Swimming with the gentle giants was one of the most unforgettable memories in the history of my travels.
There are a few sites here in the Philippines where you can spend time with these whale sharks a.k.a gentle giants or locally known as Butanding. The one that we visited is the one in Oslob Cebu.
It was a three hours drive from Cebu City where you will pass by some coastal and mountainous areas. The moment we reached the area we are asked to register and remove any lotion or sunscreen before they hand over a life vest and snorkeling gear. We also had a briefing on the rules and regulations like the distance that we have to maintain with the whale shark and not to get near their face and their tail. They also assigned a boat to our group that will bring us to the area where the gentle giants are located. There are also go pro cameras that you can rent if you don't have an underwater camera that you can use.
The boat that was assigned to us is just a small boat that is only paddled by the boatman to disturb or stress out the whale sharks.
Luckily there are not so many tourists that are in the area when we went there so we really had a chance to enjoy these gentle giants. The area is not that far from the shore, and when we reached the exact location the boatman asked us to jump in the water so we can experience swimming with the whale sharks. We are always reminded to keep our 5m distance but honestly, I don't think it was followed as there are times that you will not notice that they are beside you already.
From a distance, you can see the dark blue skin with white spots that looks so fascinating and elegant. They may look so huge and scary but there's nothing to be scared of these creatures for they are very humble and gentle. They even look like a big catfish living in the ocean instead of the rivers. These cuddly jumbo-size creature is so harmless that would make you with that you could hug them but remember, it is prohibited to touch this gentle giants and they are not shy to get near you.
Thirty minutes in the water with these gentle giants is not enough but with that thirty minutes, I was able to see a few of them in different sizes. They swim with their mouth wide open when feeding on small fish and plankton before they filter out excess saltwater, and the best part of it is they don't like the taste of humans. Being in the water with them is too exciting
There were times that we are really side by side with the gentle giants.
Look how big and wide their mouth is.
If there is one thing that I don't like, it is that they keep on feeding the whale sharks just so they won't leave the area where the tourist are. I think it affects their natural diet but aside from that, I think it was well handled. I just hope that they don't exploit the whale sharks too much as they are endangered already.
If you don't want to get in the water you can also watch from the boat and it has different rate. But why now dip in the water right?
Swimming and watching these gentle giants are truly one of the best experiences I'd ever had in all my travels, something that you cannot do anywhere. Something that you can only see in telly.
And since we are already in the area, we also took the chance to see the Tumalog Falls which is only 5 minutes away from the area but I think I'll share that another time.
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March 16, 2022
“Fall in love with taking care of yourself. Fall in love with the path of deep healing. Fall in love with becoming the best version of yourself but with patience, with compassion, and respect to your own journey.” —S. McNutt