We left Panagsama beach in the morning, and we felt quite short on time, since we wanted to make it the whole way to Malapascua Island. It was gonna be a day full of travelling, and our concerns was mostly about catching a bangka to Malapascua, before they stop operating. A lot of different transportation was ahead of us first tricycle to Moalboal, then bus to Cebu south bus terminal, taxi from south to north bus terminal, bus to Maya and then a bangka to Malapascua.
Travelling in the busses this day was convenient due to the free wifi on board. We had some waiting time before the bangka left to Malapascua, think we catched the last boat sailing that afternoon. So we were lucky that we made it. Arriving at Malapascua was a challenge cause of the low tides, so we had to be transfered in smaller boats into the beach. Here a guide welcomed us to the island, and asked if he should show us some places to stay, we told him we didn't want to pay him anything for doing it, but despite that, he walked around with us. Showed us some of the accomodation options, either they were too expensive or fully booked. We ended up finding a very cheap place (300 pesos), but the room was tiny and the shared bathroom was without toiletseat and quite dirty, so we agreed to only stay one night there, and look for another place next day.
This island has a divesite were you're almost guaranteed to see thresher sharks, and that's the main reason why we went here. We shopped around the different diveshops to find the cheapest, and Dan's dives was apparently the best we could find. The equipment was maybe a bit old and in bad conditions, but as long as we do our body checks, we agreed that it would be all right.
We decided to dine at a danish owned restaurant with beachview and very nice food. It was a bit over our budget, but we saved some money on the room this night, so it was okay.
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| Transfer to the big boat sailing to Malapascua Island |
Anyway, the boatride to the divesite was pitch black, and the sun barely rised before we went diving. This is the best time to spot the thresher sharks, cause they come to the shallow water in the morning, and get cleaned by smaller fishes. There's 5 different cleaning stations, so if you don't spot them on the first station, you swim to the next. We went down a wall to 30 meters depth, and waited for the sharks to come by. We were just looking into the darkblue water, and waiting, and then out of nowhere there came a shark. Swimming along the wall, like 6-8 meters from us. Wauw what a feeling, so amazing. We swimmed a little further and saw more of them. One of them got really close to us, and was swimming right in our direction. That made both of us a little nervous, but we also knew that there had never been an accident around this island. Thresher sharks isn't interested in humans, they're just curious about us. To actually be in the water with the sharks, and being that close to them was the coolest feeling. Sadly both of the danish guys in our group had bad air consumptions, so we had to ascend quickly again. We saw 4 sharks and were very satified with that.
We reached the island again and searched for another place to stay. We wanted to be able to cook our own food (save money), and Villa Sandra was perfect for this, it had a good atmosphere and in general a nice place, with hammocks on the porch and a nice hang-out area, and off cause other backpackers. So we felt like home! Enjoyed the beach during the day, feels like a good life we're living! It's gonna be hard to get back to the normal life again. We have become big fans of this lifestyle, no worries, no rush, no responsibilities etc.
We bumped into a dutch couple (Nienke & Marleen), several times on this island already, so when we met them in the afternoon and talked back and forth with them, we decided to go diving together. We had come to this island without thinking, cause we didn't bring enough money, and there isn't any ATM's on the island. So we could only afford one more dive, but then these to sweet human beings offered us to lend money of them. That ment that we could do more dives. Who can reject that offer?? That was soo sweet of them. We shopped around several diveshops, but none of us could take a decision. Maybe a dinner together would make it easier, then we could find out what we wanted and how much we wanted to pay. Decision made - we would walk around tomorrow again and find the best offer. One thing was sure, we wanted to dive around Gato Island, where there is big opportunities to see white tipped reef sharks. Oh yeah that's what we wanted!
I was knackered, when we finally were on our way home. As we got closer and closer to Villa Sandra, some music and party people got louder and louder. It came from the elementary schools outdoor basket ball court, where a big Valentines party was going on. I could tell that the music would keep me awake most of the night, people from our guetshouse were in party mood, and actually on their way to celebrate this overexagerrated day at the school. I was annoyed to begin with, cause I just wanted to sleep, but concidering the noise, Erik got me convinced to go and check the party out. Apparently it was the whole island gathered together, daughters, moms, grandpa's, aunties, uncles... rich tourists, backpackers etc. Everyone was there, drinking beers like someone would steel it from them, dancing to the crazy party beat, laughing, smiling and having a good time. See that's another way to celebrate Valentines day. We liked it! So off cause we mingled in and partied the philippino way. Actually a really good experience. When we got home we fell asleep easily. Alcohol: the cause of, and solution to all of life's problem.
