Albay Gulf is a large gulf in the southern part of Luzon

Luzon

Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...

 island, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, at 13.1808333°N 123.9255556°E.

The place has been one of the tourist spots in the province because of the frequent sightings of whale sharks (known as "butanding" in the local vernacular) in the coastal areas. The government ha taken actions requesting concerned sectors to test whether the number of plankton, the whale shark's primary food source, was adequate for the species' sustenance. In 1997, whale sharks were sighted in the town of Donsol in Sorsogon

Sorsogon

Sorsogon is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region; it is the southernmost province in Luzon and is subdivided into fourteen municipalities and one city. Its capital is Sorsogon City and borders the province of Albay to the north...

. Their presence led to the town's receiving the moniker "whale shark capital of the world."