Bohol & Oslob

[JustB]

Thanks guys, I've booked us a couple of nights at the GT Seaside Oslob from tomorrow so plan is to have a leisurely trip down there in the morning, Sumilon Island for some snorkeling in the afternoon, snorkeling with Whale Sharks Tuesday morning, Tumalog Falls in the afternoon then Wednesday, if I can get over to Bohol from there, pop over for 3 days otherwise back to Cebu & head over to Bohol next weekend.

So much to do & see in the Philippines [emoji4][emoji106]

[JustB]

Quick update, great trip from Cebu City to Oslob on the Ceres Aircon Bus, 155php each & don't bother taking any food/drinks as the bus regularly picks up guys selling stuff along the way.

GT seaside is a nice place but Hotel Sebastian (2 buildings down) looks much nicer, is $18SGD per night cheaper & offers free transport to the Whale Watching /Falls (also gave us a great deal on a package of tours saving about 1,000php & we had a really nice meal there this evening).

Today we did the Sumilon trip (there's a package trip doing the Snorkeling with Whales & Tumalog falls so we'll be doing that tomorrow).

The only thing I'll say is it's a complete waste of time (& 2,485php for the 2 of us) if you've ever snorkeled anywhere in the Philippines before... Especially when the boat has to return to shore to pick up some snorkeling gear, then when we get to the swim site proceeds to hand it over to people on another boat & when we ask "Where's ours"? Tells us that they don't have any & we should have rented it onshore!!! (I love this country... but sometimes... ...)

But a quick swim without the gear made it clear that it wasn't a patch on Coron, Boracay etc... or even just snorkeling off the beach at the Shangri-La/Hilton on Macatan Island... So the only thing I can say is it crossed another of the 7,107 islands off my list :)

At least I got my new underwater camera "wet" so fingers crossed for a better day tomorrow [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

[JustB]

Much better tour today, the swimming with whale sharks was awesome.

Starts off with a briefing about not getting within 4 meters of the fish, but I don't think they've had the same briefing as we found ourselves constantly having to get out of their way, but definitely something to experience if you're in the area.

Tumalog falls was very nice also, not as big as Kasawan or the Tinuy-an in Surigao but still worth the trip & dip (bl@@dy cold)!

Whilst there we spotted a hot spring on the local attraction board so I know where I'm going this afternoon (FP loves them).

Edited October 27, 2015 by JustB

[frosty (chris)]

Much better tour today, the swimming with whale sharks was awesome.

Starts off with a briefing about not getting within 4 meters of the fish, but I don't think they've had the same briefing as we found ourselves constantly having to get out of their way

 

Was the same when we were there, the sharks just brushed past us,they obviously don't give the whale sharks the same briefing, keeping 4 mt away from humans. :hystery:

[Jake]

they obviously don't give the whale sharks the same briefing, keeping 4 mt away from humans.  :hystery:

 

Hey Frosty,

 

Yeah, I didn't get that warning either when I swam near you.  When will you ever stop making those nasty bubbles?!  It's like nerve gas!

[frosty (chris)]

they obviously don't give the whale sharks the same briefing, keeping 4 mt away from humans.  :hystery:

 

Hey Frosty,

 

Yeah, I didn't get that warning either when I swam near you.  When will you ever stop making those nasty bubbles?!  It's like nerve gas!

Well never swim behind my girl, while the view is good, after eating onions it's like the wake of a nuclear sub and probably as dangerous as well. :mocking:

[Old55]

Close encounter with one of my boys.

[JustB]

Last night in Cebu (off to Singapore tomorrow) so a quick update for anybody who's interested.

As expected, after finding out about Mainit hot spring, FP wanted to visit so we talked one of the Trike drivers into taking us, I thought it was going to be 30 mins, turned out you had to go right round the Southern/Western peninsula & up the Northern coast so it took 1.5 hours a great trip along the coast & you pass through some really nice Barangies on the way.

Mainit springs was great, they have 3 different temperature "pools", hottest being 42.6 degrees & lovely to soak in there after the Trike ride.

Edited November 8, 2015 by JustB

[JustB]

Next day it was back to Cebu City, so we grabbed the 1st bus that came along which had no AC & was more of a local bus stopping everywhere, but I managed to get a seat in the right so had great views of the ocean/beaches [emoji106]

Couple of days back in Cebu when I spotted a 3D2N trip to Bohol (4900PHP each including ferry, transfers in Bohol, 2 night stay at the Lost Horizon Beach Resort in Alona Beach including breakfast), so we signed up (though I extended it to 3 nights 4days).

Bohol was awesome, Lost Horizon/Alona Beaxh felt like a mini-Boracay & the day tour / island hopping tours we did were great (even got to see some giant turtles whilst snorkeling off Balicasan Island).

All in all, a great trip & I can really see why people retire to Cebu, it really is a beautiful place when you get outside of the main city areas...

Edited November 8, 2015 by JustB

[Dave Hounddriver]

Its really good to hear about people having fun and understanding why we like to retire here.