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| Image Source: http://www.oslobwhalesharks.com/ |
Just a little informations about it...Butanding is the slow-moving filter feeding shark and is also the largest confirmed whale shark, having the length of more or less 12.65 meters and weight of 21 tonnes.
When I was having my long vacation in Oslob, Cebu, my eagerness to see the shark drives me to be at the place where it situated. Since I'm from there so the fee is just minimal. But if your not from Oslob you need to pay the regular payment for local tourist aside from foreign people.
I was there with my 2 sisters, excited for the said whale watching, we prepared our life jacket, gaggles and our camera for souvenir. The policy was explained to us by one of the official there that we should kept away from the shark for 5-6ft, no flash on camera and we should not produced too much bubbles on the water so the whale sharks won't recognized it as food.
After the policy explanation we went to the sea side to ride the bangka or "sakayan", we're about 4-6 people in one boat and it's a little bit wavy that time. When we're in the area where the butanding is located, I'm surprised of what I saw, a big, huge and harmless shark. There's one boat man who do the feeding so the shark won't go away.. maybe..
Our boat man command us to dive for those who wanted to... my sisters didn't hesitate to dive for they don't know how to swim and it's so wavy. I dived and went not nearer to the shark just exactly to see it's full length under the sea level. Absolutely, it's the biggest whale shark of all the sharks I saw. It has a big mouth with black dot something on his whole body. I was scared because the shark was very near to us..FYI..it can't be stopped to kept away from the shark for 6ft because the shark itself will come to you especially when you produced more bubbles. So it was prohibited to produced much bubbles so that the shark won't go to you.. (the shark think its a food when you produced bubbles).
After about 30 minutes I really enjoy watching the big shark my entrance fee and other fee is worth it. Til next time if I have another time I would surely spend watching the friendly shark again.
How to get there:
From Cebu City South Terminal, you have to ride a bus like Sunrays and Ceres Bus or any means of transportation. It's about 3 hours minimum of ride to be there in Tan-awan, Oslob, Cebu and the fare is about 130-150 pesos one way ride. They have lots of rooms available for those who want's to check-in.
After about 30 minutes I really enjoy watching the big shark my entrance fee and other fee is worth it. Til next time if I have another time I would surely spend watching the friendly shark again.
How to get there:
From Cebu City South Terminal, you have to ride a bus like Sunrays and Ceres Bus or any means of transportation. It's about 3 hours minimum of ride to be there in Tan-awan, Oslob, Cebu and the fare is about 130-150 pesos one way ride. They have lots of rooms available for those who want's to check-in.
