Silay to Oslob: Our unexpectedly simple journey

For anyone in the world who's seen the whale sharks of Oslob on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or on a friends video, I know what you're first reaction was - "I want to do that too!"

Then come the assumptions - "It looks scary" "The water is too deep" "The whale sharks will hurt us" "Its gonna be a long trip" and "Its gonna be expensive."

Well, i'm here to tell you that I have experienced it and all those assumptions are unfounded.

First of all, unless you have a fear of water, you'll be fine. Even if you don't know how to swim, you can just hold on to the banka and you have a life vest to boot.

Second, The water is very deep but its also very salty and therefore very buoyant so even if you let go or lose your life jacket, just lie flat and you'll float. In any case, the viewing area is only about 100 meters from the sea shore. A very easy swim.

Thirdly, the whale sharks or butandings don't even care that you're there or not. all they care about is eating the krill that's being fed to them. If you get bumped or brushed by them, its unintentional and, frankly, quite an experience.

Fourth, its not a long trip at all. The key jump off point is Dumaguete. You can land at the airport or, if you're from Negros island like us, you can do a road trip. Once in Dumaguete, just take a 20 minute tricycle ride or bring your car(which will be faster) and park at the port of Sibulan. Take a 15-minute fast ferry ride to Liloan, Cebu(Php70.00) and take 30-minute tricycle ride(Php50/head) to Oslob. If you just want to see the butandings tell the tricycle to bring you straight to the briefing area and contract them to wait for you. you're only allowed 30 minutes with the giants and you'll probably only need 1.5 hours total. make sure to arrive early to avoid the crowd(around 7-8AM). When you're done, just head back the way you came so you have time to soak in the sights of Dumaguete. Make sure to sample the food as well, which is always awesome. The whole whale-watching sojourn will take only 3hours out of your time.

And Lastly - you'll need to spend about 140pesos back and forth for the fast craft, 50 pesos for the trike, and 500 pesos each for the whaleshark-watching(300 if you stay in the boat). more or less for our family of four, we spent only Php3,000. including breakfast at a small carinderia by the Sibulan port and some bananas at the viewing area.

And, in my personal opinion, Php3,000 and 3hrs is a small ransom for this experience of a lifetime.