ONE with NATURE: a SUMMER WELCOME

As usual this is just one of those late blog entries I have regarding my LAAG trips and adventures. Anyway, since summer is not yet over, this can still be right in time… hahaha! I know it’s conflicting right? (LOL) Anyway, since summer has kicked off, my travel mates and I decided to be one with nature as we welcome the summer season this year. You might be wondering what I meant with being one with nature? I’m not really talking about mountain trekking, camping in some less inhabited places or what have you when I say being one with nature. For this summer, we decided to go see and swim with the Butandings in Barangay Tan-awan Oslob, Cebu. Oslob is one of the towns located in the southern part of Cebu province which rose to national prominence for its whale sharks or “Butandings” as we locally call it. 

A whale shark is said to be a slow-moving shark found in tropical and warm oceans and lives in the open sea with a lifespan of about 70years (source: www.fishbase.org). In the Phillippines, whale sharks are found in very few coastal sites and Oslob happens to be one of these places. Who would want to let this opportunity passed, right? Since the southern part of Cebu is just few minutes away from Negros Oriental via fast craft, we grabbed this opportunity. One, it does not require you to save more money because for less than Php1000.00 you’d be able to witness, experience the moment and swim with the Butadings in the coastal area of Barangay Tan-awan Oslob. Two, it’s not a whole-day activity and the travel time is not much of a hassle. We even decided to go there right after our night shift without getting some rest first.  Lastly, this trip does not require so much planning and preparation which I love the most! Hahaha! 

 

 According to some information we gathered in the area, the Butandings have long been spotted in the coastal area of the said barangay but has never really become a tourist attraction up until the local government got into the picture. Local fishermen in the area have been feeding this gigantic ocean creatures with krill, which is said to be the reason why these creatures keep visiting back. Now under the management and leadership of the local government in the area, Butading watching is now made possible. All thanks to the great minds behind this idea we started summer with a great experience. Yay! Though, the downside of this Butanding adventure is really that obvious. I may get into details regarding this matter later. But for now, here’s the break down of expenses per head for those of you who are planning to go there.

 *expenses are based on our location

_{1 you can opt to ride the bus waiting in Liloan Port and ask the bus driver to drop you off the Butanding watching point. This can make you save more.}

_{2 just one of the downside I’m talking about. The local government seem to be charging foreigners more. Sometimes the entrance fees varies.}

_{3 if you’re planning to jump off the Bangka in the Butanding spot}

_{4 free life vest are offered but you would have to wait for your turn. They won’t take you to the Butanding spot without your life vest on.}

Fares/Entrance fees	Amount
Multicab fare (Dumaguete to Sibulan Wharf)	Php22.00 (round trip)
Fast craft (scheduled trip is hourly)	Php124.00 (round trip)
Motorcab fare (Liloan Port to Brgy. Tan-awan)1	Php100.00 (round trip)
Entrance fee (subject to changes)2	Php300.00
Swimming fee3	Php20.00
Life vest (a must!) 4	Php150.00
Snorkel	Php100.00
TOTAL	Php816.00

The breakdown above is without having to spend much. Anyway, it would be best to be there early in the morning because the oces basically what we spent on this get away without our MEAL expenses yet. As mentioned earlier, you get to see the Butandingan tide is not that high yet and the scourging heat of the sun won’t get so much of you especially to those who are so particular with their skin complexion just like me. (LOL) though I literally looked over tanned myself from that experience. (Another LOL!)… Since the scheduled trip of fast crafts in Sibulan Wharf is hourly, going to Oslob in the morning is not much of a problem. Trips also start at 5am so the best trip to catch is the 6am or 7am schedule. You can opt to go with the pump boat located in the same port in Sibulan to save more money. Fare for pump boat is definitely half the price of the fast craft fare. For those riding on the fast craft, an air conditioned bus is actually assigned in Liloan Wharf to carry fast craft passengers to Cebu City. You can take this bus and just ask the bus driver to drop you off the Butanding Watching point since it’s on the way. As for those who are planning to ride the pump boat, a V-hire bound for Cebu City would await for you in the designated port which can take you to the Butanding location. As for us, we decided to ride on a motorcab from Liloan Santader Port to Oslob because we were not able to make it on the same fast craft ride. Two of my travel mates didn’t make it on time for the 7am trip so they had to wait for the 7:30am pump boat trip to make it to Liloan. Thus, we can’t take the bus ride as we have to wait for them. Besides, the docking area for fast crafts and pump boats are different so we have to compromise on the ride going to Oslob. 

