Oslob whale sharks and more...

Busy day in Tan awan Beach 

First time was Saturday, January 28, 2012. It was such an amazing experience that a second trip has to be made. Seems like we have forgotten that Sunday is a family day for Cebuanos. Tourists were there as early as 4am, on the other hand, we arrived at 9am. Despite the numbers of excited whale shark watchers, Rico, Maloy and 2 other whale sharks are swimming under the full sun. This is the beauty in Oslob. You can see from the shore if the whale sharks are there or not. There is no need for wide search of the blue sea just to have an amazing experience. I was happy on how Mang Ramon manage his boatmen that we waited for almost an hour just for the blue ticket. No need to rush, the whale shark is just right there. While waiting, we heard that the yellow group has ran out of 'paon', means bait or the shrimp, so they cannot feed anymore. Consequently, their guests will just be looking on the sides of green and blue group.

Shoreline of Tan-awan

We requested for individual boats. We swim with Rico and Maloy for 30 minutes. I saw many divers underwater. Gerald and his boatman saw the turtle. I didn't because I was following the whale shark the whole time. Nobody told me about turtles!

Rico Up Close

Since we have already the 30 minutes of fun yesterday, I took this second trip as a means to observe,  relax and ask the locals of insider info of the "tuki'. The local term for butanding is Tuki.

Here is what I learned and I would like to share this with you.

1. Mang Ramon, the leader of the blue group is a retired dive master. His son JayR is also a dive master and is one of our boatmen. When there were less Japanese divers going in their area, they become fishermen. On their fishing trips, these whale sharks would follow them and eat their baits (the shrimps) for the fish. They will throw the shrimp to the other side so that they whale sharks will go away. But it keeps on following them. Originally I thought they searched for these sharks and  they tried to tame the tuki but it was actually the other way around. The whale sharks are following them. The same group of sharks go to Tan-awan so often that such familiarity allowed them to give names to these gentle giants and others mistake it as petting the sharks. This is such a unique relationship between the fishermen and whale sharks.

2. The boat men of Tan-awan initiated the regulation of whale shark watching. They want this to be sustainable, they want to help each other and be united. I have been reading a lot of bad press about these men of Tanawan, I actually felt that bad that they had been put on a different light in this situation. If these guys have twitter or Facebook, I can only imagine their reactions.

3. For now, they cannot tell the seasonality of the whale sharks. It was there late part of 2011 and they don't know exactly until when it is going to be there this year. They would like to believe that as long as there is food, the whale shark will be there. On a full moon, it is difficult to find shrimps at night, so there is a chance that they will not be able to feed the sharks the next day. So try not to go there after the full moon.

4. The ladies and gentlemen in yellow polo shirts are the barangay officials. They are in charge of the registration, ticketing and briefing. They can stop the boat trips if the numbers are not returned consecutively. These people are paid Php100 per day for their work starting from 4am to 2pm. Be kind to them and try not to break their guidelines. We were witness to tourists trying not to fall in line for various reasons (like we haven't heard it before). Beware, these yellow ladies are very strict when it comes to numbers.

5. Maintain safe distance with the sharks. These sharks follow the boat with the shrimp, it is not conscious if the people are less than 5 meters away or not. Self regulate, for your benefit and that of the sharks. If you notice the boatmen shouting, they might be shouting at you to move away. Save yourself from shame.

Oh now. I remember one more commandment. Don't wear make up (believe me, some do!) and sun block.

6. Food. There is a picnic area in the briefing center with chairs and tables and lots of food. What a great combinations, Cebu lechon for lunch and whale shark swimming. There are other meat dishes aside from lechon. They are also selling a lot of drinks and souvenir shirts. If you are vegetarian, then you can settle for the grilled banana with sugar and salt for only Php 10 and medium size mango shake for Php 25.00. You can bring your own food.

Beachfront cottages

7. Shower and cottage. There are three private resorts. The entrance fee ranges from 50 - 100 pesos. The blue group resort charges Php 100.00 Unlimited showers, free use of the life vest, parking and use of cottage. Everyone is required to wear life vest. In the briefing area, if you don't want to pay the entrance fee of the resorts, you can park your car there for only Php 20.00 and pay Php 20 additional for the life vest.

Parking area of the resort

8. For divers, they will open a dive shop by February 2012. There are dive operators in Santander and Sumilon Bluewaters but its costly so might as well wait for the opening of the Tanawan dive shop. For now, same rate applies to divers which is Php 300.00. According to Bgy. Captain Faustino, there will be additional charge for divers eventually. It will only be shore entry and around 5meters deep.

9. They only used non motorized banca for an up close encounter. You can have the outrigger boat or the bamboo raft. The dive boats are parked in designated area (farther away) which are operated by nearby resorts like Sumilon Bluewater and Santander resorts.

10. After 2 days of swimming with the whale sharks, are we still coming back? Definitely.