Roused by my hideous alarm at 5:15AM I bowled out of bed excited at what was ahead of me, a swim with the biggest fish in the world, the whale shark!

Saving breakfast for later myself, Chels, Alex and Rose bundled into the back of a small, open topped lorry and sat down on the floor holding onto the sides as though they would save us in a crash.

When we got into Oslob it was already very busy and people were easing their sleepy faces into their snorkelling masks. We got a small bangkur out onto the Cebu Strait where the waves were picking up around us under a grey sky. The water did not look inviting and visibility seemed poor from above the surface.

Finally, our guide slowed the bangkur and said that we should drop into the water. Slightly mystified as I couldn't see anything underneath us I was first into the water, so keen that I forget to take my flip flops off!

When I dropped below the surface I let out a mental and awestruck, 'Wow!' Right next to me, half a metre away, was the biggest fish in the world. It's gargantuan blue body beautifully speckled with white spots and it eased its bulk through the water with uncomprehendable ease. It wasn't scary, it was simply incredible to be so close to such a creature. It slowly cruised past me gulping down gallons of water in search of plankton, its mouth and gills were huge, its eyes were surprisingly small and its stomach seemed to glow white in the gloom around it. The experience was one of the best to happen to me since travelling, it was truly incredible.

Later, showered and fed, we had an hours drive in the back of the same lorry to Taloot Harbour to catch a boat to Bohol Island. Standing up in the back was great fun, holding onto the roof and waving at the smiley locals like some sort of balding celebrity.

Unfortunately, the boat was cancelled due to bad weather. I asked the locals if we could rent kayaks and they eyed my like I was psychotic before I started laughing and they joined in.

As our ferry was cancelled we had a hectic bus and taxi ride to the ferry port in Cebu, two hours away. We managed to snag a boat there after collecting several hundred scraps of paper to pass various points within the port.

Feeling smug we landed in Tangalria in Bohol and went in search of some more barbecues before heading to bed in our hostel.