Philipines, Oslob Cebu

I got a few things in my bucket list and one was swimming with the whale sharks in Oslob. A superb experience it was! The whale sharks were indeed the gentle giants of the sea, we were all fascinated to watch and swim with these friendly creatures.

Oslob is located in the southern part of Cebu, where you can encounter with the whale sharks in their habitat. It is a 3 hours drive from Cebu City. Along the way, we pass by and visited the famous miraculous church of Simala in a small town of Sibonga.

Simala Church

We arrived Oslob around lunch time, ate lunch at one of the stalls at the Oslob Market food street. After lunch, we went to Sumilon bay port for our check in at the Sumilon Bluewaters.

A 15 minutes boat ride to the Island. The resort has only 27 rooms for guest, and offers glamping by the sea. Our Room is quite spacious, clean and well maintained. And it has a great view of the sea! The Staff are courteous and very attentive to our needs. A relaxing place with the fresh air and nice scenery.

We had fun swimming in their pool, had fish feeding, riding their own mini bus, swimming at the beach..

We went to Oslob whale watching, got into the first boat trip ride back to Oslob, 5 minute drive to the Whale watching area. When we got there, it was jam packed with locals and tourists. We registered, had a lecture of do's and dont's.

No sunblock lotions since it may harm the whale sharks

Swim 4 meters away from the whale shark

Do not attempt to touch the whale shark

Paid our fees:

Fees are as follows:

Boat ride P350

Boat and swim with the whale shark P500(with snorkle) - local rate, P1000 for tourist

We waited for our turn, it was all well organized. We were all excited to encounter with these gentle giants!

At last! it was our turn to ride the boat. And in a couple of minutes, we were in the sea, jumped out of the boat and there they were, more than 5 less than 10 big giants of the sea! When you dive in and see their whole beauty.. WHOA! Magnificent creation, so big, yet so gentle, swimming gracefully, trying to connect people and probably enjoying as much as we enjoyed looking at them.

A nice experience, happy to see them in their habitat and not in aquariums.