Cebu / Malapascua

The cab I share with Lys arrived at Archerys on time at 12 noon.Like me, Lys used Cebu City as a stopover; she flies to Manila the next morning and from there back to Australia, I drive from the North Bus Terminal to Maya Port and from there by ferry to Malapascua.But first it's a 4-hour drive to Cebu - this time without the earache-inducing ever-ending Christmas song, but with very pleasant chat instead.As it was dark when I arrived in Cebu, I only realized the enormous size of the city on the way back - amazing. The cab dropped me off right in front of my Airbnb - ANRI Pension House; it was a cheap Airbnb located next to the bus terminal. 8€. Yaaaa, it's your own fault if you book cheaply so...

First of all, the good part :) The location of the room was great, right in the middle of the Cebu IT Park, so there was a lot going on: restaurants, bars, malls and, luckily for me, a Street Foof Festival - I went straight there after enjoying the ac (I´ll regret it later) in the mall.  The Mall was also big - 5 floors, even with a think space o.O There were 3-4 restaurants or similar on each level, the Filipinos are a bit crazy...

The street food festival offered typical Filipino cuisine - which is very pork-heavy - but also Koranic, Mexican, Taiwanese, Italian and even  Jägerschnitzel (yahaaaa). I opted for Twainesse - a chicken bowl, which was super tasty; I had a cranberry juice with it (nomnomnom) Now for the not so good part - my room: Yes, it was cheap, and yes I know that I shouldn't expect luxury - buuuuut: a little less mold and cockroaches would have been a great thing. Somehow I couldn't really get a wink of sleep there, I tried it - nope.I checked out at 5am and took a cab to the north bus terminal. Oh yes, the cab, tehehe. The night guard said to me that he would call me one, I would only pay 50 pesos and I should just add 50 pesos on top. So we agreed that the ride to the airport would cost me 100 pesos (approx. €1.60) Well, why not, I need a cab anyway. The driver was there quite quickly and drove me to the terminal, but then he wanted 200 pesos from me, 98 were on the meter and he said I should add 100 pesos on top^^ Nope, I gave him 100 and got my Sandwich out of the trunk myself.There was already a lot going on at the bus terminal shortly after 5 am. I found my bus to Maya Port quickly, I wanted the one without AC - they always put them on so cold, I already had a bit of a cold anyway, a sore throat (I said I'd regret it later).The journey to Maya Port (128km) cost me 250 pesos and took 4.5 hours. But that's also because the buses here stop randomly, if someone wants to get on the bus stop, if someone wants to get off the bus stop, as long as it's on the way, no problem.If there's one thing I've learned in the Philippines, it's patience and a kind of "if-not-today-then-tomorrow" feeling - delays? don't exist here, there's no timetable^^When I arrived in Maya Port, I first had to pay the tourist fee for Malapascua (120 pesos) and then buy the ferry ticket (200 pesos) - don't ask me why this can't be done in one, life is different here...Already on the way to the island I could see how beautiful it is, really picturesque.There are no cars or tricycles on the island itself, only scooters, so I had to walk from the port to the hotel. Luckily it wasn't far. The Blue Corals Garden is right on the beach - very nice location. Great room - I'm tired - sleep.After a little nap, I went in search of an SSI Dive Center (i know...it doesn't really matter, but I like to log my dives online...). Kokay's Dive Store was only 5 minutes away, after a chat with the instructor I signed up for the Thresher Shark dives the next morning.Looking for something to eat I found the restaurant Villa Potenciana - Indian & Indonesian style with Filipino touch - OMG it was delicious... just WOW.Threhser Shark dives: whoaaaaaa - sooo many ... we did two dives at this dive spot; by the way, Matthias, a German solo traveler, was assigned to me as buddy. He had a GoPro with him - Matthias I'm counting on you - I need the pics.For the third dive we sailed around for another half an hour - on the tnext dive side I saw a white tip reef shark... It was just indescribably amazing.Back at the dive store and still overwhelmend by the amazing dives I signed up for the next day's dive trip to Gato Isand; bit of cave diving.Matthias was also there again (PICS!!!) Gato Island was a real nudibranch and seahorse paradise. I was so busy looking that I bumped into a jelly fish - ouch. A Tawny nurse shark grinned at me from a cave - magical. Diving through the 20 meter long cave was a great experience. So much for the dives.

Malapascua itself is a beautiful island with wonderful beaches. It's a bit of a shame that I only planned 3 days here.

I was able to watch the sunrise and sunset from my hotel. Fantastic.

There are countless dive centers, a central marketplace with typical Filipino street food and a simply incredible view.

I love Malapasua

The Blue Corals Garden was hit pretty hard by Typhoon Odett in December 2021, like so many other places. There were pictures of the extent of the disaster in the hotel (I could also see the same at Archery's)

On the bus ride from Maya Port back to Cebu, I paid more attention to the coastal road and you can actually still see the traces of the typhoon very clearly.

So there I was again, at the North Bus Terminal Cebu. Have I ever mentioned that it doesn't smell particularly good in this place? It smells pretty bad here, just as an aside.I needed a cab to Lapu Lapu City Hall. From there it was a short walk to my accommodation, Little Norway Guest House. A very cute place to stay. No comparison to the moldroaches - ANRI. But even here I only stayed one night, the next morning I took a GRAP cab to Cebu Maktan Airport - it´s off to Coron, I'm curious to see what awaits me there.