Malapascua Island
Trip Start
Jan 03, 2009
1
36
44
Trip End
Mar 30, 2009
Malapascua, Visayas, Philippines
Sunday, March 15, 2009
In Malapascua I got a basic bamboo hut at the Bamboo Room for 500 pesos. It only had a bed with a mosquito net but it had a private bathroom. Later on I heard other people bargained down to 350.
Malapascua is a beautiful, quiet, laid back little island off the northern tip of Cebu. There is a great beach with white sand and beautiful water. People come here for the laid back atmosphere, the beach and the diving. You can supposedly see thresher sharks here and rays. Most people I talked to though were disappointed as most of the diving consisted of just waiting to see something. Most of them didn't see anything.
Along the beach there is a series of hotels and restaurants.
I would spend my time here just laying on the beach and swimming. In the late afternoon I'd go to the bars with the people I met here. At the bus station I met a Swiss guy. During my first evening I was invited to a table by a group of 7 people. They were a mix of Americans, Irish and English who were teachers in Thailand. I would see them throughout the next few days. They also invited another guy over, Tom from Germany. I became quite good friends with Tom and we'd hang out together during the next few days.
The first night we found out that there was some type of a Fiesta going on. With my newfound friends we each took a ride there on a motorbike for 20 pesos. There was a large crowd gathered drinking, eating and dancing to a live band. Later on in the night they had some dance groups perform. The main event of the evening was the introduction of some pageant winners from the previous night. At first it was the children. They walked around in the crowd shaking hands and then they set on a dais. Later on there were girls that looked to be around 16-18 I guess but I didn't stick around for that. I was too tired and left to go sleep at 01:00.
During the trip from Cebu to Malapascua it was raining. By the time I got to the pier it stopped but it was cloudy for the rest of the day. The next day was beautiful...until 2pm. Then it got cloudy and started pouring again. In the morning when it was sunny the beach and the water looked amazing. Unfortunately this was the only time it looked like that because it was cloudy the rest of the time. The next day it was cloudy once again. I asked around if there is a time when it doesn't rain but all the locals said that there isn't. Malapascua is close to Leyte and I heard it rains there almost every day. Maybe they get the rain here too.
Tom and I walked around to find a boat to take us to Bantayan, another island not too far. Most people were asking for 2500 but quickly dropped to 2000. We finally found one for 1500.
