South Cebu: Bittersweet Encounter with the Gentle Giant in Oslob
Ever since the whale shark experience started to shoot up I always wanted to join the bandwagon. Swimming with the whale shark is amazing as it sounds, what more if you will able able to experience it, right?
After canyoneering, Highland Adventure arranged transportation for us from Badian to Oslob. They even find us a place to stay since it was very late and our energy if totally drained. We just gave everything for them to decide.. and no regrets because they found the cheapest room and closer to where is the whale shark watching station is.
We start our day early morning around 6am. Whale watching is 300php and 500php with snorkeling equipments and if you wish to swim with the whale. Before the close encounter with the gentle giant, there's a briefing about the do's and dont's while swimming with the whale shark just to keep both parties safe. (Sadly, not everyone follows it)
But looking on the queue, i felt bad for the whale sharks. It looks exhausting on their part. It might be fascinating for us, but imagine that people are earning money out of their innocence. The natural living of whale sharks are being altered because of how wrong people are taking care of them for the sake of tourist attraction and money.. (i think we are all aware of the "why we shouldn't support whale shark swimming and watching" because the articles are all over social media) and believe me after I witness the situation, as much as I wanted to do it again and again I prefer not to..
The experience is very surreal. Imagine just staying up close with the gentle giant is already an amazing experience.. To witness how huge the gentle giant is! What more if you also had the chance to swim with them.. But I think this would be my first and last encounter with them. Dont get me wrong, the experience was amazing. I dont want to look and sound like a hypocrite that after doing it myself and all this experience then i will discourage people to do it. I still want you to see the beauty of it by posting these wonderful pictures, I might just have leave it with you and experience it on your own. Then lets talk.. 🙂
After canyoneering, Highland Adventure arranged transportation for us from Badian to Oslob. They even find us a place to stay since it was very late and our energy if totally drained. We just gave everything for them to decide.. and no regrets because they found the cheapest room and closer to where is the whale shark watching station is.
We start our day early morning around 6am. Whale watching is 300php and 500php with snorkeling equipments and if you wish to swim with the whale. Before the close encounter with the gentle giant, there's a briefing about the do's and dont's while swimming with the whale shark just to keep both parties safe. (Sadly, not everyone follows it)
But looking on the queue, i felt bad for the whale sharks. It looks exhausting on their part. It might be fascinating for us, but imagine that people are earning money out of their innocence. The natural living of whale sharks are being altered because of how wrong people are taking care of them for the sake of tourist attraction and money.. (i think we are all aware of the "why we shouldn't support whale shark swimming and watching" because the articles are all over social media) and believe me after I witness the situation, as much as I wanted to do it again and again I prefer not to..
The experience is very surreal. Imagine just staying up close with the gentle giant is already an amazing experience.. To witness how huge the gentle giant is! What more if you also had the chance to swim with them.. But I think this would be my first and last encounter with them. Dont get me wrong, the experience was amazing. I dont want to look and sound like a hypocrite that after doing it myself and all this experience then i will discourage people to do it. I still want you to see the beauty of it by posting these wonderful pictures, I might just have leave it with you and experience it on your own. Then lets talk.. 🙂
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