner Shenesse following along as we dive below in the beautiful waters off Sipadan.

Find out more about Sean, his photography and his trips at: www.greatwhitesean.com