Yay! I’m back to writing travel posts again which is one of my favorite things to write about. 🙂 This trip was born out of thinking what to get the sibs for their birthdays (they’re both December babies) and Christmas. Combine that with my need to explore as much as possible, and I decided to book us a domestic trip after Christmas. Kim tagged along since she.. had things to think about and needed a break. 🙂 I’ve always wanted to go back to Cebu ever since I first went for my birthday in 2013 (Cupcake Girl Goes Solo in Cebu: Bantayan Island, Anika Island Resort, The Henry Hotel, Cebu City 1, Cebu City 2, Cebu City 3, Cebu City 4, Cebu City 5, Cebu City 6) because I didn’t feel like I really got to see everything there is to see. Cebu’s a great place and I don’t feel like I’ve even scratched the surface. 🙂 Kim was the one who initially found Happy Juanderer. You can see from my previous posts that I am not very fond of availing tours that lasts more than a day, but after researching the itinerary, I decided to simply join their Project Sursuroy Group Tour for Php 5,350/person. The sibs and Kim playfully tout me as the ‘team leader’ during trips as I tend to plan and coordinate things – and I chose convenience. 😛

We got to the airport early since it was the Yuletide season, and although our local airport suck all year round, they tend to do their worst during this time. We were baffled when they called our names to approach the boarding gate, only to find out that there were four seats free in an earlier flight to Mactan (which was already delayed for more than an hour at that) and we were to board the plane. They had us act discreet, to not start a commotion among all the other delayed passengers of our actual flight.. as if one can act discreet while running around the airport to catch a shuttle to get to the plane. We got stink eyes from disgruntled passengers upon boarding, and we realized it might be because they thought that we were late passengers to their flight. Haha!

We arrived in Mactan around 1 in the morning, and took a cab to the meet up place for the group tour. Kuya Ferdie, our tour leader, arrived a few minutes before 4 AM and had all 15 of us in the group tour in two separate vehicles in less than 30 minutes. He and our driver, Kuya Marlon, are very efficient drivers and we covered a lot of land in a few hours. Our first stop was supposed to be Osmeña Peak, but it was drizzling, so we headed to Tumalog Falls instead.

The place is very serene.. and for the lack of a more imaginative word – just so green lol. It was well worth the crazy habal habal ride with no helmets on down the steep slope. Whew.

Bamboo trees line the vicinity of the falls. You can opt to go swimming, but the water was cold and we decided not to.

Our next stop was *drum roll please* Oslob Whale Shark Watching! It was not my first attempt at swimming with the whale sharks, so I was really psyched to be doing this. All the photos I have though for this experience are the ones I took while waiting to be called for the boat. It was the holidays and the place was packed with foreigners and Pinoys alike.

We were given numbers, and we were already for boat #400+ that early in the morning.

Important things to note during the orientation, which we witnessed so many times while waiting: do not touch the whale sharks (it’s illegal and you can go to jail), no flash photography (they will get violent and attack you, nah, kidding), and that if they swim towards you, do not panic and simply make way. Do watch the video (I have a link at the bottom of this post) because I had our whale shark experience there and seriously, THE FEAR IS REAL.

This encounter starts around 1:09 and you can see panicky me swim back towards the boat. Haha! It lasted a few seconds, but I honestly thought I was going to accidentally kick the whale shark and spend six months in jail okay.

Each boat in only allowed 45 minutes of encounter, but I plan on coming back and getting that Instagram worthy photo. Hopefully I won’t be super scared then. Everyone was tired from the excitement, and we had our lunch at Sumilon Island.

Sumilon island did have a nice cream-ish sand color, but damn, it was super rocky!

Aside from having to cross the threshold between the sand and the sea, having to eat out of the packed plate proved to also be a challenge. I’m sorry Sumilon, you are no longer in the running to become one of the places I plan to go back to any time soon.

When I read that Osmeña Peak is part of the itinerary, I did not bat an eye. All the blogs tell you is that it’s a minor trek. In my mind, I thought that meant that it was something non-mountain climbers (who does not lead a very active lifestyle) can do on a whim.

It started out easy enough too! We had to ride a habal habal with a winding scenic route up the mountain. I was on it with my brother (whose hat flew off).

Once we got there, a guide went ahead of us to lead the way.

You see that hill behind my brother? No, that was not the peak.

We were only halfway to the peak and I honestly wanted to just sit there and wait for them to come back.

..still not the peak though. It’s called peak for a nothing, Teesh!

The Osita sibs! They all went ahead of me because I kept taking breaks (I’ve been known to try things that are pushes beyond my physical limits lol. Haha!

This guy kept photobombing my pictures. I swear, one moment I’ll check if he’s there before snapping photos, only to find that he and his scarf will suddenly appear in the background. T_T

The view is very much worth it!

I had a small wish upon reaching the top – that may I always have this thirst for adventure, the knack to push my limits (in a very safe way haha), and the ability to get whatever I put my mind to done.

I’ll update the links as I go along! 🙂 Let me know if you’ve been to South Cebu and how it went for you!

Travel Vlog || #ProjectSursuroy: Tumalog Falls + Oslob Whale shark Watching + Sumilon Island + Osmeña Peak || #ProjectSursuroy: Canyoneering at Badian + Kawasan Falls + Pescador Island || Bohol Countryside Tour || A Day in Cebu City