From Manado I flew to Jakarta, Manilla and then to Cebu. After a 4.5h bus ride and a 45 min ride on a local boat I was on Malapascua some 30 hours after leaving Manado. I opted to visit Malapascua instead of hanging out in Manila which seemed busy and polluted as I left on my ZestAir flight. I passed the time on Malapascua diving which was quite good and probably worth a second visit in the future.
Here are some pictures:
Goodbye Manado
When I arrived at the Cebu northern bus station it was packed with people because it was All Saints Day. Lucky for me, chatting with a guy working at the bus station got me on a bus quickly. The 4.5h bus ride to Maya on the northern tip of Cebu island was only 4$CAD but no A/C and local sized leg room.
Crew relaxing on the public boat waiting to leave from North Cebu and not very concerned the sun is going down or that they don’t have lights or life jackets on the boat…
Crew finally getting to work on starting the engine. It only took 6 men and 5 attempts before the engine started.
I arrived on the island at night but the following morning I was able to see the beach
The sand is white but there are some sand flies. The snorkeling off the coast is not good, unless you like looking at sea grass.
Dive boat waiting until the next dive
I would say most people want to visit Malapascua for the diving. Here we are headed to Gato Island (a giant rock without beaches) to see White Tipped reef sharks and swim in a tunnel under the island.
The following morning I woke up at 4:45am to dive at Monad Shoal which is apparently a sunken island the same size as Malapascua but drops off a few hundred feet around its edges.
The big show at Monad Shoal are Thresher Sharks that come in shallow for cleaning. I think Monad Shoal is the only place in the world where you can see these (15-20ft long) fish daily. As I don’t have an underwater camera I borrowed this image.
On Sunday afternoon I went exploring in one of the villages on the island
There was some karaoke going on and a lot of people hanging around
I discovered that Sunday afternoon for many locals is dedicated to cockfighting. The men spend a lot of time deciding which birds will fight. They seem to mostly compare the size of their bird to potential opponents.
This man is preparing his bird for battle by strapping a 3″ blade to its left leg.
They spend a good 10 minutes getting the birds ready for the fight e.g. letting the birds peck each other
This is a still from a video I took. The blade attached to the bird’s foot making a nice arc.
That pretty much wrapped up my time on Malapascua as on the following day I woke up nice and early and took the local boat then local bus back to Cebu city.
I found this in the local paper. Perhaps we’ll see cheaper flights between Manilla and Toronto in the future.
Things I learned:
– It is cheaper (flag down fee and per km rate) to take the white taxi from the arrivals area at Cebu airport
– Malapascua is quite peaceful and not very developed but does cater to foreigners i.e. bacon, bratwurst sausages and pizza are commonly found in restaurants
– 320ml San Miguel beer (largest beer producer in the Philippines) 1.4$CAD
– Domestic flights are quite cheap in Philippines. Manila to Cebu, 1 hour, 100$CAD return (all in)
Where to next?
12 hours in Seoul
What am I eating?
Breakfast
Dried mango, product of the Philippines
Chicken fajitas
Fish with mango chutney and fried noodles
So called crab cakes
Some baked goods for the bus ride
Cebu airport food – Steamed rice, sweet and sour fish, fruits
SorryOutOfOffice 