MONTHLY CHALLENGE

Fish Eating My Feet or Swimming with Whale Sharks?

How about both?

My previous story ended with us on the ferry to Cebu City. It was a smooth crossing but l-o-n-g. I thought we’d never get there, but of course, just as I was nodding off, we berthed. Just like an aircraft, people rushed to get off. We were planning on calling a Grab — I had the app downloaded on my phone attached to my credit card — but a taxi driver said he’d match the Grab rate so we grabbed him to take us to our hotel, The Sempre Premier Mactan.

We checked in to be told it was too late for the laundromat (they closed at 8). This upset our plans to wash all of our dirty clothes here in Cebu City. We’ll just have to stay dirty for another couple of days.

We checked if the hotel restaurant was still open. We were in luck. We ordered noodles and soup and a bottle of Chilean red wine. This was the birthday dinner I had missed out on at Kim’s Garden on my birthday yesterday. The waitress brought us a special birthday treat as dessert. I showered and headed to bed. Our “swimming with the whale sharks tour” starts at 3 am so I know I needed sleep. I had ordered breakfast to take with us (as it was included with the room price) but was surprised breakfast was supplied at the whale shark venue as soon as we had registered. There were hundreds of people lined up before us. While we were waiting for our turn to swim with the whale sharks, we drove to Tumalog Falls.

Once again there were motorcycles to take us closer to the falls, this time no helmet! I’m becoming more Filipino every day. I hadn’t swum in the falls yesterday, I hadn’t jumped in the beautiful cave pool, and I hadn’t seen the caves on Lamanok Island all of which Stacey had done. I was going to swim under these beautiful falls and give my neck a much-needed massage. If you’ve never been massaged by a waterfall, you don’t know what you’re missing.

We relaxed in the cool water and when I looked at Stacey, she was crying. “What’s wrong?” “This is just so beautiful,” and it was but it didn’t bring me to tears. I managed to get out with help from our guide and Stacey. I was glad I’d swum here. Next up was a surprise. Further down the river was a natural pool filled with thousands of tiny fish. Oh, wow! They’re the sort that loves to eat all the dry skin off your feet — the best pedicure ever — and to sit in nature while they’re doing it was simply heaven. I can highly recommend it. I could have stayed for a couple of hours but our guide said we had to get back for our whale shark swim.

I almost made it out without injury but my second toe got caught on the rocky edge. It didn’t hurt immediately but when I saw the blood, the pain set in. With a bleeding toe, we were off to swim with the whale sharks. I was hoping they weren’t attracted by blood like normal sharks! I climbed into the outrigger and plonked myself down on a seat. I had to shuffle forward to let more people on. I jumped in the water as soon as I could. There were hundreds of people in the water and maybe a dozen or more whale sharks. The boats encircled them so they couldn’t escape even if they wanted to.

I was really hoping we’d be swimming with them “in the wild.” We were given a lecture about staying 5 metres away from all parts of them but it was physically impossible. I would much rather have swum with only one in the wild. They swam past touching bodies as they swam. The only time I got a fright was when one was coming straight for me with its mouth wide open. I had visions of myself being Jonah and being swallowed whole.

They were beautiful creatures but they weren’t living their lives the way they were designed to live catching their own food. They were being fed by a guy in the middle of the circle. I know the people have to make money from tourism but there are such beautiful natural features that I’m happy to pay for — stunning waterfalls, iridescent cave pools, beaches and coral reefs without exploiting the whale sharks.

I couldn’t climb that ricketty ladder back into the outrigger canoe so I decided to swim back to the beach. Stacey assured the guide I was a good swimmer and she would swim back with me but the guide insisted on giving me a life vest to hang onto which only impeded my speed. Try swimming with one hand… and I didn’t put my fins on because of my bloody toe — literally. So it was a slow swim back to the beach. After being in the water so long I had trouble walking but I made it back to the mess hall for the “buffet lunch”. It was 10.20 am!

I wasn’t hungry but I did taste the chicken adobo, a half bowl of chicken noodle soup and some watermelon. The tour wasn’t done yet.

If you missed it, here’s the previous story.

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Liam James H wrote about Kawasan Falls which were on the itinerary. They were closed a few days before our trip because safety issues so Tumalog Falls was substituted.

Osan Fernando’s story gave me an insight into Filipino traffic rules — there are none!