The year 2011 was spent going around places, so I spent the last few days of the year in vacation, basically just sleeping, eating, and lounging around. I was scheduled to go back to work on the night of January 2, however, a travel opportunity beckoned, and my hubby's cousins prodded us to go to Oslob to swim with the whale sharks.
My hubby also had to work that Monday, but we thought, what the heck! What's another day? So off we went. It wasn't a hard feat, as my friends, Doi and Edcel who are travel bloggers, have already posted the details on how to get there.
We took a car to get there. What was originally a 3-hour drive became 2. This was made possible by the lack of traffic at 4am, and my husband's excitement, making him press the gas pedal harder.
We got there at around 6am. You pay PhP100 as entrance fee, and there are picnic huts that you can rent for PhP400. I don't recommend renting one, if you don't really plan to stay there for long. There's not much to do there anyway, after you've swam with the whale sharks.
From the shoreline, you can already see the group of paddle boats who are feeding the whale sharks. The local fisher folks feed them with plankton or small shrimps. The fee for the paddle boat is PhP300 per person, and the viewing/swimming is good for 30 minutes.
The first time we went there (we went twice in one month), which was Jan. 2, we got the motorized banca that accommodated all 7 of us, plus 2 kids. We paid PhP450 each (kids were free) for a one-hour experience with the gentle giants.
The 2nd time was January 21, by that time, the government has stepped in, and imposed some regulations. Motorized bancas are no longer allowed since it caused a couple of accidents wounding 2 whale sharks. Because we had previous experience, we immediately went to the pick-up point and was accommodated right-away. It was only after we got off and inquired about where to pay that we were informed that payment should have been made at the orientation center (located few meters away), and that we wouldn't have been allowed to board the boat without the ticket (which should have been given upon payment, and after orientation). Good thing we were honest people, and asked where we could pay, since nobody ever approached us about payment. It was an honest mistake that saved us some hassles. =)
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| they're really huge! |
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| and really tame! |
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| they would even try to get near you |
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| one of them nudged my butt! unfortunately, no one was quick enough to take a pic! |
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| my cousins-in-law trying to get a better pose with the gentle giant |
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