Whale Watching Oslob - Encounter with the Friendly Butanding

The cold holiday season is about to expire. With the many low atmospheric pressures in our area in the past few days, typhoons are seems to be frequently visiting my poor place here in Dumaguete City. 

Since, Cebu island is not far away from Dumageute City, I cannot keep from thinking what had happened to the whale sharks in Tanawan, Oslob, Cebu, Philippines. The friendly marine giants has said to easily detect the coming of the super typhoon "Pablo" that hit Cebu Island with signal no. 3 status.

These are the gentle Whale Sharks found in Tanawan, Oslob, Cebu, Philippines. MORE?

My first sight was really like woah! It was really a very huge fish. It's like 15- 25 feet. The boatmen told us that they're just babies. BABIES? I wonder how long would be the whale sharks in Donsol, Sorsogon. I search it in the internet, and they are actually more than 40-feet long and DON'T KNOW how tons.

Natural instincts have said to save these marine giants from the wrath of supertypoon Pablo. After the province hit by the strong typoon, only few whale sharks have been seen by the boatmen. According to an Italian-based research group who has long been studying the whale sharks in Tanawan, Oslob, Cebu, there were at least 12 whale sharks that usually visit the place. Before the typhoon, they probably went down 2,000 meters deep in the sea to save themselves from the incoming upheaval. More whale shark reports HERE.

Anyway, I just heard that the place is back to its tourism activities. That means that the whale sharks are back entertaining the tourists. I'll show you how we enjoy my encouter with this wild yet gentle marine giants. 

Early morning breaks in. A beautiful day is coming our way.

With Grah (middle) and Walter (right).

With Grah and Jason.

Finally! We arrived at Whale Shark Point in Oslob, Cebu, Philippines.

We gear up. Those white rooms behind us are the CRs. You can take a shower and change clothes with an affordable charge. (Php 10.00). The life vests are for Php 20.00 each. There are vests worth Php 50.00, but I don't know the difference. It's necessary that you use a life vest.

This is our boat with two boatmen. We paid it for Php 150.00 (I guess). This small boat is good for four only.

These are the Whale Shark watchers. It's still approaching 7:00 AM. Good thing the weather is kinda gloomy, because Sunblocks are not allowed. It may poison the wild whale sharks. Watchers are not allowed to touch these friendly giants.

I'm actually anxious over what will happen when I'm face with the gentle giants.

These are the boatmen who fetch the whale sharks from the deep. They entice the gentle giants through feeding them with small crustaceans that locals called "Uyap.

And finally, it goes towards my direction. The whale shark is really huge. I make sure that I'm secured in the middle of the boat. I'm afraid it might accidentally wiggle its big tail or fin on us. I don't know how to swim, so if this one attacks, I'm surely gonna die.

I can't keep balance.

This is a capture from a underwater camera. A friend who went there last Dec. 12, 2012, gave me her shots.

Whale Sharks are actually not whales, they're really a shark specie.

That's a baby whale shark's mouth. It's a feed-filter type of animal.

What I do is to look at them from nearby. I dunno how to swim.

Because I couldn't enjoy much, I returned to the boat and hmm wait till the whale sharks shows up again.

There! You see that? It's behind the boatman.

After an hour, we decided to get back. We're starving.

This is the humble place of Oslob Whale Shark Point.

These are the four of us. Jason, Me, Grah, and Walter. With great friends in one of the best roadtrips.

With my super tan complexion. (sorry, I was eating when that shot was about to be taken)

I really hope the whale sharks would find their way to the deep. They're not safe near the shoreline. Though the government is trying hard to protect them, we wouldn't know with the private divers and companies who only have their own interest at mind. Goodbye for now fellow bloggers. I am not yet going to post my year-end post, coz it's not the end of 2012. The Chinese still in 2012. (excuses!)



Just me, 
Phioxee





P.S. Thank you to Walter G., and Sugar Calderon for the photos.