UPDATE :
It's been so long.......... Lol the last time I posted about something here was almost a year ago. I have been real busy with life, from learning French, doing business with baking at home and saving up that I completely forgot about my promise to myself a year ago, which is to get back on writing a journal. Well.. Here I am now, sitting on my bed contemplating on how I should start talking about this trip without having that awkward introduction. It has been 5 months!
So.. I have always been fascinated about these Whale Sharks of Oslob. It was I think 2011 when a friend posted a video about her Oslob adventure. And I said I wanna go try it one of these days.. Then months turned into years and I haven't had the chance to hang out with these giants. My frustration grew and I was really desperate to go. It's not because of the money, its just a 2-hour-drive by bus from Southbus Terminal to Oslob, but its the thought of going there alone that i find less appealing and the fact that I am not a good swimmer. I lived 16 years of my life a few steps away from the sea and I cant swim! Such a loser. Most of my friends or co-workers that I asked to take the adventure with me said its a waste of money to spend 500 php for only 30 minutes of interaction.. And I always thought "nooooo.. It's a once in a lifetime adventure" So, to cut the story short.. I did find a travel buddy this year. My boyfriend promised to take me to swim with the Whale sharks when he gets back home. And it was a promise he can't back out. Lol
As a typical summer in the Philippines, it was hot and sunny. We almost didn't catch the Butandings when we get to Oslob because their set cut off was around 12:30pm. We paid 500php each right away so that we can start with the orientation on the do's and don'ts during the whole 30 mins of interaction. We were all Filipinos on that batch but the orientation guy spoke in English, so foreigners have nothing to worry about.
We were assigned to two guides. While on the way to the snorkeling site, there were already lots of tourist either snorkeling or just on the boat contented of taking snapshots. I noticed that the sea was kind of rough for a novice swimmer like me. Its so hard to swim with the waves a little less friendly. Not to mention the life vest they gave me was a little bigger for my size. The guides wo were assigned to us took our pictures while others drove the Butandings near us by feeding it.
The encounter was a struggle for me, I couldn't go deeper without letting the seawater in to my snorkeling gear. I tried to take them off but the seawater is too irritating to the eyes. Almost the whole time I was holding on to the boat's outriggers like it was my life, and only took a plunge when the guide ask me to. I was so scared when the shark came to where we were swimming and we kind of swam back to back with each other lol I felt his back and i always thought it was smooth but it was rough and it left rashes at my back afterwards. The 2 guides were as eager as me to take our pictures. It was like they knew that 500 php was a bit too pricey so one should get a decent picture with the whale sharks. One guide even shove me under the water just so that the other guide could take a picture of me with it in my background. I was surprised and I didn't even prepare a deep breath. Lol this was one of the things I will never forget about this trip.
The guides were very helpful. My boyfriend asked me if I was ok seeing that i struggled a lot holding on to the outriggers lol i only said that this is not what I expected it to be. He told me this is what i have always wanted to try and yeah we just laugh it off. Lol Thank you gie! :)
It's been so long.......... Lol the last time I posted about something here was almost a year ago. I have been real busy with life, from learning French, doing business with baking at home and saving up that I completely forgot about my promise to myself a year ago, which is to get back on writing a journal. Well.. Here I am now, sitting on my bed contemplating on how I should start talking about this trip without having that awkward introduction. It has been 5 months!
So.. I have always been fascinated about these Whale Sharks of Oslob. It was I think 2011 when a friend posted a video about her Oslob adventure. And I said I wanna go try it one of these days.. Then months turned into years and I haven't had the chance to hang out with these giants. My frustration grew and I was really desperate to go. It's not because of the money, its just a 2-hour-drive by bus from Southbus Terminal to Oslob, but its the thought of going there alone that i find less appealing and the fact that I am not a good swimmer. I lived 16 years of my life a few steps away from the sea and I cant swim! Such a loser. Most of my friends or co-workers that I asked to take the adventure with me said its a waste of money to spend 500 php for only 30 minutes of interaction.. And I always thought "nooooo.. It's a once in a lifetime adventure" So, to cut the story short.. I did find a travel buddy this year. My boyfriend promised to take me to swim with the Whale sharks when he gets back home. And it was a promise he can't back out. Lol
As a typical summer in the Philippines, it was hot and sunny. We almost didn't catch the Butandings when we get to Oslob because their set cut off was around 12:30pm. We paid 500php each right away so that we can start with the orientation on the do's and don'ts during the whole 30 mins of interaction. We were all Filipinos on that batch but the orientation guy spoke in English, so foreigners have nothing to worry about.
The guides were very helpful. My boyfriend asked me if I was ok seeing that i struggled a lot holding on to the outriggers lol i only said that this is not what I expected it to be. He told me this is what i have always wanted to try and yeah we just laugh it off. Lol Thank you gie! :)
Hi! As I promise you on IG here I am.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo.
Kisses,
Eni
http://eniwherefashion.blogspot.it/