Philippines

While there are numerous boating spots around the islands to spot or possibly swim with whale sharks, the most accessible and reliable is definitely Oslob on the island of Cebu. Here the whale shark tours operate 363 days of the year, are incredibly affordable, and you can “count” on seeing them. The reason why? Unlike other whale shark sighting spots, the tours in Oslob feed the whale sharks.

Ethically is this ok? Good question and it’s one I read up about a lot in preparation of my visit. As with all animal tourism activities, it’s always a good idea to read up on and decide if the activity you want to participate in is ecologically ethical. Feeding the whale sharks does create potential dependency, over socializes the whales with humans, and diverts them from what used to be set migratory habits. What I took comfort in was knowing that the tours here had VERY strict rules on not touching or swimming too close to the sharks, reportedly has marine scientists studying and keeping an eye on the sharks in the area, and that the sharks are wild and FREE to roam where they may. No cages, holding tanks, nets, notta! More on that later…..

So would I recommend this tour? YES! If you have it on your bucketlist to see or swim with whale sharks I would as long as the rules and regulations don’t change. SO more on our experience…

We had heard that the best time was as soon as it opens to see the sharks and with less crowds. The tours are all a flat rate of 1,000 pisos (no matter who you book it through) but you will see extra costs based on transportation. We were about 8.5 km at our resort from the whale shark watching area and we paid 1175 pisos/ person. We potentially could have paid a trike driver less to get us there but as we wanted to get there EARLY, we didn’t want to stress about it so we just booked it through our resort. Which turned out to be great! Not only were we picked up promptly at 5:30 (without sighting any other drivers on the road… so flagging a cheaper trike would’ve been a challenge) but our driver also had pre-purchased our tickets for us so when we got there and saw the horrendous line already at opening, we got to skip right through to the information debriefing and selecting our snorkels with only a 20 minute wait before we were out on the water.

I definitely found the extra 125 pisos worth it for this luxury and our driver/ tour guide (?) was very helpful in telling us where to go where we probably would’ve been a little lost other wise.

After selecting your snorkel (if you pay for the swimming option) you wait for your number to be called and then you go to assigned canoe. About 10 people fit in pretty small canoes and you have to sit 2 people to seat, but not to worry! It’s a very short ride out to where the water is deeper. We were maybe the 10th boat out and we hooked to the line. At this point your 30 minutes start, you can take off your life jacket, and hop right in!

All of the boats assemble in a semi circle while the canoes with the feeders are on the inside. They slowly move in front of all the boats dropping fish so that the sharks tail along and everyone gets to see them! They do feed them PRETTY CLOSE to you so there were multiple times the sharks large body or tail would get REALLY close to us and we had to get out of the way but it was also insanely cool to see them get that close. The semi circle setup also created pretty cool scenarios in that the sharks would swim in and out of the area to eat UNDER you… Twice we would be watching the shark they were feeding in front of us and would look down to see one swim RIGHT under our feet. (Thus try your best NOT to kick a lot when treading water and always be aware of what’s under you)

All in all the experience was AMAZING, and my only regret was not having a go pro as I battled with my phone in one of those water proof sleeves almost the entire time. (so I got next to no great photos with only 1 decent video) Too soon they were calling us back into the boat and we were headed back to shore. There they have showers to rinse the salt water (and potentially fish guts from the sharks eating) off before we caught our ride back to the resort.
For a longer video of swimming with the whale sharks, go here:

We had almost all day left to relax and explore Oslob! So for lunch we walked into town and tried the “fancy” restaurant our driver from the previous day had recommended. The food was good but let’s be honest, the pork was literally the same as the street food at twice the cost. The watermelon shake I had on the other hand was amazing. Then we spent some more time sitting in the sun pool side and hanging out around our waterfront resort.

Once it started to cool down in the evening, we walked to the city center of Oslob to see the historic church and fort. We happened upon the public square first, complete with political statue, pineapple fountain, public offices, and giant church not far off. We headed toward the church to check it out.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church

Oslob first became an independent parish in 1838 which them lead to the present- day construction of an incredible church as patroness. It was built out of cut coral stone and was started in 1830 – finished 18 years later. The buttresses were added between 1848 and 1850 and may favorite part, the adjacent bell tower was built in 1858. The church was burned down during the Second World War liberating Philippine Commonwealth troops and Cebuano guerillas against the Japanese in Oslob in 1945 but was eventually restored.

