Oslob
It was saturday when we packed our bags and rubbed our sleepy eyes and took the first bus leaving from Moalboal to Oslob, the place where you are guranteed to see whale sharks. For me, who is a person very impressed by big animals and marine animals, I was really excited to do this. Before this trip I always googled pictures (I know you shouldn't do that, but still) to see how the Philippines looks like, and every time I stumbled upon all these whale shark pictures. I thought these creatures were just chilling in the water everywhere around Oslob and that you just go snorkel by yourself, but how wrong I was.
When we finally got there and sat in the boat, Mollie got cold feet and didn't really understand why she was doing this to herself. I was bubbly, happy and excited.
And then it started, we both got out of the boat, Mollie holding me like a blue blanket, and with our snorkel equipment we just lowered our heads and watched the biggest marine animal in the world circulate around us. Whale sharks can be up to 18 meters long (!!!) which can be intimidating but since they only eat plankton and small fishes they're not dangerous at all. Amazing creatures for sure.
As fantastic as it was seeing these animals and snorkeling with them I ended up feeling really bad about doing it. The snorkeling with whale sharks wasn't even close to what I expected. Afterwards I got told (I don't have a reliable source to this information but it doesn't sound unreal) that the only reason the whale sharks get stuck around Oslob is because they always get food there. They eat an incredible large amount of food every day and they don't swim around the island anymore, which destroys the natural circulation and environmental movement. This is not a tour you do to just see whale sharks in their natural condition, no, this is rigged and not nice at all if you think about it. If I knew all of this before, I would never have participated in this kind of tour.
Well well, we finished the tour in half an hour and then we got transferred by tricycle to a port where a boat were waiting to take us to Panglao, an island connected to Bohol. Because of the tide we hade to go by this mini boat to the big boat. It was kind of nice being dragged and not having to move even a bit of your muscles.
The boatride started and just like always here in the Philippines I get kind of speechless when it comes to the scenery. The mountains surrounded by the clear blue water and small islands popping up every herere and there just makes it preferable to go by boat instead of taking flights everywhere. Also the ferry system is actually pretty (still there are many connections that are awfully bad) developed here so if you're not in a rush you can often easily go by ferry or boat to most places to save some money and see more of the country. Notice how I use very abstract words here since I can't promise anything. Maybe I've just been lucky?
Until next time, friends!
Ida
Hej Ida. Råkade snubbla in på din blogg. Har själv besökt Oslob och håller med allt vad du skriver om valhajjarna. Men visst är det häftigt att få komma så nära dessa gigantiska djur. Hoppas på att få se några i det fria havet nu i vinter när vi ska åka ner till Cebu igen. Anledningen till att jag skriver är att jag såg att du tog båt mellan oslob och Panglao- det visste jag inte att man kan, då vi alltid åkt färja mellan tagbilaran- cebu och sen bussen till Moalboal. Nu ska vi ner i vinter igen och tänker att båt mellan Panglao och Oslob borde gå snabbare om man vill till Moalboal. Vore jättetacksam om du ville dela med dig av vilken färja/ bät ni åkte med från oslob- Bohol. Tack på förhand och hoppas att du har en fantastisk resa i Fillipinerna.. / Johan