Malapascua - Welcome to Paradise

The journey to the island of Malapascua located at the northern end of Cebu was, as usually in the Philippines, longer than expected. In pitch-black "night" (around 7:00 PM local time), we finally arrived at the end of the island, but unfortunately, we couldn't translate at such a late hour. So we booked the hostel on-site and set off with the usual Filipino calmness (we leave when the boat is full) on the next day.

Upon arrival on the island, we were immediately thrown out at Bounty Beach, which is mainly characterized by the 19 diving schools. So we had the freedom to choose our planned dives or training. In the end, the decision brought us to the cheap beach bungalow near Fun&Sun, the diving school that was going to guide us through the next few days.

While I could start with the theory for my Open Water Diver course, Janina had to memorize the materials for the Advanced Open Water course. There are definitely worse places to study than the beach. Over the next 4 days, both of us had 6 and 7 dives on the program. First, we had to learn or repeat some "skills" like clearing the mask, hovering like a Buddha, or performing an "Emergency Exit" with our buddy (the diving instructors Dani and Danilo). In the Advanced course, we also had a Night Dive and a Navigation Dive on the program. After successfully passing my Open Water Diver final exam, I added a Deep Dive (30m), which Janina also needed for her course. Malapascua has many beautiful corals and a diverse underwater world. Besides crabs, seahorses, sea snakes, clownfish, and many other colorful fish, we even saw White Tip Reef Sharks and Thresher Sharks, both about 2-2.5m long.

We had the last day completely free and we used it to explore the island a bit more. In the far north, there is a former private beach that belonged to one of the resorts that were destroyed by a typhoon in 2013. The ruins are still standing and the beach is now freely accessible. Complete tranquility and a beach like a painting, not even Boracay can compete.

The beach promenade of Boracay can also be found in small and personal on Malapascua. So we could always enjoy our dinner directly on the beach or even have the personal company of a local who took us to a very hidden and beautiful restaurant.

Conclusion: We have a new favorite island.

Currently, we are on our way to Bohol to see some jungle after all the beaches. After that, we are going to a small island where unfortunately, there is not electricity all day, so we will probably be able to contact you again from the airport in Cebu.