As for entrance fee which I said is just one of the many obvious bad sides  about this tourist attraction, we were charged Php300.00 per head though this rate keeps changing from time to time. How I manage to know this? Well, Mash, one of our companion that time went back the following week with her other workmates and they were charged Php500.00 for the entrance fee alone. See what I mean? Rumors has it that they are even charging foreigners twice the price that they are charging local tourists for. On top of the entrance fee you also get to add Php20.00 if you are planning to jump off the bangka and take some swimming in the open sea. I mean, who wouldn’t jump off the bangka once you get to the Butanding site, right? What with the water so inviting and all? Besides, it’s also understood that once you get into the bangka then you’re definitely off for some water adventure. Since we did not bring our own swimming gears (snorkel, goggles, etc.) we paid for the stuff. Mind you, even if you get to bring your own swimming gears, they’ll still be charging you for those stuff. That’s how well the local government milk on the tourists! No offense, just plainly saying my views. (LOL) Underwater cameras are allowed but of course another fee is charged. If I remember it well, you would have to pay Php100.00 to be allowed to bring you camera to the Butanding site. Unfortunately, none of us has an underwater camera. Fortunately though, the Sangguiniang Kabataan (SK) Chairman of the barangay is renting his underwater camera. Eager to capture the once-in-a-lifetime-maybe experience, we contributed for the rent cost which is Php500.00. I guess, we were not even charged Php100.00 on top for the camera. I’m not sure though if it’s because we rented it from someone who holds a position in the local government or probably the SK Chairman shouldered the charge from our rent fee. Oh well, whatever the deal was, it worked for us because we have some captured moments on this trip in the open sea…hahaha!

 

Now that I’ve told you about the milking scheme of the Butanding watching, another disadvantage that I found out, which quite affected me, is the rate of daily pay that the local government is providing the fishermen in the area whom they topped to bring tourists to the open sea where the Butandings are. On our way to the Butanding site, we got the chance to talk to the fishermen assigned in the bangka that we were riding.  “Kuya” informed us that they personally owned and maintained the bangka which they use to carry tourists in the open sea for 45minutes to an hour for the Butanding encounter and swimming escapade. In return, the local government would give them Php300.00 for the entire day’s hard work of paddling. Didn’t I just mention earlier that Php300.00 is the minimum entrance fee per head? And this is definitely no joke when I say that more or less 200 tourists go there every day. Imagine 200 tourists paying Php300.00 each for this adventure. This is how much they earned yet that’s how low they pay those local fishermen. Just another opinion of mine again. With all those other charges the government is imposing on top of the entrance fee, the fishermen deserves to at least get the right amount for their entire day’s effort. Just saying though I really find this situation ridiculous. Those fishermen deserve to get a fair share of this bargain somehow because their efforts should pay off too.

So much about me ranting the disadvantages of this tourist attraction because no one would really care about my issues. HAHAHA!!!!! Overall, the experience was definitely extraordinary! Besides, it’s not usual for us to see the Butandings in our regular sea travels or ocean adventures. These creatures may live in tropical places like our country but it just so happens that in the 7,107 islands that make up the country, Cebu is one of those few coastal areas that the Butandings are frequent. Since this was our way to welcome the summer of 2012, we never let go of the opportunity to do pictorials in this beautiful side of Cebu. Who wouldn’t want to have their pictures taken in this wonderful white-sand beach?