While we were walking around the church it was during evening mass and there was a lot of singing and music coming out of the church which was wonderful to hear though we were a bit sad to not go in. We mostly checked out the beautiful architecture and some of the fun signage they had around including one that indicated the street the church is located on is the oldest one in Oslob: Calle Aragones which was built in 1878. This street also leads you into Oslob’s heritage park where you will find the next two points of interest:

The Spanish Cuartel ruins
Located right in front of the church stands an unfinished building made of coral blocks resembling a Spanish-era barracks. This was intended to be the “cuartel”, barracks for Spanish soldiers. It was started about 1860, but remained unfinished at the end of Spanish occupation in 1898. Now it’s a cool place to play hide and seek or take nice photos.

The Baluarte
Last but not least as it’s probably the most interesting historical piece in Oslob, is the baluarte ruins. Baluarte essentially means bulwark or bastion and has a main function as a small fort or point of defense. At one point, there were 74 baluartes built along the coastline of Cebu and were built to defend the small towns against pirates from neighboring islands.

Now there are only 22 ruins remaining, 13 of which are in Oslob specifically. Most even still are located on private property but there are a couple you can see, with this one preserved in the Heritage park, being fairly easy to visit. This Baluarte was built in 1788 and has a success story in 1815 that caused the town to relocated to its current location. While again it’s mostly in ruins, I still recommend going to check it out, along with these other historical sites. All are located next to a beautiful park right on the coast.

After our history lesson, we headed back to the street vendors for more bbq pork which we topped off with some drinks from the 7/11 and deserts from our favorite bakery. Then we headed back to our rocking chairs at the hotel to hang out and watch night time fisher men go out on their boats thus concluding a very relaxing day with a very pleasant evening.

Day 6 Costs:
Swim with Whale sharks tour: $22
Morning smoothie at hotel: $2
Lunch BBQ and watermelon smoothie: $3.35
Dinner streetfood: $1.25
Drinks from 7/11: $1.45
Bakery items: $0.50

Lodging:
Sascha’s Resort Oslob: $9.50 pp

Day 6 Total Costs: $40

Day 5, another Island, another Epic Day. This was the only day tour we pre-booked before our trip: Canyoneering Kawasan Falls and hiking Osmena Peak. There was a fair amount of mis communication leading up to it as far as pick up time since initially they had said pick up at 6:30 but then the night before when I e-mailed to confirm, they said 8-8:30… well ok so the next morning around 8 we started watching for the van and it got there just before 8:30 but I noticed later he tried to change it back to 6:30… oops we were already passed out though. So 8:30 it was. We had a comfortable private van for the almost 90 minute journey to the Canyoneering outfitter. There we finished paying for our tour, selected our lunch options, and were fitted for helmets, life jackets, and water shoes (if you wanted… I just used mine that I know I like) 

At the start of the trail, you register at a guest book with your guide, throw your stuff in a dry bag, and head out for a nice walk. It takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes to actually walk to the canyon but the path is paved for the most part and the views over the island are really great. (lots of palm trees) There are some really steep jungle path stairs down to the water but then you’re ready to start your swim! 

What part of the long hot walk looks like. You start out on a nice path with great views of palm trees and in general, the island, before descending some scary jungle stairs to the water. 

I researched a few companies for canyoneering Kawasan Falls before settling on Highland Adventures. They were very responsive and helpful in planning and were one of the few companies that I saw combined a tour between Canyoneering Kawasan Falls AND hiking to Osmena Peak. Since these were 2 very high on my lists things that seemed like they would be more difficult to book once there, we decided to spend a bit more for the security of knowing we’d get to do it. Plus since our hotel was far from the falls, we didn’t think we’d have too many other day of deals.
The tour is all day with 2 different iteneraries with pick ups around 6-8 AM and getting back a little after 5. It includes the gear you need, a private tour guide, entrance fees, all transportation, and lunch at the falls.
There are 2 canyoneering routes Badian and Algerian. Since there were many more tours offered and information about Badian, that was the one we choose. There is also this page to compare them if you are interested in the jump heights.

Once at the water, we did our last minute sorting, our guide took over my water camera, and we headed out. The first couple of jumps are maybe 4 feet and really easy. The caves surrounding the water are so cool and the water color felt great after the walk to get there. (Our guide took videos of almost every “jump” even the little 3 foot ones which are honestly just embarassing to watch. haha)

After about an hour we got to the meat stick spot where if you are hungry, you can buy pork/ chicken?/ etc kebabs for 40 pisos. This is also the site of the first “big” jump about 20 feet. It looked like you could walk a little further to a smaller jumping spot but where is the fun in that?

