Malapascua Island, the bike and the beach.

A few weeks ago, I ventured out for a travel adventure in the beautiful province of Cebu. For almost a year, I’ve been coming back and forth to Cebu but most of the time I only stayed in Cebu City and visited some places near Cebu City like those resorts located in Lapu-Lapu City. My travel goal was to visit most of the known vacation spots in Cebu that I haven’t visited yet like Malapascua, Bantayan,  Oslob, Dalaguete and Camotes. But due to the time constraint, I wasn’t been able to visit the Bantayan Island. Anyway, I’ll be sharing with you my travel experience in Malapascua Island. For the other destinations, gagawa na lang din ako ng ibang blog entry for that. Baka kasi masyadong mahaba ang magawa kong story at makatulog kayo habang nagbabasa..hehehe!

Anyway, just to give you an overview about the island, Malapascua Island is an island located at the northernmost part of the Cebu province. This island is famously known for beautiful dive sites and for its white sand beaches. The dive sites are also known for thresher sharks and manta rays. Malapascua Island is about 4 to 5 hours travel from Cebu City.

Malapascua Island

So ayan, napipicture-out nyo na kung gaano kalayo ang Malapascua.hehehe! To start my travel story, I arrived in Cebu City early in the morning. I travelled to Cebu City via the Masbate-Cebu route. I took the 6pm TransAsia ferry in Masbate City and arrived in Cebu City 7am the next day. It was a 13 hour travel. I just slept most of the travel period since there’s nothing much to do and to see for that 13 hour travel, and besides medyo pagod na din ako since I travelled from Camarines Sur all the way down to Masbate City. That comprised of travelling by a tricycle from our house to the Bus terminal, and then ride a multicab/small jeepney from the Bus terminal going to the next town, then rode a bus going to the province of Albay, then I rode another jeepney bound for Pilar Port in the province of Sorsogon, and then took a pumpboat ride going to Masbate City in the province of Masbate. So parang nagprovince hopping ako..4 province din yun.hehehe! Nagcommute lang ako since wala akong budget para magtake ng taxi or magrent ng sasakyan, but I enjoyed the ride since it was my first time to visit Masbate City, but too bad I wasn’t been able to roam around the province. Gagawa na lang ako ng ibang entry for Masbate since tungkol naman sa Malapascua ang ikikwento ko ngayon.hehe!

M/V Asia Indonesia. This is the ferry plying the Masbate City-Cebu City route

Okay, so going back to my Malapascua travel story (ang daming paligoy ligoy ang ginawa ko.hahah!) I arrived in Cebu City early in the morning and then from Cebu City port, I rode a jeepney bound for SM, and then rode another jeepney bound for Cebu North Bus Terminal. I don’t know kung may jeep na diretso ng North Bus Terminal from Cebu City Pier pero 2 rides na lang ginawa ko. From North Bus Terminal, I rode a bus bound for Maya. Don’t ride a bus bound for Bogo City or Daanbantayan because you’ll end up taking another ride going to Maya. The Maya-bound buses’ final stop is right at the Maya Port. The Maya port and Malapascua Island are still part of Daanbantayan town but the town center or poblacion is still a little bit far from the port or from the island. The travel time from Cebu City to Maya Port is 4 hours and most of the buses plying that route are non-airconditioned buses. There are many airconditioned bus plying the northern Cebu route but most of them travel to Bogo City and Daanbantayan only, so you’ll be ending up taking another ride to reach Maya Port. Kaya kung maarte kayo at ayaw nyo sumakay ng ordinary bus, just take the Daanbantayan-bound buses pero mapipilitan pa din kayo sumakay ng non-airconditioned bus from Daanbantayan to Maya at maeexperience nyo pa din ang masarap na simoy ng alikabok at masarap na sikat ng araw.hahaha! Anyway, the fare for Ceres Bus Line non-airconditioned bus from Cebu City to Maya port is 163 pesos.

Maya Port, Daanbantayan

Maya port is the jumpoff point going to Malapascua Island.  There are regular trips going to Malapascua but most of these boats leave the port only if they are already full with passengers. Most of the boats can seat from 20 to 26 persons. So if you are in a hurry and ayaw nyo na makipagshare sa mga ibang pasahero at mapera naman kayo at medjo makapal ang bulsa then you can hire a boat going to Malapascua.hehe!  It would cost you roughly around 1500 to 2500 pesos to hire a boat and that price is depending upon the size of the boat. The travel time from Maya port to Malapascua is 30 minutes to an hour depending sa alon at bilis ng bangka. For the commuter boat plying the Maya to Malapascua route, the boat fare is 80 pesos. And if you have large bags and you’re too lazy to carry your bags, then you can hire a porter. The fee for the porter is 20 pesos per bag. Oh, and by the way, if you arrive in Maya port during low tide, you’ll need to ride a small boat going to the large boat because Maya port is not really a developed port so most of the boatmen docked and anchored their boats several meters away from the port in order to avoid damages to their boats. The small boat transferring the passenger to the large boat is not for free, so you need to pay the boatmen 10 pesos if you are a local from Malapascua and 20 pesos if you’re a tourist. Unfair right? Dapat pareho lang ang bayad.hehe! nagkukuripot lang.haha!

The passenger boat at Maya Port

The small boat and the Malapascua beach

To continue with my story, after I paid the fare from the ticket booth, sumakay na ako ng banka and to my surprise, I was the only Filipino tourist. Most of my fellow passengers are from Europe and North America. Feeling ko tuloy nasa ibang bansa ako. Buti na lang Pilipino din yung bangkero at magkakulay kami ng balat, so in short, pwede akong mapagkamalan na part ng boatcrew.hehehe! After around 40 minutes of boat travel, we finally arrived at Malapascua Island, and viewing it from afar, it was beautiful. And because it was already low-tide, and given the fact that there is no port in Malapascua, the large boat will not be able to docked near the shore, so we have to ride another small boat to reach the beach. We have no choice but to ride the small boat and pay another fee kesa naman lumangoy at magtampisaw kami sa hanggang bewang na tubig.hehe!

