Cebu

First Trip: Cebu City > Argao > Moalboal > Cebu City

Second Trip: Cebu City > Oslob > Siquijor > Cebu City

Cebu is definitely an activity island. There is so much to see and do, in particular Kawasan Falls and Oslob for the whale sharks. It is also a good place to go to nip across the sea to get to Bohol and Siquijor.

On my first trip, we had planned to go to Bohol, but unfortunately, due to a terrorist incident there the day before we were meant to go, we decided to divert our trip and had to stop in Argao instead. I wouldn’t necessarily stay here as there isn’t much to do, may as well get down to Oslob or stay in Moalboal instead.

How did we get there?

We flew into Cebu City which is pretty easy to get to. If landing in the evening you may need to stay the night in Cebu City and if landing early then I would move straight on to explore the island! Cebu City isn’t that nice, pretty crazy busy and unless you want to go to a shopping centre or something, there is not loads to do here. There is also SO much traffic everywhere you just end up sitting in a taxi for ages paying money to sit still. So it is more somewhere you’d stay for convenience.

Cebu City > Argao/Oslob: If on a budget I would recommend getting a taxi to the Cebu South bus station. From here you can get a public bus down south via Carcar through Argao to Oslob which can take a good 3-4 hours if not longer with traffic and lots of stops. More recently when I went, we negotiated at the airport for a taxi to take us all the way down to Oslob, for this you can expect to pay about 2500 pesos (they started at 4000 pesos so make sure to barter!). We did this to save time and just get on our way but even in a taxi, the traffic was so bad it took 3.5 hours to Oslob so I dread to think what the bus would have been like.

Argao/Oslob > Moalboal: If you want to travel across the island from side to side, even though it looks close, there aren’t many roads so it can still take a while. If taking a public bus you will need to switch at Carcar where the bus will change direction. The whole journey was probably about 3 hours. Upon arriving to Moalboal, the bus will drop you on the highway so you just need to get a tricycle down into the village itself known as Panagsama Beach.

Moalboal > Cebu City: We got a direct public bus from the highway in Moalboal back to Cebu bus station. These buses are very frequent, every 45 minutes and they take about 3.5 hours. You can pay more for a mini van which takes about 2.5 hours if you prefer.

Where did we go and what did we do?

Argao & Oslob Whale Sharks

We originally planned not to stay in Argao, just to travel to nearby Talood to catch a ferry to Bohol. Unfortunately we decided to skip our plan to go to Bohol after a terrorist incident happened the day before we were due to go. So last minute, we decided we would stay the 2 nights in Argao instead and use it as a base to do the whale shark trip. You can visit Oslob to see the whale sharks from other areas in Cebu such as Moalboal but I would say the closer you can stay the better as you need to get there super early in the morning to avoid the queues!

The second time I visited Cebu, seeing the whale sharks was our top priority so we decided to base our stay around this. We chose to stay actually in Oslob to be able to get one of the first boats out in the morning to swim with the whale sharks. You can also do Kawasan Falls from Oslob it just takes a little longer to get there.

Oslob is a small town and where the whale shark watching is, is actually a bit further South in a place called Tanawan. We stayed at Anton’s Beach in Tanawan, a 3 minute walk to the whale sharks. This homestay was the cheapest of our trip and I couldn’t recommend it any more. We had a balcony overlooking the sea and could sit out and actually see the whale shark fins early in the morning. The ladies who ran our accommodation allowed us to book the whale sharks through them and they actually got up early and went and stood in the queue for us so we got out on the very first group of boats and didn’t have to queue! We were there for 5:30am and the queue was already getting long so get there before this is you haven’t got anyone queuing for you otherwise you could face waiting on the shore for a few hours! We paid 1100 pesos per person. The whale shark watching only happens in the morning and there are a certain number of boats allowed out in one day so bear this in mind when planning. There are lockers to leave your belongings in and you have to shower before going in the sea as they try to avoid any suncream etc. polluting the water.

After swimming with the whale sharks you can also take a motorbike ride up the hill to Tumalog Falls. It was included with the price of seeing the whale sharks so we thought we may as well do it. It was a cool waterfall and you can swim right under it so it’s worth a visit!

There is a lot of controversy around swimming with the whale sharks in Oslob compared to in other places in the Philippines such as Donsol. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting but it was still an absolutely incredible experience to be able to swim right next to these huge creatures. I was expecting one boat to go out into the bay at a time but it is more like a mass of tourists waiting on the shore and then a string of about 8 boats go out at a time. They line up and then chuck food into the water so that the whale sharks swim right up close to the boats. They are definitely not in captivity, but you could say they have been trained to swim in this area every morning due to being fed. So as they swim past you can jump in and swim next to them, making sure to always stay a good distance away from them and not touch them. There are a lot of other people around you and the experience is over pretty quickly. It would be better to see them by chance in the wild such as in Donsol, but on these trips, you’re not guaranteed to see them so that is the benefit of coming to Oslob.

Moalboal & Kawasan Falls

The main reason people visit Moalboal is because it is a great base to visit Kawasan Falls. We had 3 nights and 2 full days in this little town (the area is called Panagsama Beach) and we stayed at DaCozy Beach Resort. It was quite dated and slightly out of the town but the garden and pool was beautiful and there was a great free breakfast included so it is worth considering! The newer ‘Pig Hostel’ in town is meant to be good too.

Whilst in Moalboal, you can visit White Beach which had gorgeous white sand and was a nice spot to swim. You can also see the famous ‘Sardine Run’ which takes place in the centre of Panagsama Beach in the town. You can just pay to hire a snorkle from one of the little shops and they direct you down to the beach where the sardines are. It wasn’t a particularly nice beach, you had to swim between the boats moored up but the sardines themselves were super cool. Thousands of them in a big swirl, definitely worth seeing as this is so cheap to do! There are also quite a few restaurants and little shops here to look around and lots of busy bars in the evening.

We booked onto a tour to do canyoneering at Kawasan Falls. The tours are sold from all the little shops in the centre of town and they all pretty much offer the same package, including lunch and transfers. (To do Kawasan from Oslob, you can just ask one of the locals and they will know someone who can sort you out a tour which includes transport to and from Oslob which is about an hour each way).

We got up quite early and our tour left Moalboal at about 8am. The drive was about 40 minutes where they take you to the shop to get kitted out with life jackets, helmets and shoes. They have lockers here so you can leave your clothes etc. Then we hopped on the back of this guys motorbike and they take you up quite a steep route to the top of the hill where the tour begins. I would definitely recommend having breakfast before your trip as it is very active and you are out for the whole morning!

From the top, they lead you on a long walk down through the jungle until you reach the rocks and the water! Canyoneering was seriously fun and for the adrenaline junkies they are plenty of jumps and swings! The biggest being a 15m jump into the plunge pool right at the end. It takes a couple of hours and then there is a restaurant for lunch. Brilliant day out and a must do activity whilst in Cebu!!