This is the first post in a series detailing our March 2014 trip to Oslob, Cebu City and Boracay in the Philippines.
We headed to Oslob with hopes to see whale sharks. These gentle giants are filter feeders and can grow up to 12m (some say 14m!). Basically, we were super excited about the idea of swimming with creatures the sizes of buses. Their mouths are so wide they can fit a human being in sideways, but of course they don't eat humans so there is no risk of that.
Oslob, a sleepy fishing village in Cebu, has been put on the map of adventure-seekers for the chance to swim with the whale sharks that congregate a very short distance away from the shore. The whale sharks gather every morning when the fishermen row out to feed them small shrimps. This feeding has stirred up its fair share of controversy (see this for some discussion of the controversy). As an alternative to Oslob, whale sharks can also be seen at Donsol but unlike Oslob, there is no guarantee of seeing the whale sharks there. We considered Donsol too, but felt that we would be heartbroken if we missed seeing the whale sharks and thus headed to Oslob.
If you have considered all this and come to a decision to go to Oslob, then read on! This post is for you.
As for how to get to Oslob, the air-conditioned bus is strongly recommended! We took the non air-conditioned bus on the way there and had rain drops fall on us and had to squeeze (I'm relatively tiny and yet I found it squash!) onto small seats and through narrow aisles. For 5 php (< 20 cents sgd) the comfort of the big tour bus (which has complimentary movies!) is so worth it. Also, if you are alighting a slight distance away from Bgy Tan-awan, you may need to tell the bus driver where you are a couple times, as he missed our stop initially! Thankfully the bus inspector was onboard then and helped us to sort it out so we took the nice bus backwards (I insisted that this leg our journey was to be free) till we got to our homestay. I must say that in general, Philippinos are pretty accommodating and friendly though there is still something of a language barrier in the more remote villages and a cultural gap in terms of the pace of life. The Singaporean in me kept wanting efficiency and to rush about so I had to tell myself this was no Amazing Race.
My sis and I read that a homestay was the way to go for travellers on a shoestring budget and ours was a short distance away from Bgy Tan-awan. The hostels at Bgy Tan-awan are much more expensive, but we only found this out the hard way! There was a misunderstanding with the homestay booked on Air B&B (this was slated to cost 2700 php for 3 nights) and so we wound up at Brumini Beds & Beach Resort (which costs 2000 php for one night). This is why if you are on a budget, consider making Oslob a day tour so you don't need to stay the night.
Brumini Resort is located less than 200m away from the whale shark watching site, and it offers a free shuttle to there. There are also eating places and souvenir shops located within Brumini's which is really convenient! There are adorable whale shark magnets and cute tee shirts to be purchased.
Even so, not sure I'd recommend Brumini's as the rooms aren't cheap and our bathroom was constantly flooded. Also, you have to rent the cabanas by the beach!
To see the whale sharks, try to get to the viewing point by 0630 (viewing starts at 0600). Our resort said that we should go at 0700 as there would be more whale sharks then and more light which would make for better photographs. I'm so glad we did not heed that advice, as the crowds started pouring in by the time we were done with our half-hour slot at 0700. If you go at 0630,there will be only 4 - 5 boats around and you will just miss the crowds. In the picture below you can see the crowd starting to gather as our boat leaves.
When you get to the viewing point, there is a short briefing of less than 5 minutes:
Some of these rules are honoured in the breach e.g. the one that says people have to wear a life jacket at all times. However, some rules really should be observed, e.g. not to touch the whale sharks, as they have a protective layer around them that prevents them from infections and the like and touching them will remove this layer. Also, not to use flash photography.
This is the little boat that brings people out to sea.
Oh and bring along a underwater camera! You can hand these to the very experienced boatmen who will help you take the photographs. We brought along a go pro, which turned out to be an excellent idea as this allowed us to get photos of the full length of the whale sharks. And the high res pictures allow other swimmers to be cropped out while retaining a large enough image. Brilliant!
I'll never forget my first glimpse of the whale sharks from the boat. Their huge shadows beneath the surface were incredible!
And then, we launched ourselves off and started snorkelling! Snorkelling was a bit difficult for me as I kept going in too deep and ended up gulping down mouthfuls of seawater. Incidentally, the sea smelt extremely fish, or rather, shrimpy, from the shrimp the fishermen fling into the sea. I must have eaten my fair share of shrimp meant for the whale sharks.
Also, the well-meaning boatmen will push you into the water the first few times so that you can get better shots with the whale sharks. Advice: get prepared to submerge yourself into the water as gracefully as possible. I ended up looking like a half-drowned sinker most of the time!
If you're anything like me, after a few rounds of trying to submerge yourself, you'll be gasping for air, and you can hang onto the side of the boat to catch your breath before going in again!
Each session lasts half an hour and is well enough for you to take photos and simply hang out (you can hang onto the sides of the boat while snorkelling so you don't exhaust yourself) and take in the beauty of the whale sharks.