Once you jump, you can see the caves under the cliffs you were just standing on and they are full of stalactites and fun formations. Then it’s another hour or so of adventure with the jumps getting bigger and bigger. 

 

We passed a beautiful DAM waterfall and did a few smaller jumps before reaching an optional 30 foot jump off a suspended bamboo walkway. This is the EASIEST 30 foot jump. No pushing off necessary, so your form for hitting the water is a lot better (for me at least) making this my favorite jump of the day. 

A little more walking and wading through water, and you get to the last jump of the day: and it just so happens to be right into a waterfall. Again it’s about 30 feet but if you could do the last one, you can do this one right? RIGHT! This one requires a little bit of a shove off meaning my form wasn’t great, my land not pleasant, but hey it was still exhilerating and awesome and I regret none of it!

After the last jump you’re in the first picnic area and it’s lunch time! We got 2 choices of meat with rice and coke to drink. We soaked up a bit more sun and hung around the area though we could tell our guide was kind of ready to go.

 We started to head now to the parking area where we passed the ACTUAL Kawasan Falls and things clicked into place a bit more. The waterfall we jumped was still an upper fall and we had further to go before getting to the main recreation area. It was a lot more crowded and a bit shady so we didn’t stay and swim more but it was a beautiful area and if we’d done the earlier itinerary in the day, this would’ve been a fun place to be in the afternoon sun. It was another 5-10 minutes from Kawasan Fall to the parking lot where our van was waiting.

Next up we took our van up to:

The ride took almost an hour from Kawasan Falls and seemed to go on forever. Just as we thought we couldn’t get any higher in the mountain ranges, we’d dip down for a bit, and continue on up. The scenery on the drive was stunning. The mountain road up was bumpy at times, and VERY windy.. If you are prone to motion sickness, you’ll definitely want to pop some Dramamine. Finally we were parked and had a short climb ahead of us. While you don’t need to hire a guide to hike to the peak, you DO have to stop in at the entrance to pay a 30 piso fee if doing it on your own (our fee AND guide were included in our tour).

There are a couple photo spots to stop at on the way but once you are at the top, that’s when the real view starts.

 Word to the wise, the peak is often CLOUDY in the morning so better schedule your trip to the peak in the afternoon for best results.

There were a few other people at the peak (some wearing fashion sandals… cue eye roll) but for the most part we were able to hang around and enjoy the peak without feeling too crowded. There was even a cat lazying around at the top!

After we hiked back down, we had another hour van ride down to the mountain side and back to Oslob. Our driver wasn’t the most talkative but he really lit up when we pointed out a buff looking chicken and then preceded to regal us with facts and stories about Cock fighting on the island. Oh boy.

We also found out the city of Mantalongon (that we drove through on the mountain) is the capital of lettuce production in the Philippines. There were giant heads of lettuce everywhere! That was an fun thing to learn about. Our drive dropped us off in Oslob town (a bit from our resort) and recommended a restaurant and food stands to try for dinner. With that our tour was over and our dinner adventure began.

We again tested the small town ATM, but were once again denied funds. I’m serious people, get yo money out at the airport. So with that in mind, we economically chose the food stands. Tippe tried some squid (which hadn’t been cleaned out at all so fair warning.. prepare for some blackened fingers if you try this) and I just got more BBQ’d pork. I mean 3 sticks and a soda only cost $0.85! Then I got a fun fruit smoothie in a water bottle and some bakery snacks for dessert. Our hotel was an easy 5ish minute walk from the street vendors and we happily settled in for another early night in preparation for another early morning.

Day 5 Costs: 
Skipped Breakfast
Kawasan Fall Canyoneering Tour $75 
Street Food Dinner: $0.85
Street fruit smoothies: $1.00
Bakery breads for snack and next morning: $0.50
Water: $0.40

Lodging:
Sascha’s Resort Oslob: $9.50 pp 

Total Day 5 Costs: $87.25

It took us 45 minutes from the airport to get there but the cab dropped us off out front, I bought my ticket, Tippe attempted to buy a ticket but they didn’t have enough change for our recently ATM drawn bills so we both got in for 30 pisos.  

It was built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. The original fort was made of wood and built after the arrival of Legazpi and his expedition. In the early 17th century a stone fort was built to repel Muslim raiders. Today’s structure dates from 1738 and is the oldest triangular bastion fort in the country. It was the center of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. During the Philippine Revolution at the end of the 19th century, it was attacked and taken by Filipino revolutionaries, who used it as a stronghold.
Following the revolution, the US stepped in and with the victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, the Spanish era in the Philippine Islands came to an end. The fort then became a part of the American Warwick barracks during the American regime. From 1937 to 1941 the barracks were converted into a school where many Cebuanos received their formal education. 

