Doctors, whalesharks, ferries and beachside living - 13/02/2026

Aloha From Alona 

Good afternoon, dear readers,

Well after the chaos of the canyoneering adventure, we had a very relaxing day and night at Seascape until Jen woke up in the middle of the night with massive ear pain.

The next day, we were due to check out, but in the morning, she asked me to take her to the doctors to get a script for a severe ear infection. I’d purchased some ear drops from the pharmacy in Moalboal two days before, but they were not cutting the mustard - so to speak.

Anyway - Toto (I think that was his name), our old mate “fixer” in the street, grabbed his son and his tuk-tuk, and we made a dash to the doctors.

Author’s note: After travelling to many places in Southeast Asia over the years, one of the first things I check out are the tuk-tuks, or variants of motorbike taxis, as they differ from city to city. In Cebu, they consist of a motorbike with a covered frame attached in the sidecar position. The number of people and luggage that can fit onto these things is unbelievable…

The first doctor was a no-go, but the second one was great. He prescribed antibiotics and the same ear drops that I’d already bought her, and we headed back to town. The whole round trip cost 3000 php including transport, doctors and the medicine. This equates to about $75AUD - not too bad.

We then said goodbye to Clive, Toto and the bar girls - Gia was somewhere else - and jumped in a private car to do the 2-hour trip to Oslob. We really enjoyed our time at Seascape, and I told Clive how this was our first stop on a one-year trip and how welcome they had made us, and the good ju-ju that comes with it, etc. I wrote them a great Google review and off we went.

The trip was in an air-conditioned car, and the two hours saw us circumnavigate the bottom of Cebu Island before arriving around 2.30 pm in the tiny town of Oslob.

We booked into our crappy little concrete and mould room and paid for our whaleshark swimming for the morning.  

Over dinner - great burgers at the restaurant next door - we discussed whether we should swim because of Jen’s ear, and then we decided to have an early night and decide at 4 am, which was the time we needed to register!!

4 am rolled around, and we met old mate in reception and, with about 8 other people, walked down to the water to register. Jen dosed up on antibiotics and painkillers and said she’d see how she felt.

Oslob is one of the weirdest towns that I’ve been to. It’s basically a highway town that was dead at 2.30 pm, but at 4.00 am it was absolutely pumping. Busloads after busloads of people turned up to swim with the whalesharks. Our group walked down to the water and there were hundreds of people there. We found out later that each boat that goes out holds 10 people, and our boat was number 44, so that meant at least 430 people would go out before us. Our guide said to go back to the hotel or the surrounding cafes and meet back at 6.30 am - ‘cause that’s when we were on.

We went to a local cafe, and they had a mini-buffet breakfast for sale, and we went for eggs, rice, longganisa snags, and coffee. Pretty standard Filo breakfast for 400php - about 10 bucks.

We met back at 6.30 am, and Jen had the brainwave to buy a swimming cap to keep her ears dry. Nek minnet, we’re at the water's edge with life jackets on in our swimming shoes, with mask and snorkel ready. 

I didn’t really know what to expect here. I didn’t know how at least 440 people (plus the rest) were going to see wild whale sharks at a certain time. Standing on the shore, there was a huge semi-circular area of the bay straight out from the beach that was marked off with rope and buoys. Each of the long-rigger canoes (that held 10 people each) was paddled out by two guides and tied up to the rope. The people in the canoes then jumped over the inside of the circle while other dudes in little boats swam in smaller circles, throwing out fish and basically leading juvenile whalesharks in loops as they fed them...

We were there for 30 minutes, and there were about 5 whalesharks that continually swam past us. I was very close to them at times - less than a metre - but the people in our boat kept getting in front of us with their cameras, and it was pretty hard to feel awe at these magnificent creatures. The following images are not ours, but come from Google, just to let you get a visual feel of how it was.

Like canyoneering, whaleshark watching was overpopulated by tourists and wasn't what I expected at all. It was still incredible to be that close to these gentle giants, but it wasn’t a spiritual awakening or anything. Jen got in for 15 minutes, and the cap kept her ear dry - Yayy.

We then went back to shore, as we walked across the road to our resort, there were still buses arriving, and I heard them yell out priority number 110! That means at least 1110 people went out and watched them be fed and led…

I’m still not sure how I feel ethically about this. Yes, it’s preserving them, but is it exploiting them? The whole town makes a living off this too… many strings to this bow and something I may explore more in the future - if I could be fucked!

Also, we tried to take pictures underwater with our phones in a waterlock bag, but they didn’t turn out…bummer.

Anyway, then instead of hanging around mould town we got a tuk-tuk (same rig, except my seat faced the back, which was cool) and drove to the pier.

It was 9.30 am by now, and I got dumped at the pier with the luggage while Jen went and got a massage. 

The next hour saw me people watching whilst sinking a cheeky San Miguel or two - hey, I’d been up since four and swam with friggin’ whalesharks, I can have a morning beer or two!! 

 It took two hours to load the ferry - no pier, just a tender- and then another two to motor to the island that was to be our next destination for five nights: Panglao Island, Bohol.

I had a little kipper on the boat, and then we were unloaded, bundled into a van, and 20 minutes later we were checking into our room at the Hayahay Resort on Alona Beach, Panglao. (Again, Google pics)

Our room is big, and has no mould - which is good. The restaurant is downstairs, and there is snorkelling right out the front.

That brings us up to speed. Jen will spend a few days recovering, and we will slow travel for a few days, sun, water, massages, and good tucker. Sounds alright to me.

Cheers, amigos!