To acclimatise we decided to spend a couple of days fairly close to the airport on Mactan Cebu Island, in a place known for independent travellers, called Maribago.
It was a busy place with locals mixed in with Fillipino tourists, many Koreans and an odd European. We stayed a hotel with a lovely pool area which was great to retreat to if the vendors and tricycle guys got too much for you. Our pool was lovely and looked over a beach.
I did swim there a couple of times but it was very shallow and the swimming area only small before lots of boats I (Janet) had a pretty nasty head cold and sinus congestion so we decided against a snorkelling trip and just explored locally. If nothing else we discovered lots of yummy food discovering the local bakeries and also tried the crispy pork (lechon) that Cebu is known for.
We also met a fab Canadian, Sean, owner of a Taco place and had an amazing burrito washed down with a few too many beers. When we discovered they didn’t take cards (lots of places only take cash here) he just said to pop in the next day with the cash. How nice!
Next, we took a bus 3 hours South to the west coast resort of MoalBoal. This place is known for the “sardine run” when millions of sardines swim about in amazing vortexes. All of this happens just 30m offshore where the reef has a deep wall, so you can just swim out and snorkell among all the sardines, lots of other fish and some mad pink things that flashed different colours like a spaceship. Don’t you just love nature????
Before we even got to the sardines, and just still thigh deep in water, we were treated to seeing two sea turtles. They were pretty big (maybe 1m long) and just nibbling on the sea grass and algae, swimming about not bothered by the people moving around them. They were just amazing!!!!
We enjoyed a lovely sunset that evening.
The following day we rented a scooter and headed to Kawasan Falls.
The visitors are quite strictly controlled now with official wristbands given out and scanned back in at your return. They have made buoyancy aids compulsory to swim in the pool and you can now only visit the bottom waterfall and pool unless you pay to go canyoneering with a guide.
People tell us that the new president has taken many measures to stamp out corruption and official fees for tourists has been one area of focus. Another has been to introduce environmental fees on visitors to pay for beach cleaning and local environmental projects. The MoalBoal environment fee was only about 65pence for the two of us.
Kawasan waterfall was an impressive 14m high and the lovely cool pool (7m deep) was a lovely treat and helped to cool us down. Walking the 1.5km back in our wet clothes also helped keep us cool before heading back.
We took a detour to Lambug Beach where we had to pay another environmental fee (£1.30) for two of us and 60p parking for the scooter. The white sand beach was lovely but we had to walk someway to be far enough away from the two different karaoke places blasting out bad singing. – we thought our group singing was bad in Japan but those two individuals took it to a whole new level. Another dip in the sea to cool down and then we rode back.
We saw a truck which had got caught in some powerlines but thankfully hadn’t brought them right down.
Next was our planning of how to get to Bohol Island the next day. One option was to go to Oslob, on Cebu’s East coast, for a ferry and if we left at 3am we could join a tour to swim with whale sharks in Oslob before the ferry. We had been tempted but then read reports of how they fed the whale sharks daily and now the sharks had stopped migrating, remaining in Oslob all year round. We had also seen photos of how many boats chased around the sharks, and whilst it would have been great to see them, we decided we didn’t want to condone this behaviour.
Our decision to not visit the whale sharks felt right as we squeezed in one last snorkel before we left Moalboal. There were loads of bright fish and sardines and one huge sea turtle. He was probably 1.5m long and deep out on the reef. It was great to see him but I had to keep swimming away as the guides were bringing group after group of Koreans who can’t swim. They hold onto a floating raft, which the guide pulls on a rope behind him. When they get to the turtle, the guide ties the rope to the reef and then takes each person one at a time and pushes them under the water (in their buoyancy aid) and holds them down while the other guide is waiting on the sea bottom to take a perfect Insta picture with the tourist right infront or ontop of the turtle. It was a right circus!
Sometimes it makes me miss travelling in the days before mobile phones and GoPros. It was simpler when people just watched nature’s miracles in front of them – more present – more appreciative of the spectacle. Now its just all about the perfect photo and then they are off and away… onto the next item on the tourist must see tick list.
We did however go to Olsob, via the very South of the island, which took about 2 hours. So we had covered at least 3/4 of the island’s coastline. On the way we saw a truck take a corner too sharp and ended wedged in a tree. Lucky it didn’t bring the tree down because we were just on the other side of it!
The ferry terminal in Oslob was “interesting” with a tarpaulin tied to a wall and a table of snacks for sale. When time to start boarding, all our bags and us were squeezed onto a little floating platform which they pushed from the beach and then drove out to the boat.
At times, the ferry was a little bumpy (cue the buoyancy aids), and Pete was glad it was only a two hour crossing.
As we were coming into Bohol, we saw a couple of dolphins leap out of the water. What a treat!
We made sure we made some friends onboard who were staying close to our accommodation, ready to join forces at the port when haggling for a jeepney. Two can play that game …..hee hee.
