Whale Sharks!!!!

June 13, 2013-

*beep*

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Ugh!  It's 4am!  Oh, and I think I just heard a knock on our door- that must be our breakfast being delivered to our room.  It is! 

That means it's time to get up. Yes, I do know it's our vacation and generally speaking we don't like to get up early but today is a special day.

Today we're going to see whale sharks! 

Really!!!!

Oh, and the reason we have to leave so early is that the location we're heading to is a 3-hour drive (one-way) and the whale shark viewing ends at noon.  

Eat breakfast quickly (we've ordered two plates of pancakes and two egg omelets for our breakfast)…pack your bags (don't forget your swimsuit!)…and we're out the door!!!

It's still dark out…I think I'll take a snooze.

We've been driving for about 1.5 hours- it looks like we're stopping for a potty break at one of the fast food restaurants.  I can always use a potty stop!  Thank goodness- no squatty potties!!!!  

It's finally light enough to see where we're going.  Here are some views from the road:

One thing I can say, this part of the world doesn't look affluent or well-to-do.  I get the feeling that people here might be living close to poverty – but I honestly don't know.  We're passing by lots of shacks and run-down, tumble-down buildings and rubble. One of the weird things I've seen: lots of roosters chained to yard-long perches stuck in the ground in many different yards. Why do they need to be tied up???   

We've been passing by lots of sheds/houses made out patterned mats (the pattern looks like XO on some): 

 The girls have decided to check out:

We saw lots of these motorcycles with side-cars transporting people and students in uniforms: 

 We're here!!!!  We're in Oslob (isn't that the strangest sounding name for a town???).  

Our guide (he's Filipino) just told us we need to first go through a short orientation program before we get to view the whale sharks.  

Here are the rules:

1. We only get to be in the water with the sharks for thirty minutes.
2. No sunscreen allowed (they say they don't want the water contaminated or hurt the whale sharks' skin).
3. Do NOT touch the sharks.
4. Maintain a 4m distance from the sharks.  However, the sharks don't have to follow this rule! 

 Whale sharks are sharks- not whales. Just remember this: they are FILTER FEEDERS.

 The girls are going to take a skinny boat out to the sharks.  We're required to wear life vests while riding on the boat but we can take them off when we get out there.  Mark is going scuba diving with his instructor/our guide right off the beach.  

 Only a limited number of people are allowed to see/interact with the sharks at any given time.  One guide said that for the thirty minutes we'll be in the water we'll get to see the sharks for the ENTIRE TIME.  

Can you spot the whale sharks? They're just a few yards off the shore.

Are you ready for this????  Are you ready to see whale sharks?  I admit I've got butterflies in my stomach.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These sharks are as big as a small bus!  Yikes!

That's Mark with a giant whale shark in the background.

I'm clinging for dear life on the edge of the boat.  Another fisherman in another boat is feeding one of these gentle giants *right* next to us.  He's feeding it BY HAND with tiny shrimp.  The whale shark is just parked at the side of his boat- obviously it is more interested in his free meal than in me.  The shark was less than an arm lengths away from me. I could have easily reached out and touched it. 

The girls did jump in the water- after much coaxing.  Unfortunately, at that exact moment another whale shark was coming straight towards our boat so the girls jumped right back out of the water and into the boat!  Can I blame them???  NO!!!!  I had trouble remembering that these are FILTER FEEDERS– especially when their giant mouths came a little too close for comfort.  At one point the biggest whale shark was coming straight at us.  I have to sheepishly admit I nearly jumped out of the water too!  The fishermen in our boat tried comforting me and telling me to stay calm.  HA!!! Yeah, right!!?!  

Check out the small feeder fish attached to the whale shark's under-belly.

That's me in the background clinging to our boat for dear life.

 I'm not sure how many whale sharks there are here …but it looks likes like more than half a dozen.  Another guide (just swimming around) explained that each of these sharks have been identified and they've all got names.  The one parked by us is named Lucas.  

The girls waiting in the boat – since the water is so clear you can see the whales from the boat: 

That's one big ol' animal! (no, that's most definitely not me swimming next to it!)

