Never in my entire life
did I dream of swimming and watching closely to a whale shark but because I need
to complete the best tourist spot of Cebu- so I embraced all the guts I needed
to face it.
April 26, 2013, we woke
up as early as 3:00 in the morning, requested our hotel to packed-up our
breakfast, and brought our extra shirts and headed to South Bus Terminal, that’s
1.5 km. away from the hotel. The best time to chase Whale sharks is around 6:00-7:00A.M.
where the sun rays are not so intense.
The safest way to get
into Oslob is through Ceres Bus Liner (yellow bus) or SunRays Bus with the route to Bato,Oslob,
it travels as early as 3:00A.M. A little patience for the 3-hour travel won’t be
a dead beat upon seeing blue-colored “whale shark watching” tarps hanging
around in Brgy. Tan-awan, Oslob, Cebu. You may also ask the bus conductor to drop
you off in Brgy. Tan-awan for whale shark watching just like what we did.
Whew! Oslob is situated
in the Southern tip of Cebu, a less traveled province before, now came one of “a-must-visit-place”.
Local resident shared the butandings’ first visit in a private beach resort in
Oslob sometime in 2011 which soon fed by the local fishermen until it became
what it is today-- - a tourist attraction protected by the local government.
We headed to the resort
where we had our contact, Kuya Reneeboy of Aaron Beach (09334159460) left our stuffs in a
private locker, got our snorkeling gear and headed to the briefing area. A
3-minute briefing was very essential to be remembered, such as:
1. No touching of Butandings (otherwise the
Butandings will pass/touch you unintentionally), that means keep your distance up to 4
meters. Heheh.
2.
No using of lotion/sunblock (it might
contaminate the water).
3.
No using of jewelries (I lost the other
pair of my earrings because I never listen to this),huhuh.
4.
Cameras are allowed but camera flash are
strictly prohibited(it may disturbed the sea creatures)
5.
Too much noise is also strictly
prohibited.
Right after the
briefing, officials had been very courteous in accommodating us to the pumpboat
where 3 men assisted us to the water, 1 had been the camera man, 1 pumpboat
driver and 1 safekeeper. We were also given a vest for security.
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| Sample photos of whale sharks underneath |
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| We're interacting them |
This was one of my
highlighted adventures in Cebu. To swim even if I don’t have any idea how to,
and to watch gentle whale sharks felt so overwhelming! 30 minutes of swimming
and watching is soo fast to meet up close with the gentle giants.
Afterwhich, the group
asked assistance to the resort crew if they can help us get a cab going to
Tumalog Falls and instantly we were accommodated. The resort crews were really accomodating,thumbs up! You can only reached Tumalog
falls via habal-habal or a chartered cab. It took 20minutes before we reached
the entrance of the falls and trek for another 10-15 minutes that’s
approximately 400meters going to the eco-tourism view. It’s all soo WorthIt!
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| Don't think you'll never get wet with it |
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| Keeps pouring! |
Just so fun of
different falls, this one has its own style. Unlike any other falls which had
been so robust in pouring, this one poured out like a cold shower cascading in
its umbrella-shaped rocks. Cool! Everything in the sight was all natural! No advertisement/huts/mini-food
center or whatsoever.
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| Cascading umbrella-like showers |
From there we went back
to the resort for a little shower and dressed-up and packed our stuff while the cab
waited to drive us to our next stop ,the Very Old Church of Our
Lady of Immaculate Concepcion which was constructed in 1830, too old yet too
strong. Amazing!
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| Great Heritage! |
Resting in a park was
one of the best things we did after we have sensationalized what we’ve
witnessed, park is located in front of the old church and the sea, then we
walked our way to the main highway and waited for a bus back to the city.
Summary of Expenses
Hotel to South Bus Terminal (Taxi) 61.00 / 3 = 20/pax
South Bus to Oslob (Ceres bus:bound to Bato)Aircon 155/pax
Entrance Fee (Aaron Resort) 50/pax
Whale shark watching fee 300/pax
Snorkeling gears 200/pax
Chartered multicab inclusive of tumalog entrance fee
(tumalog-resort-ICChurch) 150/pax
Oslob Proper to Cebu City (bus/Aircon) 155/pax
Lunch 140/pax
Dinner FREE
TOTAL PHP 1, 170.00
Note:
- TUMALOG ENTRANCE FEE IS PHP20.00
- Whale shark watching is available everyday during 6:00 A.M. to 1:00pm ONLY.
- In whale shark watching, you may also opted to go directly to the Briefing Area without going to any beaches nearby.
- Underwater camera is also available for rentals.
- Last Trip from Oslob to Cebu City is 9:00 P.M.
