My hammock was lazily swinging about as the soft sun escaped through the leaves overhead and filtered through the thatch roof of Aabana’s large viewing deck. Getting up was a chore but Malapascua Island’s white sand beach was beckoning me for an afternoon stroll.

Like most places in the Philippines, the island got its name from the Spanish conquerors of yore. It was said that a group of Spaniards once got marooned in the island during Christmas Eve. Irked by the accident, they dubbed the island as Mala Pascua, which translated means Bad Easter. Even though the real name of the island is Logon, the name stuck like a seven-year bad luck.

Malapascua is famous for two things; white sand beaches and thresher sharks. From above, one can see that the whole island is completely surrounded by a strip of white sandy shoreline. The more popular of these is the Bounty Beach on the south side where numerous resorts and restaurants have made their stakes along the banks.

Foreign tourists often flock the island not for the beach though but for the sharks, thresher sharks. These long-tailed super predators are regularly sighted along Monad Shoal which is about twenty minutes away by boat from Malapascua. Local dive shops are often busy with activities during the day, catering to more adventurous explorers wanting to experience swimming with these graceful predators.

To be honest, I enjoyed swimming more along the beach at Bantigue Cove than at Bounty Beach. The sand is equally fine at both beach but a large part of Bounty Beach’s underwater is densely populated by sea grass, which makes swimming, especially on low tide, very uncomfortable.

The sky started warming up as I reached the far end of the beach. A hut at a rock outcrop indicated the happy hour for beer chuggers; for photographers though, the golden hour is our happy hour. I crossed over to Logon Beach and immediately found my hour.

Small wooden boats lazily bob along the serene shore of the cove as waves softly slap the cream-colored sand of the beach. A few fisherfolks on their way seawards looking for dinner were framed by puffs of yellowish clouds and the silhouette of the far-off Chocolate Island.

The clouds parted and the sun broke. The sky and waters of Malapascua were painted in warm yellows and tinge of oranges. God rays poured down into the horizon, the locals seemingly unaware of the majesty of the scene rolling before my very eyes. I suppose these are nothing but everyday occurrence to the people of Malapascua, I envy the people of this island.

Evening descended and a cool blue darkness enveloped the island. The restaurants fronting the beach switched on their lights and transformed the shoreline of the island into an outdoor bar. Torches were staked and soft music wafted in and out of the coconuts lining the beach.
I have seen a similar scene in Boracay but I like how intimate Malapascua’s night life is compared to the jungle parties of Boracay. There are hardly any crowd here and there is no partying going on, the atmosphere is laid back and still very beach-like.

The night soon got darker and I proceeded homeward. Along the way I spotted a couple of hammocks swinging just as lazily as the hammock I abandoned a few hour before I took a walk along the shores of Malapascua. I thought to myself, what’s a couple minutes more of lounging around before going back to the resort. Hurrying is a foreign word and relaxation is the common word at Cebu’s Malapascua Island.

Bounty Beach Malapascua Island
Address: Bounty Beach, Brgy. Logon, Malapascua Island, Daanbantayan, Cebu
Entrance Fee: None

GPS Coordinates: 11.3302,124.121313
View Location on Google Maps: Click Here

Our bare feet were buried under the soft white sand of Malapascua Island. Sitting on fluffy beanies near the shore, we were telling stories about nothing while the sea breeze was whipping like crazy. Warm globes of lights floated overhead, dancing with the leaves and casting everything into oranges. Dinner was gonna be a beachfront affair at Ocean Vida Restaurant.

On a tight budget, we brought canned food with us during the trip and were satisfied to have those as lunch and dinner. But it was our last night on the island and we wanted something grander than corned beef hash. Passing through the numerous restaurants fronting Bounty Beach, we were attracted by the warm fuzzy lights of Ocean Vida’s restaurant like helpless moths to a fiery flame.

One of the things I really look forward to when going to a remote island like Malapascua is the place’s island hopping tours. I love visiting out of the way coves and diving below the surface to underwater gardens.

Malapascua offers such adventure either through the resorts one is staying in or via the numerous dive shops that can be found along the beach front. We got ours from a nearby sari-sari store where I usually buy snacks and what-nots, it turns out that the owner’s husband works in one of the larger dive shop in the island and has a boat of his own. We sealed the deal at Php500.00 (2pax inclusive of snorkels, masks and vests) and off we went.

