I am thankful that I was reassigned to write an article about the whale sharks in Oslob last Summer. Aside from it was my first time seeing a live whale shark, it was also my first time going as far as this town. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, and maybe to some of the visitors also, because it's not always that whale sharks could be found in a certain place such as the Philippines.
One would be able to reach the town of Oslob in a three-hour bus ride from Cebu City.
For 300 to 500 pesos, local and foreign tourists could get a boat and have a closer view of the whale sharks locally known as the 'butandings' for 30 minutes.
After paying and registering your names, you still have to go to an orientation booth. There, a facilitator would give you the rules, directions and facts that you need before you go offshore.
Those who wanted to dive can dive and those who wanted to see the fish's huge body below the waters could snorkel as long as they maintain distance.
The butandings are fed with planktons by a fisherman while all the bangkas surround them from a distance.
There were probably three or four other whale sharks swimming in the area. But some whale sharks just come and go.
Photos by FORWARD Publications Staffs.
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