Oslob Whale Sharks

About 100km from Cebu airport, on the eastern coast of the island is a small village called Oslob. Getting there is very slow due to the constant stop and go due to broken roads or construction activity. When there is no traffic to deal with, one can focus on the beautiful green vistas, heavily wooded forests, and the serene views of the Cebu strait with many small fishing boats.

Arriving in Oslob fter the long drive with many small towns with almost no tourists around, you are suddenly thrown into a melting pot of hundreds of tourists from all over the world. The almost empty coast side is replaced by eating places, hotels, dive centers. The abundant and empty roadside turns into a sea of No Parking signs.

On the beach, you can see people donning life jackets patiently awaiting their turn to see these sea creatures that this area is famous for.

The day was beautiful, no rain, although it was a hot 87F.

To get to the viewing, you have to pay about 700 pesos, approximately $13 for foreigners and line up at a gate meant for non-locals.

You are also given a 5 minute presentation including instructions on the do's and don'ts during the 30 minutes boat expedition

There are about 25 boats each with a 6-8 person capacity besides the 4-5 oarsmen.

There is an area cordoned off with marker bouys which constitutes the limit of how far the boats are allowed to go.

After waiting for an hour, putting on the life jacket and spending 10 minutes in the boat, we arrived at the cordoned off area and it was amazing to instantly see the giant, beautiful, mottled whale sharks right in front of the small boat.

At the lead was a small boat with only one person whose sole job was to fling pieces of fish in the open water to attract the whale sharks about 20 of them were lured today to be in our company.

These gentle creatures were unafraid of humans and interacted comfortably in the presence of 25 boats with almost 300 people.

Routinely, they opened their mouth and swallowed large amounts of seawater, presumably with plankton and small fish in it.

The fish flinging boatman kept pointing out the sharks to us but no one was paying attention as most people were in the water swimming besides these giant 40ft long whale sharks ensuring they are keeping requisite distance from them. Sometimes the sharks came too close to the people on their own.

It was a great sight with dense forests, mountains, fog, light rain, ocean, people and sea creatures.

Sometimes the sharks were so close, your outstretched hand could touch them

After our 30 minutes were up and we were headed back, one of them swam under our small boat almost to bid us goodbye.

Driving back to Cebu, there is another beauty of nature to enjoy called the Tumalog waterfalls.

The way to reach the waterfall is very beautiful with vistas of the ocean and small islands strewn around.

The waterfall is a good attraction for many, and has multiple falling water levels with a serene timeless background.