What to do in Cebu, Oslob and Mactan Island in the Philippines

After Manila, my second destination in the Philippines was the island of Cebu. To be more specific: Cebu City, Mactan Island and the amazing Oslob, home of the whale sharks. But I’ll tell you everything about them in a minute, let me start with the airport of Mactan. This post I’ll tell you about all the things to do in Cebu and around.
My third was Bohol and you can find everything you need on this super guide to Bohol.

But on the day of my arrival, I found out one of the most interesting cultural shocks between my culture and Filipino culture: All Soul’s Day (or All Saint’s Day) is celebrated entirely.

The Philippines, as you all know, is the only Catholic country in Southeast Asia and All Saint’s Day are a family orientated celebration. On Halloween day, the Filipinos go to the cemetery all together to party! When I say all together, I mean mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, and grandparents grab their food, drinks, music, and some card games and spend one or two days together with their loved one’s tombs. Some families like to feast and dance; others prefer a quieter time to repair or clean the tombs and graves. It was magical to see how different people face death. It was touching because I had just lost my father less than one month before that. It was great to see that death can be celebrated, and this experience made me see my pain differently.

Unfortunately, I have no videos or photos from this event since it is considered disrespectful for me, a foreigner, to document this passage with no actual link or bound with any of the families over there. And the cab driver told me that it was not wise for me to get out of the cab with luggage and go inside the cemetery, not for the danger of getting mugged or anything, but he said that in the Philippines, the graves yards are massive, and I could get lost. Besides, it was 11 pm or more, you know?

But since it is very cheap to go there, you can try to be more prepared than I was. Besides, Cebu is famous for its waterfalls, and it is always good to visit some nature when you’re travelling, right?

Oslob and the Whale Sharks

On the 3rd of November, I woke up at 1 am to prepare and set for my trip to Oslob. At 4 am, there was the car to drive me 3~4 hours to Oslob, the home of the Whale Sharks, the part of this Philippines Adventure that I dreamed about for weeks and weeks! 

So there I was, at 4 am ready to go on a long and curvy trip from Cebu City to Oslob, and I have to say that Oslob is quite impressive, it’s more to a fisherman village than a city, and according to the wiki, less than 30.000 people are living over there. In other words: beautiful and non-polluted beaches, tremendous amounts of vegetation and sea life at its best.

To get to Oslob and dive with the Whale Sharks, you just to either talk to a private company that provides everything (what I did) or get yourself over there and enjoy Oslob for more than a few hours. The private company is way more expensive, and I only chose this option because of my tight schedule; with more time, you can easily take the bus from Cebu City to Oslob and spend a few days doing nothing and just relaxing. And if you want to know how to get to Oslob from Cebu, this post tells you everything and more.

Watch the video here and tell us if you like. The video is from 2014, so excuse us for the edition and the music and all; I mean, if you subscribe to our channel, you will see how better we are right now. LOL

The company that I chose was Cebu Island Hopping, and they charged me 9500php (around €170) with everything included:

• transfer from Cebu City to Oslob and back
• government taxes included
• equipment included
• a short introduction to snorkelling/diving with Whale Sharks included
• a crappy breakfast (1 sandwich and a coffee)
• *if you’re not travelling alone, it will be way less per person since you can divide this fee for as many friends you have with you

If you want to go by bus, I know that the bus from Cebu City to Oslob runs once or twice a day and costs around 200php. The main problem I found was that I had to spend the night over there and I couldn’t. The government fees + the rest is roughly 2000php, so you can have the same experience I had for 1/3 of the price.

Watch the small video I did showing how amazing it is here on your right side

And some photos that will show you how outstanding and peaceful the view in Oslob is:

I guess this is all I can give you about the fantastic Cebu Island and those three things to do over there.

If you have any questions regarding how to book everything online, just drop us a line. I, more than anybody, know how “booking in advance” can be a pain in the ass when we’re talking about the Philippines.

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