During World War II from 1942 to 1945, Japanese residents of the city took refuge within the walls and when the battle to liberate the city of Cebu from the Imperial Japanese forces was fought, the fort served as an emergency hospital for the wounded.
From 1946 to 1950, Fort San Pedro was an army camp. After 1950sm the fort faced being demolished to replaced by a City Hall, however the people fought back and in 1957, the city council commissioned “The Lamplighter”, a religious sect, to manage a zoo subsidized by the city within the fort courtyard.

By 1968, the façade, quarters and walls of the original structures of Fort San Pedro were so obliterated that only the two towers were recognizable. Plans for the restoration of the fort was started and the zoo was relocated making the fort what it is today. 

The fort is triangular in shape, with two sides facing the sea and the third side fronting the land. The two sides facing the sea were defended with artillery and the front with a strong palisade made of wood. The three bastions are named La Concepción (SW); Ignacio de Loyola (SE), and San Miguel (NE). It has a total inside area of 2,025 square metres (21,800 sq ft). The walls are 6.1 metres high by 2.4 metres thick (20 feet high by 8 feet thick), and the towers are 9.1 metres (30 ft) high from the ground level. The circumference is 380 metres (1,248 ft). The sides are of unequal lengths and the one fronting the city is where one may find entry into the fort. Fourteen cannons were mounted in their emplacements most of which are still there today.

The cross is housed in a chapel next to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño on Magallanes Street just in front of the city center of Cebu City. While the “visible cross” is not the original, it is said to encase the original. The original cross was planted there on March 15, 1521 by Portuguese and Spanish explorers, as ordered by Ferdinand Magellan upon arriving in Cebu. There are 2 beliefs as to why the original cross is not visible. First that the encasement was designed to protect the original cross from people who chipped away parts of the cross for souvenir purposes in the belief that the cross possesses miraculous powers. Second, that the original cross was destroyed or disappeared after Magellan’s death and the cross today is a replica that was planted there by the Spaniards after they successfully Christianized the Philippines.

Either way, the cross is cool to see for what it represents to a deeply religious country. The painted ceiling on the inside of the chapel was the main highlight for me, and since you’ll definitely want to see the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, you may as well stop in to see the cross.

After the cross which is in the main square, you follow a small alley to get to the Basilica. There is a security checkpoint there to get through where they search bags… both Tippe and I looked at each other with a big laugh thinking about emptying out all our luggage in our backpacks. Luckily there was a small cafeteria right there that we decided to camp out in with one of us watching the bags while the other explored the Basilica grounds.

It was a breeze going through the bag check after that lol. The square beyond that is pretty magnificent. It included a museum and the actual Basilica on one side, and on the other, a “pilgrimage center.”  The center was built to hold the mass crowds who congregate for Holy Mass on Fridays and other Religious festivals. Essentially it reminded me of St. Mark’s Square in Rome, if the Philippines had its own version.

The Santo Niño Basilica, (Minor Basilica of the Holy Child of Cebú) is a minor basilica in Cebu City in the Philippines that was founded in the 1565. The oldest Roman Catholic church in the country, it is built on the spot where the image of the Santo Niño de Cebú was found during the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi (you follow me, same guy that built the fort..) The icon, a statue of the Child Jesus Christ, is the same one that was presented by Ferdinand Magellan to the chief consort of Rajah Humabon upon the royal couple’s christening on April 14, 1521. It was found by a soldier forty years later, preserved in a wooden box, thus marking the spot and day when the first church would be built. The first church to be built on the site where the image of the Holy Child was found was burned down on November 1, 1566. It was said to be built by Fr. Diego de Herrera using wood and nipa (a type of palm tree. A new church was started in 1605 and finished in 1626 but was again burned down in March 1628. The 3rd model was begun 1628, this time using stone and bricks (a great innovation at that time), but the construction was stopped because it was found to be defective.

The present building was started on February 29,1735 and completed in 1739. It’s actually a lovely symbol of community coming together as the church in the area did not have means to complete it on its own. So, the parishioners of Opon and San Nicolas contributed materials, while the people of Talisay contributed labor.

Between 1739 and 1889, the church underwent multiple renovations including adding the windows, but the church retained much of its original features.
In 1965, His Eminence Ildebrando Cardinal Antoniutti, Papal Legate to the Philippines, conferred the church the honorific title Basilica Minore upon the authority of Pope Paul VI. As a Minor Basilica, it is given precedence over other churches and other privileges. Pope Paul VI at the time, said it is “the symbol of the birth and growth of Christianity in the Philippines.”

