Meet and Greet with the Butandings
12:00 PM
It's another Sunday but not an ordinary one. It's our awaited trip to see the Butandings (Whale Shark) in Oslob. This trip has been rescheduled several times due to different activities by the people who are going.
I had an overnight stay in one of my friends house with Dhory and Carlo. It's much nearer if I travel from there going to the South Bus Terminal compared to starting at my place. The first bus trip would be by 2 am. It would take about 2-3 hours to reach the place.
We woke up around 12:45 am and prepared ourselves. We then took a taxi going to the South Bus Terminal.
When we arrived, we payed for the entrance fee of P 5.00.
Good thing we were able to catch up with the trip. They were leaving when we arrived. The bus was full and it was not an air conditioned bus.
The bus ride costs P 150 pesos per person.
We were supposed to meet our friend Jean there but they were late so they took the 3 AM bus.
On the first hour, we were just standing and holding unto the railings. Since there were other people who have arrived at their destinations, we were able to sit.
We were still so sleepy and the ride was not the best since there are a lot of times you would turn and you would fall off the seat.
I was able to doze off a little and catch up with my sleep.
By 5 am, we arrived at our destination.
We waited for Jean and her boyfriend, James since they are the ones who knew where we were going to go.
There were a lot of people already arriving and also there are people who had an overnight stay in the resorts there just to be early.
Around 5: 30, they have arrived. We then looked for a place where we were going to go to watch the Butandings. There are a lot of resorts that are offering at a low price.
We were told that we have to still take a seminar before seeing them.
We still have to walk to the area where we would be having the seminar.
We then fall in line to get registered and get our numbers. There are even color codings: blue, green and yellow.
I guess it has something to do with the location.
It took us about an hour to wait for our turn to get our number. We have to write our names to get registered.
We have to pay 300 each for the registration.
After waiting in line, we then had to eat our breakfast since we were hungry.
We then headed to the area where we have to wait for a bangka to take us where the Butandings would swim.
One has to wear a life vest which cost 30 pesos. There is a free life vest but at that time there was none available.
We chose the Habagat life vest instead of the ordinary one.
When we headed to the bangka station, we have to wait for our turn. When it was our turn, we prepared ourselves and were very excited.
There were only 2 Butandings that showed up. The day before, there were none. I heard someone say that Manny Pacquiao, the boxer came that day and have not seen any. We were so blessed that we were able to see them today.
We swam into the water and saw the Butandings. It was worth it.
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| Courtesy of Carlo Ella |
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| Courtesy of Jean Beltran |
it was an amazing adventure!
http://www.jeanbeltran.info/2012/02/friendly-whale-sharks-in-oslob-cebu.html
wow, very nice cath..we're also planning to go there in oslob to see the whale sharks..where can we stay overnight?..
Thanks icel...
I have found a pension house...I'm not quite sure how much it costs but you can check out their facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Malonzo-Pension-House/132539320173713
Cath, question..^^ Are there snorkling equipments available for rent at the resort?..how much?..