Pictures of the Whale Sharks
Oslob, Cebu, Philippines
Our landlord, Jim, asked us if we wanted to go to Oslob with him to see the Whale Sharks.
We had considered going in 2014, but had heard so many bad things we decided not to visit at that time.
Since then we had listened to the arguments for and against what the fishermen were doing, so we decided to go and see the situation and form our own opinion.
We started our journey in a tuk-tuk from the guesthouse to the bus stop, then we took the local "boneshaker" bus from Moalboal to Oslob.
Once we arrived in Oslob we were amazed first by the number of people, then saddened by the mess they were all leaving, there was rubbish everywhere, especially thousands of plastic bottles in the streets, the car parks and even in the grounds of the reception centre and on the beach.
We bought our tickets to go onto a boat to see the sharks, then waited in line for an hour until it was our turn.
You sit on one of the small Bankas in groups of 5 or 6 and are rowed out to tie off on the back of the boat in front of you. There are two long strings of boats tied off forming a channel between them. Several fisherman row up and down the channel between the 2 rows throwing a chum of chopped fish into the water. The Whale Sharks swim behind them eating this mixture. On the day we visited there were 6 sharks following the fishing boats.
You were allowed to drop off the banka into the water if you wanted to get a closer look, but you are not allowed to touch the whales.
Our conclusion on the situation.
If the fishermen do not feed the sharks, they will return to killing them, as they see them as competition for the local food supply - even though the sharks naturally only feed on plankton.
By allowing the fishermen to show the sharks to tourists this way they make a living and let the sharks live.
By feeding the sharks they are possibly causing mal-nourishment, as they are not eating their normal diet. They are also changing the sharks normal behaviour, as they are staying in the area all through the year rather than following their traditional migration routes.
There is good and bad to the situation.
After our visit we were waiting in the street when a couple called Carmen & Marcus, who had hired a Jeepney for the day, offered the three of us a lift back to Moalboal.
Whilst we were travelling we saw a sign for the Hainit Hot Springs, and we all agreed it would be a good idea to stop and visit them. See the Mainit Hotsprings Page here