The Heritage of Cebu Monument 

After visiting the Basilica we had one last stop to see in Cebu city: The Heritage of Cebu Monument.
We’d somewhat debated going to see this since we were closer to the South Terminal Bus stop at the Basilica, but after deliberation, it would only add 15 minutes of walking and we decided it was worth it… That is still being debated in my mind. On one hand, the monumnet looked and was cool. But the walk there was HOT, long, and again not the prettiest part of town. At one point we had a homeless person trail us several blocks asking for money for food. Everytime we’d speed up and out walk him, but he would catch up as we had to wait for traffic at intersections. Luckily once we got to the monument, we spent long enough looking at it and wandering around (out of view) that I suppose he lost interest. Either way it was a hot nerve wracking walk.

The monument itself is massive and interesting, but the information plaques are all largely sun faded (so you couldn’t read about what you are seeing) but here’s what I learned: The Heritage of Cebu Monument is a tableau of sculptures made of concrete, bronze, brass and steel showing scenes about events and structures related to the history of Cebu. The construction of the monument began in July 1997 and it was finished in December 2000.  The structures depicted in the Heritage Monument are the Basilica del Santo Niño, the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, the Saint John the Baptist Church, the Magellan’s Cross, and a Spanish Galleon. The scenes depicted in the Heritage Monument are the baptism of Rajah Humabon, a procession of the Santo Niño, a Roman Catholic mass, and the Battle of Mactan between Lapu-Lapu and Ferdinand Magellan. The persons depicted in the monument include the late president Sergio Osmena Sr. and Blessed Pedro Calungsod.

I also learned that apparently the area the are the monument is located in was home to the residences of the most prominent families in Cebu during the Spanish period. It wasn’t that glamorous when we walked through there but there are apparently a few private museums close by that depict what the houses and life looked like back in the day.

After the monument, we braved the walk to the bus station. Luckily it looked like we’d be walking by a college and through much more populated areas. The bus station also borders a mall which was nice as we headed into the AC of the golden arches (McDonalds) to try SEA’s nuggets, picked up some proper sun screen for me, and then went in search of our next ride.

The bus station was pretty chaotic with lots of buses going the direction you need to go ( I mean… there’s only 1 highway to get to Oslob) we told a friendly looking driver which direction we were headed and he said he could drop us off at our hotel. Great. Then for me I hopped into the restroom (which I should’ve used at the mall) as they wanted 10 pisos for the honor of using a very short stall with no paper. Then we boarded our very CHEAP, but no AC bus. It wasn’t very full so we stationed ourselves at the back, each in our own row next to an open window. I was still terribly fearful of this ride turning out to be 6 hours, but the bus driver told us 3. It turned out to be 3.5, so still better than expected and my bladder and I somehow made it just find. Likely from being dehydrated and hot the whole time haha. Several people would get on the bus selling wares while we were still in Cebu. We bought cold water from one person for 15 pisos, but other than that, the Mcdonalds held us over.
As our stop was coming up, we both watched our approach on Google Maps wondering if the bus driver would truly remember after 3.5 hours where to drop us off… He didn’t haha. And I didn’t know how to ask to stop so as we passed the sign for our hotel, I hopped up and yelled STOP. It worked! haha but was definitely NOT how the locals do it. (I still don’t know the secret.) It was a huge relief to get off the hot bus and an even bigger relief to have a nice clean bathroom at our hotel. YAY! I made it! (this bus ride was probably the biggest stress of the entire trip for me) haha

We made right around 5 but were pretty pooped from the walking with our packs, HOT day, and all the traveling. So we took it easy and lounged around the fantastic resort we had, even trying some of their food. (I got fried chicken which was pretty decent, if not quite filling.) Our resort was right on the water but on the wrong side of Cebu for stellar sunsets… either way the lighting was nice and we enjoyed the views while it gradually got darker.

Day 4 Costs:
Shuttle back to Airport: $2.90
Flight from Coron to Cebu: $43.75 pp
Taxi from Cebu airport to Fort San Pedro: $6.30
Fort San Pedro Admission: $0.60
Snacks/water from 7/11: $1.50
McDonald’s lunch: $3.90
Water on bus ride: $0.30
Bus ride to Oslob: $2.60
Dinner at hotel: $2.90

Lodging:
Sascha’s Resort Oslob: $9.50 pp

Day 4 Total Costs: $30.5 without the flight, $74.25 with flight