Suroy- suroy: Swimming With The Gentle Sharks (Oslob Escapade Part 1)

Back when I was in Oslob together with my college friends, I wasn't able to swim with the whales because of monetary concerns. It was an unplanned trip and I wasn't able to prepare spare money for spontaneous expeditions. Some of my friends were able to do it and indeed I got jealous. Now that I am back in Oslob with my family, I won't let this one pass.

I didn't.

We left the house at 5AM in the morning anxious about the traffic the International Eucharistic Congress may cause. It was the best time to leave for us to be able to reach the whale's feeding time which will only last until 12:30PM. The trip lasted for 3 and a half hours.

There were already a lot of tourists when we arrived in Tanawan, Oslob. We even spotted a local artist which made us all thrilled. All of us were first timers! Before we hit the waters, we were asked to attend a brief orientation to learn about the basic do's and dont's when swimming with the whales. We were also asked to wash off our sunblocks since it contains toxic chemicals that could cause harm to the gentle sharks. 

Fee's depend on how you want to watch the whale sharks. You can either swim for 500 Pesos (local fee) which includes a life- vest and snorkelling goggles, or you can just sit on the pump boat and wait for them(whale sharks) to surface for 300 Pesos (local fee). Yes, fee's also vary if you're a local tourist or a foreigner. We had to wait for our turn patiently for each group can swim for 30 minutes only.

Look how this whale is swimming close to us! We were advised not to touch them, I forgot why but it's better to follow the rules. Divers were swimming beneath us! I might want to try scuba diving soon. The local boatsmen told us that we can take our life-vest off only if we know how to swim. It gave us a hard time to take our pictures but yeah, here's two for me! Yes!

The waves were very unruly and our time was already over. We got back up to our pump boats,  slightly sad because of the little time we had but still were satisfied and happy that we were able to experience it for ourselves. It was really an experience we will never ever forget! 

It was not long when we galloped to a bigger pump boat. We are going to Sumilon Island! *Again for me! Yey!*