--- Cebu, Philippines ---

New week, new island. As the second island of our Philippines trip, we chose Cebu. The journey from Boracay to Cebu was very tiring and long. From our Mad Monkey Hostel in Boracay, we took a tricycle to the port, a ferry to the nearby island with an airport, a bus to the airport, a plane to Cebu City, a Grab to the bus station in Cebu City, a bus to Moalboal, and finally we took the famous tricycle to our hostel. It's practical to travel in pairs or ideally in a group as you can share the transportation costs.

Since the Philippines, as mentioned earlier, consists of many islands, it's important to plan the approximate travel route in advance because in the two months that we've been here, it's impossible to see everything on every island. So we decided not to stay further north of the island in Cebu, but to travel directly to Moalboal because Moalboal is famous for its amazing diving spots. And guess what: we got our diving certification there and we are now officially certified open water divers!!! Scotti and I are both water lovers, so it was clear for both of us for a while that we wanted to get our diving certification and explore the underwater world. Getting the certification in Moalboal was the best decision because we got a great offer at the "Cebu Dive Center" and paid 14,450 pesos, which is about 250€, for our certification. We did our research in advance and you won't find a better price anywhere else in the world. In Australia, for example, you pay three times as much for the same certification.

The diving course lasted three days in total. On the first day, we received an introduction to the equipment and were able to do some initial diving exercises in the pool. On the second day, we already felt like pros because we could put on the complete diving gear ourselves, and let me tell you, it's not easy. There's so much to consider and your life depends on it, even if a small screw isn't properly seated in the air supply. But practice makes perfect and we became more confident with every dive. We had our first real dive in the sea on February 29, 2020, as it was a leap year. It was an incredible experience to get a glimpse into the underwater world. Everything down there still seemed so peaceful and calm. It's an experience that can't be described in words and everyone should experience it for themselves. The great thing about diving is that not only the first dive is special, but every dive remains exciting. Our diving instructor has already done thousands of dives and still considers diving to be her greatest passion and hobby because you see something new every time. So on our second dive, we already saw several turtles (😍), and on the next dive, we saw many sardines (which Moalboal is also known for), Nemo fish, and so on.

As beautiful as diving was, it was also exhausting, and in the evenings after the diving course, we usually went straight to bed. On the remaining days, when we didn't have a course or were not studying the diving theory, we explored the waterfalls near Moalboal. For me, they were my first tropical waterfalls and I was amazed! Clear, sky-blue water in the middle of a beautiful natural landscape somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Here, as adrenaline junkies, we could completely let loose and didn't hold back on any cliff jumps.

To get to the waterfalls, we rented scooters and it was sooo much fun exploring the island with them. So now we are not only certified divers, but also professionals in riding scooters, and proudly after 6 days with our diving certification in hand, we left the island of Cebu, or as we liked to say: the adventure island.

Hostels:

- JJ's Place Moalboal

- Moalboal Backpackers Lounge