Southern Cebu Adventure

Outside the city and located at the southern tip of Cebu island, Oslob is a treasure trove of adventures! Approximately 120 kilometers from Cebu City, Oslob is a municipality famous for the whale shark watching attraction, the Tumalog Falls, and Sumilon Island, among many others.

Road Trip to the South of Cebu

So for our third day in Cebu, we decided to take a trip to the South. We left Cebu City around 7 in the morning. On your way there, there are some stopovers you can take like the sandals market at Carcar, the torta cake at Argao, or the Carcar lechon! We stopped by Carcar public market to buy the famous Carcar lechon, known not only for its delicious lechon but also for its special salty sauce that is made from the juices extracted from the belly of the pig before it is grilled. One kilo of this heavenly dish is worth only 280 pesos! You can also buy puso or cooked rice wrapped in a triangular casing made up of woven coconut leaves, for only 10 pesos each.

Carcar Lechon

Carcar City Public Market

Orientation

We then continued our journey southward, with our first destination being the Whale Shark Watching attraction in Oslob. Swimming with the whale sharks would have to be the greatest highlight of Oslob! These gentle giants are hugely fascinating! Naturally, you would be scared to be near such gigantic creatures of the sea. But after seeing them, you'll want to extend the strictly imposed 30-minute watching time per visit. Local visitors are charged 300 pesos for those who will just stay at the boat and literally watch the whale sharks, while 500 pesos is but a small fee for having a chance to swim up close (about 4 meters) with the whale sharks. Visitors will first sign up on the logbook and be oriented regards rules when swimming with the whale sharks. Then, you have to pay the fee first before you get assigned to a boat with 2 guides who will maneuver the boat, and can also take your photos (don't worry, they are quite handy with the GoPro). You will then proceed to the site, and then swim/watch the whale sharks for 30 minutes. I swear, you would not be disappointed! Every peso spent, every dive we did when they were near to take a picture with them underwater, and every breath of air we inhaled when resurfacing, were all worth it!

Boats to ride towards the Whale Shark Watching spot

Swimming with the Whale Sharks

 After your precious time with the whale sharks is up, you may take a bath and change clothes in their public bathrooms, or go straight to Tumalog Falls to swim some more. During our visit, we finished changing clothes at around 15 minutes past 12 noon. So we opted to just have our lunch in one of the huts in Tumalog Falls, which was just about 15 minutes from the Whale Shark Watching attraction.

Shore at the Oslob Whale Shark Watching

You may ride a habal-habal towards the falls. Usually, the tourist buses park only at the bottom, and then you will be asked to ride the habal-habal, or your transportation would just drop you off at the entrance and then they'd park. Either way, when you get to the entrance, you have to pay 20 pesos for the entrance/environmental fee, and then have an option to walk the rest of the way to the falls or ride a habal-habal again for 25 pesos per ride.

Road towards the Tumalog Falls

Mind you, it can get really hot and humid, so you can walk towards the falls, and just ride a habal-habal on your way back, but not the other way around since it's going to be a hot uphill walk for you. There are small stores at the entrance where you can buy food and drinks. But be responsible for the disposal of your own trash if you plan on having some snacks or meals at the falls.

When we got to the falls, we immediately went to a vacant hut to have our very delicious Carcar Lechon lunch. And after a while, went up to be stunned by the amazing beauty of the Tumalog Falls. I swear it's beauty cannot be captured by photos. You really have to see it in person to be able to appreciate its magnificence.

Small pool by the entrance to Tumalog Falls

Tumalog Falls

It's a different kind of falls because the water has created some kind of military-cap looking stone formations at different points as it descends into a perfectly sky-blue pool of cool water.

Tumalog Falls and its sky blue pool

Tumalog Falls Panorama

 Since we no longer planned on swimming at the Falls, we just took some shots and enjoyed a couple more minutes of this blue tranquil spot, and then started heading back towards Cebu City. We planned on having a quick stopover at Simala-Lindogon Church at Sibonga, Cebu Island.

Simala-Lindogon Church Facade's Silhouette

Also known as Cebu's Castle Church, it's facade would definitely give you the major creeps for it gives you the vibe of a huge castle rather than a church, really. Managed by the Monks of Mary, this church is famous for miracles attested for by hundreds of testimonials on display inside the church. Aside from Marian devotees, board exam takers, persons with disabilities, and etc, flock to this place hoping for a miracle. It is best to go here during weekdays if you'd want to have some peace and quiet since a lot of people go here during weekends. Every 13th of the month is also a special day since it is during this day that the priest baptizes a special kind of oil during one of the day's eucharistic celebrations.

Inside the Simala-Lindogon Church

It's a shame that since it is famous for persons with disabilities, the facilities are not entirely PWD-friendly, and are hardly accessible at all. I hope that the constructions on-going during our visit would be the answer to this dilemma.

Walls of the Castle Church

The church is very strict regards attire, so you can't go in if you're wearing shorts, miniskirts/skirts, see-through clothes, and tubes/sleeveless tops. It is usually pretty crowded, so expect to have a hard time finding a parking space.

We left Simala at around 4 in the afternoon and arrived at Mactan-Cebu International Airport at around 8 in the evening, talk about heavy-EDSA-like Cebuano traffic! We stopped for pasalubong at Island Souvenirs and Save More before heading straight to the airport.

Costs of the day:
Gas: 500/ = 250 pesos
Carcar lechon: 280 pesos
Puso: 10 pesos
Drinks (sprite in can): 45 pesos
Whale shark watching: 500 pesos
Tumalog entrance fee: 20 pesos
Habal-habal ride: 50 pesos (round trip)
TOTAL = 1,155 pesos