Lots of people were snorkeling/swimming freely around the sharks.  The sharks seemed to steer out of the way of people.  Mark did say that the one thing he had to be careful about was not getting hit by the tails of these giant animals.   

While I was in the water I felt a sharp stinging sensation in my right arm – burning & stinging at the same time.  Turns out I got stung by tiny jellyfish.  Ouch! 

 Okay, this isn't a photo of a whale shark but it an unusual looking creature:

It's a jellyfish!

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Well, our thirty minutes is up!  It's time to very carefully crawl into that skinny boat.  We're not done with today's snorkeling/scuba diving trip though.  We're going to get on board another boat and head out to a small, near-by island.  Mark is supposed to head out on his last lesson – and then he'll be fully certified for open water scuba diving!

 On the big boat heading out to the island:

Jellyfish stings on my arm -raised bumps. Ouch! Our guides went and bought a small bag of white vinegar from one of the stalls before we left for the island. I'm supposed to pour it on the bumps and it's supposed to help. I hope it does. Yeouch!!!!

Check out these interesting boats- narrow hulls with outriggers (we're riding in one just like these): 

At the island…the girls and I are getting off here (along with one of the guides; I honestly don't know how many guides we have with us today!) while Mark and his scuba instructor are heading out to deeper waters: 

 A tiny token beach on the island:

Right now the water is VERY SHALLOW. We can walk pretty darn far out into the water.

 The boat with Mark and his instructor are heading out on the boat:

Want to do some snorkeling?  I do!  Hmmm….it looks pretty dead.  Oh wait!  I do see a beautiful coral reef….oh my!  Yes, this is GORGEOUS! Too bad the photos will never do it justice.  So many different kinds of colorful corals. 

Mark is finished with his last dive!  Yippee!!!  He just asked me if swam out the edge of the wall.  Huh?  What wall?  I didn't know anything about a wall.  Did you hear anyone mention something about a wall????  Oh!  Apparently the wall is where the ocean drops off and goes deep.  Mark was scuba diving further down and he said that the drop off had an amazing variety of gorgeous coral reefs and colorful fish.  Whoops.  I guess I missed that!

Time to head back to shore and get some lunch.  The girls are whining that they're really hungry.  For that matter, so am I!

We're back on shore and we've changed into dry clothes.  Our guide just helped us order lunch

I'm DEFINITELY buying a souvenir t-shirt! (sorry about the finger photo bomb)

Lunch will be served under these trees and close to the beach:

Red Stallion Beer (Filipino beer)

I honestly have NO IDEA what dishes we ordered- I think there's some pork (it's extremely fatty) and grilled chicken skewers with rice. And a lot of fat!

We had two kittens come pay a visit to our table.  And we've got two girls who LOOOOOOVE cats!!!! We have a rule about not touching animals …the girls had such a hard time not touching and playing with those cats! (we also had two dogs come pay a visit):

 With souvenirs in hand and some food in our belly it's time to head back to the resort.  Remember we've got a three-hour drive back.

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Here are more photos from the road (just to give you a taste of what this area looks like):

This is the fast food restaurant we stopped at for a potty break going to Oslob (didn't stop on our way home).

That's a lot of shoes…just hanging around!

Do you suppose this is a Catholic Church?

The man was dragging this goat along on leash. The goat wasn't having any of it!!! LOL!

Is it just me or do you find the name of this place funny???: 

We saw lots of these little mini busses on our way to Oslob (while traveling in Cebu City). Maybe taking workers to work?

 Along the path home we passed lots and LOTS of schools.  All the schools had security guards at the gates (and the schools all appeared to be fenced in with tall fences).  All the school children are wearing school uniforms.  

 Cebu City:

Nice Guy Taxi! Well, who wouldn't want to ride with this guy????

National flag of the Philippines

We're back!  Here's the entrance to our resort:

Enjoying the view from our hotel room balcony: 

Wearing our new save the Gentle Giants t-shirts

We're going to head upstairs to the Ocean Club Lounge for cocktails and appetizers and I think we're going to bed early….we're all super tired and it's been a really long day!!!

See you tomorrow!!!!