It was around 12 mn when we went to South bus terminal Cebu City. Good thing because the first trip going to Oslob is 1 am. Just a quick tip if you're traveling in a tight budget (Instead of staying at the hotel or inn, we decided to stay at Starbucks and wait til 12 mn so that we can save our money for hotel accommodation!) Haha! Believe me this strategy works in us! We arrived at Oslob around 3:45 am and we're not familiar with the place and we haven't have our room reservation prior to our stay but good thing because the bus conductor dropped us to MB's Sunrise View Resort.

How to get to Oslob: 

Early bird watches the whale shark! (Lol! Did I say that?)  Well, if you want to avoid the city traffic and avoid the crowd during your whale shark watching, I recommend for you to be early as possible. Why? Because it’s better to watch and swim with them without any distractions from the crowd and be the first to see them during feeding time. Also, whale shark watching won’t last the whole day, they get fed from 6am to noon. Take note, that the whale shark watching is only 30 minutes for 500 php for local tourists and 1000 php for foreigners. (Inclusions will be posted below!)

Our boat with the fishermen

Me,  Eline and Cindy! :)

We are blessed because the resort where we are staying is just a walking distance to the whale shark area. They also offer itinerary package for whale shark watching. We went there as early as 6 am and we met a new friend from Holland named “Elina” (Hi Eline! Really had fun swimming with you and the whale shark!) She joined us on our whale shark adventure.

 

With Eline from Holland

When we arrived there, we head straight to the briefing area and the tourist guide discussed with us the whale shark interaction guidelines.

Registration...

I thought it was cleared to all tourist about the guidelines but still there's a lot of tourists who opposed it and somehow they even try to touch the whale sharks. What saddened me was the chaotic scenery of the tourist who tried to do every single angle to have great captured and not considering the harm or they can scare away the whale sharks. 

As early as 6 am the waves are very high crashing ashore and a fairly strong wind is blowing on us that’s the reason why it’s very hard to swim and see the whale shark properly. Luckily I’m a good swimmer and was able to capture good shots there. 

When I encountered the whale sharks, I was dumbfounded and mesmerized by its beauty and the way it look (It's so gigantic)! I thank God for such a beautiful creation and I hope they will last a lifetime.

I had great time and still in disbelief of what I just saw. I'm in awe to God. I’m also thankful for the fisherman/tourist guide there because they are very accommodating and the locals have shown genuine hospitality and very passionate in entertaining us! Truly Filipino blood runs in their veins! 

                           Whale Shark Watching Fees as of 2016

Local Tourists:

Fee: 300 php
Inclusion: Whale watching in the boat, no swimming and a life jacket.

Fee: 500 php
Inclusion: Life jacket, snorkeling with the whale shark.

Foreign Tourists:

Fee: 1000 php
Inclusion: Snokeling with the whale shark and a life jacket.

You can also rent an underwater camera if you don't have one for only 500 php. They will give you a copy via CD or if you have a flash drive they can put it there. 

I hope this helps! 

XOXO,

Rothessa