"Take every chance you get in life, because some things only happen once."
CEBU SOUTH
GENTLE GIANTS OF OSLOB
With only 2 hours of sleep, I managed to pull myself up off the bed. Took a bath. Repack my things. We checked out at our guesthouse and took a cab to the Central bus station. And then I realized we're just a few hours away to finally meeting the famous gentle giants of Oslob. As much as I wanted to be wide awake and see the cities we'll pass thru, sleep won over. So I doze off to get as much energy I needed for the brief encounter. And then in an instant, I woke up to the voice of the conductor announcing our stop. Still groggy from my not so deep sleep, I got off the bus and looked for our contact person.
At the break of dawn, we gathered in the registration area for a short briefing on the encounter. The speaker talked for about 30 mins but all I can hear was just blah blah blah blah because my eyes were fixated on the image of the butanding or the whale shark and the tiny human being beside it.
I fear for my life! Will I look that small beside a whale shark? How gentle they really areI cannot focus on the do's and dont's anymore as I was strategizing on how not to be eaten alive by the whale shark.
Okay, I'm thinking ahead of myself.
Our group shot before we board the boat.
We hopped on to the boat that will lead us to the feeding area. I called shotgun. I bravely went to the front of the boat. As we were nearing the feeding area, I suddenly felt seasick. I have never been seasick. The last I felt it was when I was in kinder, it was our annual field trip and we were sailing in Manila Bay. So back to the story, I don't know if my seasickness was due to the unsteady boat or due to the strong waves or due to when the boatman said we were already inside the feeding area.
I'm doomed.
A few minutes later, we were still on the boat waiting for the whale sharks to arrive. The anticipation's killing me. The rest of the groups already arrived. The boats were arranged in a big circle so that the whale sharks will stay right in the middle.
I was just looking around when the boatman yelled,
"they're here!"
I immediately jumped off the boat! Held on the the raft. Put on my snorkeling gear and dipped my head into the water. And voila! It was right in front of me with mouth wide open! I was shocked, afraid and excited all at once. I cannot imagine that I will be face to face with a whale shark! It was hard to take a good picture with the giant. It took a while before we got a decent enough photo.
I am not a good swimmer. The only thing I am confident at is floating. So I was jealous to those who managed to swim with the whale sharks. They got to follow them everywhere. Though I was just clinging to the raft while waiting for the signal of the boatman when there is a shark coming to us, I still had fun._ No one was harmed not even the sharks in that experience._
They really were gentle.
After a while, we went back to the shore and changed clothes. It was just an hour but I was so exhausted and super hungry!haha.
CANYONEERING
Canyoneering in Cebu involves walking, jumping and swimming in the falls peak.
In this activity you only need 3 things: a helmet, a life jacket and a lot of courage.
After we were briefed with the do's and dont's we went on a habal habal ride to our starting point/registration area. Habal habal is a popular way of transportation in this area. It's a single motorcycle with a passenger capacity of more than 3 people.
I struggled getting up the habal habal, I don't know what foot to step on first.
After a few attempts and a little help from friends I managed to sit on the motorcycle. Haha.
Left picture: Habal Habal Ride. Right picture: the gears for the canyoneering. That awkward smile tho, I was trying to hide my nervousness there.. Haha
After the registration, we went on a short walk to the jump off point with two of our guides.
Warning: This is not for the faint hearted.
The jump off point was the hardest because it was the point where you will decide whether to continue it or not.
By the way the height of the falls was about 15 ft high.
There's a lot of praying and contemplating happened that time.haha
I was one of the bravest in the group. Well my mantra was that you only live once and you'll never know when you'll get to experience this so might as well go jump!haha. When it was my turn to jump, I just listened to our guide's instructions. I put my right foot forward and fall. Straight and no bending. Unfortunately I landed on my butt! While I was floating in the water, I watched the other's turn to jump.
Everyone has a different expression : fear, giddy, excited, uncertain etc. That moment showed me how we face certain situations.
We all have different attacks. But the most important of it all was we all faced it bravely. We all jumped however we landed. No one got left behind.
The canyoneering lasted about 4 hours.
It was a 7 layer of jumping at the peak of each falls. So when we got to the last jump off point, we were exhausted. So we rested for a while. The last stop was not mandatory. You have an option to jump or walk(short cut). As for me, I had already jumped in the last six so might as well finish it.
I was one of the brave souls to take the challenge. The last jump was 20 ft high with a very steep landing point. When I was at the edge, I assessed the landing area. Where will I land safely? How far should I jump? How long will I jump? These are the questions running in my mind that time.
I remembered a movie line that said "Fear is the absence of courage".
So I gathered all the courage I had and jumped when the guide said so. It was the longest time I had, the area was packed with tourists but during that jump, it was silent, so quiet, I was wondering when do I get to reach the water.. and splash! I did it!!! I made it to the bottom! There are others who jumped over again and again. For me, that was already enough. Enough to prove to myself that I can. That's all that matters. Then we went on to our last stop.. the Kawasan falls. I was enjoying the moment. I was proud of myself, of what I did.
Here's a picture of the majestic Kawasan falls. The water is friggin cold!
Here's a collage of the what we went through. From left to right: First jump. Smiling for the camera but deep inside we're extemely nervous! Next picture: Us, forming a circle. This was our first rest, to calm our nerves down. Third bottom picture: The guide's struggle to help us get through the running water. It was slippery, so I had gathered all my strength not to slip.
Walking under the boulder, coming through the hole and sliding through the water are part of the activity. These were the easy part.
Some of the scenic spots during the trail.
I was so amazed by our surrounding, it made
me not want to leave the place. I was in awe of my beautiful surrounding.
Here's a mandatory group shot. Genuine smiles because we made it to the end!
Will I do it over again? Hell yeah! It was worth experiencing.
So if ever you get a chance to visit our country, never miss Cebu City. You will never ever regret it.
This is Tumalog Falls. We made a side trip to this because it is well known for it's hair strand like falls.
To my fellow kababayans, explore our country first before going anywhere else. Our country has a lot of beautiful and exciting places to explore.