Upon arrival at the island, I immediately proceeded to the island village, I asked them where’s the cheapest accommodation and where to rent a mountain bike, and they informed me that the Legend Hotel is the only resort with a bike rental. So I walked to the main beach and got to the Legend Hotel and then I rented a bike for 2 hours. The bike rental is 100 per hour pero tinawad ko sa staff at nagpacute na lang ako (kahit hindi naman ako cute.hehe) at sinabi ko na kung pwede 100 per 2 hours na lang, pumayag naman yung staff. I then rode the bike at nagikot na ko sa isla, I rented a bike because I need to look for a cheap accommodation and biking is the fastest and cheapest way for me to roam the island. There are also motorcycle rental but hindi ko afford yun. 500 pesos ang motorcycle rental and it is good for a whole day tour na din but I arrived in Malapascua late in the afternoon na so sayang naman kung magrerent pa ko. So I roam the island with the bike and I looked for cheap accommodation, but to my surprise, all of the cheap hotels and resorts in Malapascua are fully-booked. I was already biking, roaming and I already asked every hotel and resort but all of them are fully-booked and when I asked a local, they said that all of the resort have been fully-booked for a few days already because it’s a peak season due to the fact that it was a Chinese new year holiday. It didn’t came into my mind na peak season pala ang Chinese new year kaya hindi na ko nagpabook in advance sa mga hotel but that was my big mistake. So naiisip ko na makikitulog na lang ako sa barangay hall but luckily, a local resident helped me find an accommodation, buti na lang may nagcheck out ng maaga sa isang resort kaya natulungan ako ng local resident na makuha yung room. Sobrang tulong talaga kapag nakikipagusap at nakikihalobilo ka din sa mga local ng isang lugar.

I checked-in to my room, it was only a fan-room with shared bathroom. After I left my bag, I rode my bike again to roam around the village and to buy a dinner. There are a lot of cheap food stall to satisfy your hunger, madami din talipapa and carenderia na pwede mong makainan, that is if you’re on a budget like me. But if you want a restaurant, then there are also a lot of nice restaurant but they are expensive. Ako kasi sa carenderia lang ako kumakain, mura kasi saka di umaabot ng 50 pesos yung meal ko. May dalawang ulam na may extra rice pa for only 50 pesos, sobrang tipid ko noh?hehehe!

Malapascua beach and the bike that I had rented

After dinner, magsiswimming pa sana ko but I was already tired so I decided na matulog na lang ng maaga. The next day, I woke up early and rented again a bike at Legend Hotel. I biked around the island and biked to the other end of the island. I biked near the lighthouse but I wasn’t been able to find the lighthouse so I just ended up biking to Bantigue Cove. The Bantigue Cove is also beautiful  and it is more of a serene place. I think it only has one resort near the cove. After biking for about 2 hours and visiting several villages around the island, I finally decided to go back to my room and pack my bag. My plan was to leave the island early since I was planning to visit Bantayan Island, but I decided to cancel that plan since it was already 9am and the commuter boat had just left the island, and the next trip was 10am. If I’ll continue with my plan to go to Bantayan, I may not be able to return back to Cebu City on time. I have a friend who will be arriving in Cebu the next day so I need to be in Cebu City on that day. So that was the reason I decided to cancel my Bantayan trip. Anyway, I also didn’t bother to go to the snorkelling site because the water was a little bit choppy or wavy, and based on my experience, it is very tiring to snorkel into a wavy sea.

So while waiting for the next boat bound for Maya Port, I just stayed near the shore and chatted with some locals and tourists. I met these husband and wife who were backpacking in the Philippines. Malapascua was their final spot in their itineraries. They have already toured the Negros Island, Camotes and Cebu City. I found their love story sweet because these couple came from different country. The guy was French and her wife was an American. They met in France and now they are living in China. O di ba, kakaiba ang story nila. Kwentong U.S., France and China.hehehe!

Sunset at Malapascua Island

Bantigue Cove, Malapascua Island

Malapascua Island. Google Map shot

To continue with my travel story, medyo nadelay ang pagalis ng bangka kya medjo matagal din kami tumambay sa pampang, and then after an hour umalis na din kami sakay ng bangka. The sea was kinda 

crazy during our travel and there were huge waves and because of that, it took us more than an hour to travel from Malapascua Island to Maya port. After I arrived at Maya Port, sumakay na ako ng bus bound for Cebu City. There are already lots of Cebu-bound buses at Maya port so you can easily hop on a bus bound for Cebu City. So far, my Malapascua Island experience was an exciting one due to fact that I was able to roam the island. I was able to ride a bike while roaming the island and I was able to enjoy the fresh air of the island. I know that it would had been more enjoyable if I have been able to snorkel in Malapascua but there is always a next time. Maybe next time when I go back to this island, I would be able to see and enjoy its underwater beauty.  Until then, dito na nagtatapos ang aking kwento. Hindi ko na isasama dito yung kwento ko after ko makarating ng Cebu City from Malapascua kasi katulad ng sabi ko kanina, baka makatulog na kayo habang nagbabasa..hehehe! Read my next post na lang tungkol  sa travel destination ko after I arrived in Cebu from Malapascua. You can also visit this website http://www.malapascua.de/ for additional information about Malapascua Island accommodation. Byes!