Oslob is located on the southern tip of Cebu Island. It is famous primarily for the whale sharks, which you are guaranteed to see and can snorkel or scuba dive with. The ethics of this practice are a topic of debate. The whale sharks are fed daily to ensure they appear for the tourists seeking this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Although the animals are free, this disrupts their natural migration behavior. Fully aware of this, I still didn’t want to miss the chance to swim with the the world’s largest fish (which, by the way, only eat small marine life and do not pose a threat to humans).
How to get to Oslob from Cebu City
There is a bus connecting Oslob to Cebu City, departing from Cebu’s South Terminal. It operates several times a day, though exact times and schedules remain a mystery to me. The journey is said to take 3 hours, but you can realistically expect 5 hours or more. The earliest departure is at 6 a.m.
Whale sharks in Oslob
The following is a description of how NOT to do it:
Staying in Cebu City, I got up at 4 a.m. to reach the bus terminal very early, expecting to arrive in Oslob with an early bus around 8 or 9 a.m. at the latest. I managed to board a bus before 5 a.m., but the departure was only at 6 a.m.! Although I was told there would be constant departures 24/7, it seemed that this 6 a.m. departure was the first of the day.
The trip took much longer than the announced 3 hours, and I arrived in Oslob only at 10:30 a.m. I had read that people arrived as early as 6 a.m. to be among the first in the water, while others arrived after 11 a.m. and still saw the whale sharks. However, I did not account for the off-season, which meant there were fewer tourists.
When I arrived, I was informed that the action was over for the day; feeding had stopped and no more boats were going out as there were no more customers. I tried to persuade them, but to no avail. Disillusioned, I gave up and took the next bus back to Cebu City. It was a very disappointing day for me but also a valuable lesson. If you want to see the whale sharks, make sure to travel the night before from Cebu City to Oslob, spend the night there, and get up early.
Further plans
Frustrated with the situation, I also began to question my plans for the coming days. I had initially wanted to visit Palawan, but the weather forecasts were severe: monsoon conditions for at least the next 7 days, which meant heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and possible flight cancellations. I then considered another island further east, Malapascua. At the time of booking, the weather there seemed okay – cloudy and occasionally rainy, but no tropical storms. This changed throughout the day. Disillusioned, I changed my flights and booked a departure from the Philippines for the next day.
I started to recall why I had escaped Southeast Asia during July and August for more northern Asian countries, the rain season had been a concern of mine even before I started the trip. The Philippines is an amazing country, this much I can tell from my brief visit, but to fully enjoy it, one should avoid the monsoon season.