Part 2: Long Rides, Whale Encounters, and A Series of Unfortunate Events (?)
The next morning, we were supposed to leave for Oslob at 6 AM because the ride there takes more than an hour, and Ryan has reserved slots for us in the whale shark watching activity already. We set our alarms for 5:30 AM; I actually had mine set at 5 AM. I was planning to wash my hair since I don’t sleep with wet hair so I didn’t wash it the night before. But like the previous day, not one of us woke up on time! We woke up at exactly 6 AM to Ryan knocking on our door. So we ended up leaving at 6:30 AM.
We went to Oslob riding the habal-habals. Mac rode alone with Ryan, Johar and I rode together on another, and Pao and Arzy on the third one. It was the longest motorcycle ride I’ve ever experienced my whole life. My eyes watered (and I was already wearing my glasses) and I said R.I.P. to my hair since I was sure that it’s gonna be a bitch to comb later on.
I’m pretty sure we looked like this everytime we picked up speed.
But it was still a fairly enjoyable ride because we could see the beautiful view of the sea to our right and we passed by several towns on the way. If only it wasn’t so difficult to take pictures on a moving motorcycle…
We got to Oslob at 8 AM. Mac and Ryan were already there, eating breakfast at a carinderia. Either Ryan drove at an ungodly speed or their motorcycle was lighter because he only had one passenger so it was easier for him to drive. The rest of us couldn’t eat breakfast anymore because our number for the whale watching activity has already been called. So we just had our food reserved and promised to come back for them later after the activity. We didn’t have dinner the night before so we were not only hungry, we were FAMISHED.
There were A LOT of people in the resort since it was still summer. A large number of them were foreigners. apl.de.ap was even there with a bunch of people, but we didn’t see him.
Since the whale shark activity in Oslob started, it has been met with a lot of controversies. People think that feeding the whale sharks cause them to be too dependent on humans for food and it doesn’t do anything for the conservation of the species. Whale sharks are also supposed to migrate, but since they become too dependent on the people there, they end up staying in Oslob longer than they are supposed to. Furthermore, some people fail to follow the DO’s and DONT’s in whale shark watching. They do dumb stuff like getting too close, touching , and even using the poor animals as surfboards.
Because of the guidelines we read at the entrance of the resort, we were very careful not to get too close to the whale sharks. That’s why we don’t have any clear and decent pics with them. Plus, the whale sharks were HUGE so we were a bit scared. Even the baby ones were ginormous.
Tourists are only allowed up to 30 minutes to interact with the whale sharks. We went back to shore to eat our super late breakfast. Our next stop is the Sumilon Island! The island is actually privately owned and there’s also a resort there, the Bluewater Sumilon Island Resort. The owner allows non-resort guests to stay at the sandbar for a minimal fee. I’ve seen pictures of the sandbar and they look so promising so it was very exciting!
I included “A Series of Unfortunate Events” in the title for this post because like I mentioned in Part 1, Murphy’s Law seemed to have followed us everywhere in this particular trip. When we got there, it was already high tide so the sandbar was completely covered in waist-deep water. 😦 We immediately thought that it was unlucky, just like how it was unlucky that we missed our flight. So we were thinking that so far, the trip has been unlucky. Although looking back now, the sandbar being covered with water wasn’t that bad at all. Ha ha. Because check these out:
It was still a stunning view even if the sandbar was covered. The turquoise water looked so clear and inviting.
Then it was time to go swimming! It’s a blue world out there…
Now for some underwater shots, which I’m apparently not very good at…
We left the island at around 2 PM.
We decided to have a late lunch after in one of the restaurants there. I wasn’t able to note the name of the restaurant. Oops! Although I guess it stands out quite a bit because of the very energetic and hospitable gay server who randomly bursts out into song. Ha ha!
All the food taste good and were nicely prepared, as you can see. Before this, we all agreed to just buy affordable meals because of the setback we had at the airport. As in we were planning to just buy canned food and rice. But it was impossible because WHO COULD RESIST GOOD FOOD???
