Here’s another late post. Jette and I went whale-shark (butanding) watching at Oslob, Cebu last February 1st. And for someone who always loves water animals, it was an incredible experience.

We left Sibulan early and took the fastcraft to Santander, Liloan in Cebu at 7 a.m. We walked the short distance to the cozy (and highly recommended) Eden Resort. They were the ones who arranged the adventure for us.

We rode a couple of motorbikes from Liloan to Oslob (and I wish I could have taken a pic of those as I enjoyed riding them). The scenery was beautiful especially since most of the time you can see the sea from the road.

When we got to the place where we were going to take the boats, we paid the 300Php fee (each) and joined in a quick orientation. It was in Cebuano but I’m really good with context clues so I only needed Jette to translate the jokes ehehe

Then we donned our snorkeling gear, got into a boat and the two manongs rowed us out to the sea where a number of butanding were swimming. It was actually still very close to the shore, around twenty feet of water. The whale-sharks were just there, swimming with the pesky humans and following the boats around, asking for food.

While I appreciate being able to be close enough to them to touch, at the back of my mind I knew I shouldn’t (be close enough and shouldn’t touch them). It’s an awesome experience, yes, but I can’t help but worry about the whale-sharks. What if there are no fishermen to feed them? What if some idiot on a boat feeds them something like chicharon or siopao. Something! It just worries me.

The fishermen treats these whale-sharks like domesticated pets. And there’s this one baby whale-shark that keeps following this boat around, asking for food. They’re also very careful with the animals. They make sure that the boats don’t hit them, and that they don’t crowd the whale-sharks.

Of course, the other humans don’t respect the rules that not more than 5 people should be in the water near the animals or the whale-sharks will get stressed.

Anyway, I kept having trouble with the snorkel. And the current was so strong I couldn’t let go of our guide’s hand for fear of being swept by the current and deposited in Bohol… which is not a bad idea actually, as I’ve never been to Bohol… hmmm…

Anyway, Jette also told me about the difference between whale-watching in Oslob and in Donsol. It’s easier to see the butanding in Oslob, but the Donsol experience is more geniuine as the buntanding there are wild.

In any case, I loved our trip to Oslob.

When we got back to Eden, we had lunch. I couldn’t pass up the chicken cordon bleu which is one of my most favorite food. Jette had the grilled fish. Then we went to the beach and took some pictures before we went back to the resort to swim. I was such a happy baby. We stayed at the shallow side of the pool (3 ft.) but I wanted to go to the 8 ft. side. Except I didn’t know how to thread and was scared I’d embarrass myself hehe next time.

Jette and I spent the time talking (mostly about our boys) and with me trying to reach the floor of the pool with my nose. I also wanted to try to do a flip but I’d have to be in deeper water than that.

Hay. I want to go swimming again soon. Anyhow, here are some pics from the trip.