He needed a miracle to survive the cold and choppy waters, and he got it in the form of dolphins and whales. Tuna fisherman Ronnie Dabal was fishing in Puerto Princesa Bay early on Dec. 8 when a squall turned his small motorized boat upside down. It was about 8 a.m.
He clambered atop a small Styrofoam board and battled the punishing waves for hours, growing desperate as the day wore on. How could he imagine then that he would survive in the most astonishing manner?
Dabal, 35, spoke with the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Dec. 9 in the company of his wife and representatives of nongovernmental organizations who authenticated his story. “I began to pray when I felt my strength draining away. I couldn’t continue paddling with my hands because I was getting so tired, and I was about to pass out,” he said.
The fisherman recalled floating at sea throughout that Monday, paddling against the tide in a vain effort to get to shore, and feeling his arms and legs growing soggy. Soon, a swarm of tiny crustaceans locally called “bugto” began nibbling on his softened flesh. “There were so many of them and I couldn’t cope because I was very weak,” he said, showing the bite marks on his limbs.
“I started to bleed. I became afraid that sharks would smell my blood and appear at any time.”
To the rescueDabal’s hopes of reaching dry land slowly vanished as darkness fell and blanketed him.
And then, from out of nowhere, a pod of around 30 dolphins appeared: “Dumating ‘yung mga dolphins. Ang dami nila!”
A pair of whales about 10 meters long also appeared and flanked him: “Tapos, may lumapit na dalawang balyena. Dun sila sa tigkabilang tabi ko lumalangoy.” Then, two whales approached. They swam with me, one on each side.]
Dabal, a father of two, swore it was not his mind playing tricks on him as he lay weak and still atop his tiny life raft, which the dolphins alternately nudged with their fins to shore. As this was happening, the rest of the pod stayed close, around a meter away, apparently trying to make sure no harm would come to him, Dabal said.
He said the whales kept to his side, swimming along with the dolphins.
“Based on his description of the animals, the dolphins were probably spinners and the whales were most likely pilot whales,” Dr. Terry Aquino, a local cetacean specialist, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
More: http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20081217-178401
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