Cebu

Day One – Getting to Oslob

Woke up and had breakfast and had a lazy morning as we were waiting for our minibus transfer to the airport to go to Cebu.

 

We were then picked up around 1.00 and transported to the airport.  The airport was very small and we had to wait for a couple of hours for our flight and say our goodbyes to Rachael as this was the end of her trip as she was going back to blighty.

Our plane was on time but unfortunately for Rachael her flight back to Manila was delayed, so we had to leave her hoping that she would also be away soon.

The flight was only about an hour and Shell, Daryll and I arrived in Cebu and tried to work out how we were going to get to Oslob. After a few negotiations we sourced a Taxi that would take us all the way there. 

The journey took around 3 hours and we past quite a few busy built up area’s that looked a bit dodgy, but when we finally made it to Oslob around 7pm, we found it to be a very remote laid back beach place.  The accommodation was pretty decent and had a nice swimming pool. 

Oslob is famous for snorkelling with Whale Sharks, which is the main reason Daryll booked this place, so we quickly arranged this with the staff at the resort, however we were told it was better if we did this early the next morning at 6.00am!!

As it was getting late in the day and the resort only seemed to do snack food and pizza’s we decided to go into town (a few shops & restaurant’s).  We got a tricycle from the resort who was an old guy and who insisted on waiting for us whilst we had our dinner (about £1 each way with a 2-3 hour waiting time!!).

What we found was an open air barbeque area with lots of locals and we were invited to pick what meats and fish we wanted off the stall and then they barbequed them and bought them to our table.  To be fair we all went a bit mad as it was about 20-30p per item, whether it was chicken legs, ribs, tuna fish, etc.  So we had a really great feast and downed a number of Red Horses before getting the tricycle back to the resort.

Once back at the resort it was pretty shut down for the night so we had to help ourselves to the beers in the reception area fridge before heading off for bed.

Day 2 – Oslob, Whale Sharks & Waterfall’s

Waking up very early at 5.30 and banging on our wall to make sure Daryll was awake we soon found ourselves in a car with two other Japanese tourists on our way to the Whale Shark departure point.

When we got there we had to pay our entrance fee and watch a small information briefing on how to behave whilst snorkelling with the largest fishes in the ocean.  Once that had been done we were then handed some life jackets and snorkelling equipment and were loaded onto a small Banqua type of boat.

The site itself was only about 50 metres from the beach and was pretty crowded with load of boats and tourists and it wasn’t long before we could see some Whale Sharks at the surface following feeding boats.

 

Although Shell was a bit nervous she was first to plunge over the side of the boat to get a closer look, followed quickly by Daryll with me bring up the rear.

It was pretty incredible once you were in suddenly you were a few feet away from these incredible beasts which were between 10 to 20 metres long and sometimes you had to be careful to get out of the way of their tails as they came by and swam past.  I took my go-pro and tried my best to get some good pictures, but the visibility wasn’t great and because they are so big it was hard to get a really decent picture.

 

 

The experience was pretty incredible, the only thing that spoilt it though was the amount of people there, getting too close to them and in some cases kicking them as they were swimming or trying to get a photo with them (however I guess we were also part of the problem so am being a bit hypocritical!).

Anyway it was a pretty great start to the day and once we were back on shore we went to a café to get some breakfast,  Daryll had a pizza at 7.00 in the morning!!

After breakfast, we hadn’t realised it but the driver was taking us on a bit of a sightseeing tour and pretty shortly after departing the Whale Sharks we were taken to a waterfall area and dropped off at the top to walk down to them.  There were bikes to take you down there but as it was down we all decided to walk – it was quite steep though.

Once at the bottom we saw the waterfalls which were pretty but not spectacular, had a quick shower under them (Shell & Glenn, not Daryll) before deciding to head back up the hill.  Shell enquired how much it was for a bike up the hill and the driver decided to wait for her whilst we had a cigarette, so she felt obliged to get the lift back (Lazy cow, Daryll and I walked it!).

Once back at the top we were then driven to an old Spanish church and garrison ruins which were nice but not really our type of thing.  I decided to go into the small little museum there which had such interesting things as a Sewing Machine, a bed, knives & forks and a broken piano in it, when I got out I told Shell and Daryll that they had to go in to because it was so worth it!!!

 

After they had both emerged looking thoroughly unimpressed we got back it the Jeep and were taken back to our accommodation.

We had a pretty lazy afternoon drinking beer, making use of the swimming pool and playing table tennis (Or trying too on my part, Daryll won about 4 games to one).

In the evening we sat around the reception area drinking and got chatting to some guys from Essex (A couple of brothers and one of their girlfriends) who they had been travelling for some time and gave Shell and I some good advice on places to scuba-dive and different places to go (we will now visit Bali on their recommendation).  As it was getting on a bit Daryll and I were getting hungry so decided to go back to the Barbeque stands for dinner (Shell said she did not fancy it and might have an early night), so once again Daryll and I pigged out for less that £10 for the both of us including drinks before returning to our lodgings.

Unsurprisingly enough Shelley was still up chatting and drinking with the guys from Essex, so we joined them all for a few more Red Horses before turning in for the night.