Personal | Jerminix

Butanding Whale Shark Watching in Oslob Cebu

March 4th, 2012 | by Jerminix | adventure travel, blogging, cebu, personal

Mar
04

The Popular 'Butanding' Whale Shark Watching

This post might be a little late in terms online visits due to its popularity and the number of people (including other bloggers) that have spread the news and make a post of about (it even reach national television for that matter). But it was truly a very great experience even if many had came to the popular butanding (bisaya for whale shark) in Oslob, which is located in the far southern part of Cebu.

To get to Oslob by the way, you have to ride a Bus or a car(if can endure the long hours of travel/drive). Indeed it was a long ride to get there, from the City Proper (south bus terminal) to the Oslob province is a 3 hours travel time approximately. And it is also advisable to travel early in the morning for better spot and to avoid large crowds in the whale shark watching. The place really is not that difficult to find due to large trampolines and banners along the road (in Oslob proper).

Upon arrival you will be required to attend the seminar which is kinda good because we will be able to know the rules and guidelines in the Whale shark watching. Actually it was implemented by the Oslob municipality (the government actually just get involved in the business) has strict implementations to not harm the Whale Shark in the process or destroy its ecosystem (I think there are laws pertaining to that). It is actually to regulate those kinds of rules to control the activities and keep the Whale Sharks safe and sound but the downside is that the fee is higher than before :/

So there in the briefing section we were told to keep a distance to avoid any injuries to both (audience and whaleshark) and keep proper etiquette like not throwing any food, splashing near the sharks, don’t wear sunblock so that they will not be poisoned (really?) and ask permission when jumping out of the boat. We also paid 300 hundred pesos for the entrance fee including the the banca boat ride to the whale sharks. We also paid 50 pesos for the life vest (I actually don’t need one , but it is in their strict implementation). So there it is the briefing session before the actual ride.

You will ride the banca (small boat) to get to the whale sharks as they reside in the deep waters, maybe not that far , maybe about 500 meters from the shore. You will also go with the other banca boats with other whale shark watchers. There you will see about 2 -3 Whale Sharks near a Banca , actually they feed the whale sharks with something so that they will go near to the banca in order to get a better view for the visitors , you are also allowed to watch them closely by swimming near it but not too close.

Credit: www.oslobwhalesharks.com

It was really an amazing experience because it was my first time to get near a very big fish (whale shark) and not on a plate or something,haha.. Too bad I didn’t bring my cam on the actual boat riding because of safety issues of my cam (don’t have water protection) nevertheless the ambiance is very great for whale shark watching along with a good weather . Hope they will not abuse the popularity of the whale shark watching and ignore of the whale sharks safety and take advantage of tourist and visitors. Maybe have more control of some of crowds and tourist watching by following the rules and guidelines for the safety of both.

credits: rarusuchin for tourguide

last photo: www.oslobwhalesharks.com

14 Comments »

Personal Space and Online Space

March 1st, 2012 | by Jerminix | blogging, culture, lifestyle, personal

Mar
01

Personal Space

I stumble upon an article line, which is kinda true for many (me included )

Personal space is the region surrounding a person which they regard as psychologically theirs. Most people value their personal space and feel discomfort, anger, or anxiety when their personal space is encroached.[1] Permitting a person to enter personal space and entering somebody else’s personal space are indicators of perception of the relationship between the people. There is an intimate zone reserved for lovers, children and close family members. Source; Wiki

But this time, I am going to elaborate more on “personal space online”, I mean most of our interactions in this time and age are online or in the web. So the technicalities of these topic is somehow broad but very familiar in some way or another. Having a personal space online is really different from the actual or the physical space which is already categorize in the above image.

The interesting fact (based on the image) is that Social space is just outside the personal space which is kinda far for some especially when we relate it to personal online space. Physically, the distance is similar to intimate for personal space even others publicly can access a closer zone. So social media has really affect the way we see people or how we interact with them. For example, We have the tendency to be intimate with online friends even though you just met or even strangers.

In the personal space, you can relate it first as social space, but it the social media network, the space is closer than you think (psychologically). That is why many are getting intimate online even they barely know the person, in terms on how they treated everyone online especially with their Facebook friends

Each of our Facebook friends can also be divided according to how close or what relationship they have with others. I bet many group them into one space category which is really common for all but some really have a way to group them to avoid unwanted viewers (or worst stalkers). The advantage is that we can keep track of people especially our close families and friends but what about those who we just met or just hang outwhich we have given them access to our personal space online (except when you set privacy controls in your social networking settings).

This is also why I sometimes (really sometimes) get irritated when some suddenly enters and intrude my personal space for that manner, though each of us have a different personal space range, maybe some has a very wide social space (especially online) and also has its own rules when it comes to personal space and privacy. Knowing a person is very important on how you can measure or test how we see our own personal space both physically , psychologically and online space. Just remember the limits. cheers

1 Comment »

Blogging a Bloggers Blog

January 25th, 2012 | by Jerminix | blogging, personal

Jan
25

Seems I have been on a hiatus (again) but in terms of interacting to fellow bloggers both online and offline , I haven’t blog hopped that much for the past week because of the Sinulog Festival and other stuff XD. Also returned few comments and as a result , well, haven’t interacted with other bloggers that much. Though most of my post are well.. events which is becoming a niche of this blog (yes, this is kinda an event blog but a little bit on the personal side meaning I attended the event itself and make a post about it or a sponsored event by invites from different company in promotion of their products and services (a return of all my blogging XD ).

It is getting to be an event blog or something which is kinda obvious, thought I tried to post events (particularly) all of the time, if ever I was in that event, I always tried my best to interact with my readers (if I have any, lol) and also to fellow bloggers especially those who commented even if it is for the sake of increasing backlinks, traffic, bloghopping or even critics, haha.. Nevertheless, it is still a good way to interact other bloggers.

Just wondering how is your blogging life so far?, seems this is one of my random and useless ramblings but who am I to judge my own blogpost ,haha.. Maybe I can get back on track starting this week or maybe getting a bit of momentum of bloghopping, updating blogpost and post interesting and helpful topics (easier said than done). Cheers!

12 Comments »