After a very nice meal, we got back on our respective habal-habals with their respective drivers and headed to the Mainit Hot Spring. It is located near the resort we were staying in so it was another 1 and a half hour-ride. That whole ride on the way back was super uncomfortable. My feet kept slipping off the motorcycle foot rest and the skin at the back of my thighs suddenly felt painful.I think it was because I was wet and my exposed skin was chafing against whatever material the motorcycle seat was made of, kind of like an inner chub rub. I kept thinking that that uncomfortable ride was probably a foreshadowing of something that would happen later on. Or maybe I was just thinking too much. Anywhoo…
So we finally reached the Mainit Hot Spring. The word mainit in Tagalog means hot. I’m not sure if it’s the same in Cebuano, though. So it’s basically translated as Hot Hot Spring. Hehe. There’s about a 5-minute trek to reach the hot springs because it would be difficult for the motorcycles (especially with us on it) to traverse the rocky and uneven paths.
The hot spring was very relaxing. I had a headache and it sort of dissipated for a while. Ryan then told us that there’s a mini waterfall somewhere nearby, so one of his companions showed us where it is.
We asked Ryan where we can have dinner that night. He suggested a carinderia whose owner might be able to cook for us. So we hopped on our rides and drove to this town square with different stores and carinderias surrounding it. The kind lady who owns the placed asked us our preferred budget each for the meal, so she can work her way around the money and figure out what ingredients she can get from the market to cook for us. So we settled for ₱200 each and she promised that they’ll have our meal prepared at around 8 that evening.
I think it was around 6 PM so we’ll have time to rest and take a bath. A few meters from the resort where our room is, our driver lost control of the motorcycle in a road that sort of winds down. It went straight into a wall of bushes then fell on its side…with us on it. The driver later said that the motorcycle slipped on a stone and he lost control. My boyfriend and I suffered wounds on our left elbows, and our jaws ached for a few minutes after. After falling, my headache came back probably because of the impact, and I had a long scratch on my right thigh because of the thorns in the bushes. Pao and Arzy were behind us and when they saw our fallen habal-habal, they got off immediately. There were also locals who witnessed what happened and came to our aid. Johar hurt his ankle and he couldn’t walk for a while after the fall, it was probably because his leg got stuck for a while between the ground and the motorcycle. Since he couldn’t walk properly, Pao and Arzy’s driver took him on his motorcycle back to the resort. Since the resort was seriously like twenty steps away, the three of us just walked. Some concerned locals even walked us to the gate of the resort. Our driver sort of just drove off after ensuring that we were alright. Ryan later told us that he was embarrassed and that he just suffered a scratch between his eyes. We don’t blame him since it was an accident anyway. Besides, we were still lucky that we hit a bush and not a concrete wall, or that we didn’t slip while on the highway or something.
I think it was during that time that we realized it was Murphy’s Law. Since we tried to change our luck by getting another flight to replace the one that we missed, bad luck followed us ’cause they were meant to happen. If it can go wrong, it will! So it was kinda like Murphy’s Law with a hint of Final Destination. Or maybe not since nothing too extreme happened.
When we got to the resort, Ryan and Mac were already there as usual. They asked us if we were okay and one of the tour guide/driver went and bought a Betadine for our wounds. We were then informed that there had been a mix-up in our room. It turns out that our room was already booked for that night months prior. I guess Ryan didn’t know about it. So the management arranged another room for us and gave us a discount.
The room we were transferred to wasn’t in the resort because they were fully booked. It was in a house near the town square whose owners allow that room to be rented out during peak seasons. After taking baths and fixing our things, we went to our new room. We had a different driver that time; his back seat was wider and more comfortable and he was much older too. My boyfriend reminded him to just be careful because we had a little accident earlier. Heh.
After depositing our things to our new room, we walked to the carinderia for our dinner. We were so hungry and we just wanted to forget the whole Murphy’s Law shit. These were what our ₱20o each got us:
Meat, soup, and vegetables! A complete meal! We actually didn’t get to finish all of it. After a hearty meal, we were allowed to use the karaoke machine for P5 each song. It was super fun because we were the only customers and we can belt out songs as loud as we wanted to. Across the square, you could hear other people doing the same thing. Maybe they were making the most out of late-night karaoke-ing it before it’s made illegal?
We were scheduled for the Canyoneering Adventure the next day, something that I was super apprehensive about! We went home at around 10 that night so we can sleep early. We’ve seriously have had enough of not waking up to our alarms and getting a late start.
Part 3 will be up soon!
Strange Little Girl 
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