-------------
To sum up our top tips for tourists:
The following steps will get you from Mactan Airport in Cebu to Oslob:
For whale shark (butanding) watching in Oslob:
We headed to Oslob with hopes to see whale sharks. These gentle giants are filter feeders and can grow up to 12m (some say 14m!). Basically, we were super excited about the idea of swimming with creatures the sizes of buses. Their mouths are so wide they can fit a human being in sideways, but of course they don't eat humans so there is no risk of that.
Oslob, a sleepy fishing village in Cebu, has been put on the map of adventure-seekers for the chance to swim with the whale sharks that congregate a very short distance away from the shore. The whale sharks gather every morning when the fishermen row out to feed them small shrimps. This feeding has stirred up its fair share of controversy (see this for some discussion of the controversy). As an alternative to Oslob, whale sharks can also be seen at Donsol but unlike Oslob, there is no guarantee of seeing the whale sharks there. We considered Donsol too, but felt that we would be heartbroken if we missed seeing the whale sharks and thus headed to Oslob.
If you have considered all this and come to a decision to go to Oslob, then read on! This post is for you.
As for how to get to Oslob, the air-conditioned bus is strongly recommended! We took the non air-conditioned bus on the way there and had rain drops fall on us and had to squeeze (I'm relatively tiny and yet I found it squash!) onto small seats and through narrow aisles. For 5 php (< 20 cents sgd) the comfort of the big tour bus (which has complimentary movies!) is so worth it. Also, if you are alighting a slight distance away from Bgy Tan-awan, you may need to tell the bus driver where you are a couple times, as he missed our stop initially! Thankfully the bus inspector was onboard then and helped us to sort it out so we took the nice bus backwards (I insisted that this leg our journey was to be free) till we got to our homestay. I must say that in general, Philippinos are pretty accommodating and friendly though there is still something of a language barrier in the more remote villages and a cultural gap in terms of the pace of life. The Singaporean in me kept wanting efficiency and to rush about so I had to tell myself this was no Amazing Race.
Brumini Resort is located less than 200m away from the whale shark watching site, and it offers a free shuttle to there. There are also eating places and souvenir shops located within Brumini's which is really convenient! There are adorable whale shark magnets and cute tee shirts to be purchased.
Even so, not sure I'd recommend Brumini's as the rooms aren't cheap and our bathroom was constantly flooded. Also, you have to rent the cabanas by the beach!
To see the whale sharks, try to get to the viewing point by 0630 (viewing starts at 0600). Our resort said that we should go at 0700 as there would be more whale sharks then and more light which would make for better photographs. I'm so glad we did not heed that advice, as the crowds started pouring in by the time we were done with our half-hour slot at 0700. If you go at 0630,there will be only 4 - 5 boats around and you will just miss the crowds. In the picture below you can see the crowd starting to gather as our boat leaves.
Some of these rules are honoured in the breach e.g. the one that says people have to wear a life jacket at all times. However, some rules really should be observed, e.g. not to touch the whale sharks, as they have a protective layer around them that prevents them from infections and the like and touching them will remove this layer. Also, not to use flash photography.
This is the little boat that brings people out to sea.
 |
| The unflappable boatman |
Oh and bring along a underwater camera! You can hand these to the very experienced boatmen who will help you take the photographs. We brought along a go pro, which turned out to be an excellent idea as this allowed us to get photos of the full length of the whale sharks. And the high res pictures allow other swimmers to be cropped out while retaining a large enough image. Brilliant!
And then, we launched ourselves off and started snorkelling! Snorkelling was a bit difficult for me as I kept going in too deep and ended up gulping down mouthfuls of seawater. Incidentally, the sea smelt extremely fish, or rather, shrimpy, from the shrimp the fishermen fling into the sea. I must have eaten my fair share of shrimp meant for the whale sharks.
Also, the well-meaning boatmen will push you into the water the first few times so that you can get better shots with the whale sharks. Advice: get prepared to submerge yourself into the water as gracefully as possible. I ended up looking like a half-drowned sinker most of the time!
Each session lasts half an hour and is well enough for you to take photos and simply hang out (you can hang onto the sides of the boat while snorkelling so you don't exhaust yourself) and take in the beauty of the whale sharks.
-------------
To sum up our top tips for tourists:
The following steps will get you from Mactan Airport in Cebu to Oslob:
- Catch a cab to the South Bus Terminal in Cebu City. This will take 30 mins and cost around 300 php.
- From there, take a bus to Oslob. The buses start at 0430, try to get on an early bus to avoid the notorious Cebu traffic.
- The bus journey takes 2 - 4 hours and costs 150 php for a non air-conditioned bus and 155 php for an air-conditioned bus.
- If you want to see the whale sharks right away, tell the bus driver to drop you off at Bgy Tan-awan.
For whale shark (butanding) watching in Oslob:
- The watching schedule is from 0600 to 1230
- To beat the crowds, plan to arrive before 0700
- The bonus of going early is that you can take a second slot if you ao fancy
- Each slot is a half hour block
- Cost for whale shark watching only: 300 php
- Cost for whale shark watching and snorkeling (inclusive of equipment) for foreigners: 1,000 php (for locals: 500 php)