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| A so called bangka (a small version though) |
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| Stunning beach |
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| Making "home"made food |
Saturday 15th Feb.
The weather was unbearable hot on the island, so a boattrip and some wind in our hair was a relief. We weren't overwhelmed by the snorkeling and sealife, and we can tell that we're really hard to impress. Well, we had a good time anyway. We cooked our own food at night. There's no supermarket on the island, but a lot of small kiosks. Shopping was quite interesting and they don't have a lot of food supplies, so we had to be creative and go to 4-5 different kiosks before we got the different stuff we needed. We were both knackered after last night, so a nap in the afternoon was appreciated, and to be honest we didn't wake up before the next morning. A true beauty sleep.
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| Snoekeling trip with Nienke & Marleen |
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| No it's not red coke, it's fuel transportation |
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| Free laundry self-service |
On the second dive we had to dive through a 30 meter long tunnel under water, with bad visibility and only the light from our torches. We saw a small bamboo shark sleeping underneath a rock in the cave. From the cave we looked out in the light, and saw big white tipped reef sharks cirkeling around. Sometimes they're in the cave aswell, so it was both exciting and terrifying to know that you could actually swim next to a shark, without noticing it. We stopped in the caves month and just watched the sharks from there. A big shark was lying just a few meters from us, and almost gave us a heart attack when it moved and swam away. Undescribleable experience, time seemed to go by so fast, you don't think about your breathing, or that you're 20 meters underneath the surface. All we thought about was staying there as long as possible. This was a once in a life time experience, and to be able to do this was just unbelieveable and unreal. We left the cave and dived right out where we saw the sharks just a few minutes ago, a bit scary, but at the same time a very cool feeling.
At our ascending I had a close up experience with a banned seasnake. I didn't see it, but apparently it attacked my tank (not a clever choice). Our divemaster saw it, and it almost gave him a heartattack. He seemed more scared than me (probably because i didn't see the attack). I turned around and that snake was quite big, but I survived. Quite ironic that it was a snake attack, that spiced up this whole experience. They can in worst cases kill you, if you don't get the anti-venom quick enough, but no harm done. After this amazing dive, the small fishes and small things are so last year.
Sadly we didn't have our own camera when we dived with the sharks, but Nienke & Marleen had one, so we were lucky to borrow it, and share the videos. At night we couldn't help celebrating our big diving day, with rum & coke... and pity drinking with the people from our guesthouse, who sadly had their valuables stolen during the night. Some philippinos had walked into their rooms during last night and stolen their Ipads and wallets. I can't help thinking that it's people who have become to comfortable with the backpacker life and basically forget to take their precautions. When it comes to that, we're still really carefull and always lock our things together. Worst thing is the passports, heard from several people that it's a nightmare to get a new one.
Anyway, we meet up with Nienke and Marleen and shared our good memories from the dives. Got excited for the next morning, where another dive with thresher sharks was on the schedule.
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| Just woke up this beauty with our torch (white tipped reef sharks) |
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| Trying to kill time, in our surface interval |
We dived down the same wall as first time, this time it felt more like a tourist attraction. There were plenty of people down there, holding onto the rope, waiting for the big sharks to come by. We found a free spot and mingled in. Such a weird feeling to sit there on 30 meters depth, looking into the blue water for dark shadows of sharks. It took a while before one showed up, they're looking so harmless and beautiful with that long tail. We felt so alive, and it's really a cool feeling to watch these animals move around, in their home environment, while they get cleaned by the smaller fishes.
We saw one shark for a long time, then we dived to another cleaning station, but sadly we didn't see more sharks on this dive. We were happy that we saw one, and during the last four days, we have seen a lot of sharks, so we're not complaining.
We left the island with Nienke & Marleen a few hours after the dive. One hour boatride to the mainland and then a bus to Cebu City. Cebu is mostly a transfer city, everyone goes here at least once, to change bus or flight, but the city itself is uncharming, dirty and chaotic. We decided to stay outside the city center, around the business area, which is the safest place in the city.
There isn't a lot of tourist attractions in Cebu. We actually just wanted to update our blog, and be near the airport for our departure in two days. We went to a big shopping mall with N & M, and shopped around for local cheap food. After 4 days with no internet access, we were all burried in our Iphones & laptops while eating dinner. It's such a time stealing invention, and I actually prefer the places with no wifi, it's more relaxed and social. We payed our loan back to the girls, and seperated from them.
Shark encounters
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| Piggy feets, after a footscrub |
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| Danish bread for breakfast.. Yummi. |
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| Loading up a jeepney |
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| Manila by night |
Transportation in the Philippines
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