It was raining intermittently the past few days and we were so lucky for having clear skies the day we chose to tour around the island. There was a slight sea breeze with a few wisps of clouds sailing just above the horizon. A perfect day to go around.

Our boat calmly chugged along across the blue-green waters surrounding Malapascua, our boatman pointing out interesting houses and resorts dotting the shoreline. Twenty minutes later and we were oohhing and aahhing at the fine stretch of white sand covering the shore of a cove. Our first destination of the day; Bantigue Cove.

Dark coral stones lush with island shrubs and trees towers over a side of the beach. The green cover provides a nice shade to the otherwise blinding heat of the sun. The long stretch of sand at Bantigue is very very fine and very very white. I almost wished we had stayed to a resort closer to this paradise.

The water sparkles towards the blue horizon. I can see a few dark spots farther away from the shore, indications of marine life. After doing the requisite above water photos, I ran and dove down; snorkel and mask on my face, underwater camera in my hand.

Bands of light shimmered below the green water and snaked across the undulating white sand below the island. Small fishes roved across the streaming sunlight and starfishes lazily lay their five arms across patches of green areas. Schools of small Striped Catfishes moved across the algae-ridden parts of the seabed, taking strength in numbers. Everything was paradise except for the plastics that litter the shallower parts of the bed.

I wish we could have spent an hour or two more at this spot but we have to move. Our second destination was the shipwreck. Above the water one can see the Lighthouse near Guimbitayan. One can opt to access the tower for a panoramic 360-degree view of Malapascua.
But I’m really not that interested in that, what I want to see is what’s below our boat. So I don my mask, turned on my camera and jumped. Air bubbles exploded around me as I plunged into the depths of the clear blue waters. A basketball-sized jellyfish flapped its body and greeted me, I said a brief hi in return and promptly swam away from the massive creature.

The ribs of the sunken World War II Japanese ship came into view. Said to be a transport vessel, it was shipping in a supply of cement for gun batteries in the island when it was bombed. The ship was a good twent to thirty feet below from the surface. And like a spine of a fossilized dinosaur, it simply lay across the seabed, a giant now encased in organic sea life. Corals have now attached themselves into its rusting metal body and fishes made the nooks of its belly as their homes.

The wreck used to be larger than what we were seeing now. Our boatman relates how the locals have salvaged parts of the ship for scraps ‘til only the skeletons of the once mighty ship are left. Still, there are still parts of the vessel that stretches almost to the surface, seemingly reaching for the air that it once breathed.

Snorkeling around the wreck whetted by appetite for more underwater action and I got my wish on our next and last stop, a coral garden near an islet. Circling a group of rock outcrops known to the locals as Dakit Dakit Islands. Our boat anchored down in the middle of the sea and without ado, I dove down.

Soft corals waved at me from below and fished stared and quickly scrammed as I started my descent. It is a garden down below with flower-like blooms, veined ferns, hardened shrubs and massive tables of corals covering the ground. The ever present brains pop in and out across the land while colorful fishes in all shapes and sizes glide along.

I swam towards more corals but my will was not as strong as the current. It easily led me on its own course and since I really cannot do anything about it, I stopped struggling and let it flow. It was an easier way to check out the teeming water life below, but like a strict tour guide, it doesn’t allow side trips and lingering on an area too much.

I bid adieu to a platoon of Sergeant Majors swimming above a table of corals and broke the surface. I saw our boat anchored quite a distance away and waved to be rescued from paradise. Although I still wanted to see more, the current was just too strong for my unathletic limbs. It’s goodbye paradise; for now.

 

Island Hopping at Malapascua
Address: Malapascua Island, Daanbantayan, Cebu
Rates: Usually Php200.00 to Php250.00 per person depending on the number of persons

GPS Coordinates: 11.3302,124.121313
View Location on Google Maps: Click Here

The rain poured buckets while we were in the middle of the choppy waters separating the mainland Cebu and the island of Malapascua. The waves, thank goodness, didn’t rock n’ rolled with the heavens. It remained as calm as it can be.

We already contacted our resort of choice a few days before venturing to Malapascua Island. Browsing through various travel deals; we looked for a balance between affordability, comfort and location. The three filters narrowed it down to Mike & Diose’s Beach Cottage in Bounty Beach. A habal-habal motorcycle was waiting for us at the port of Malapascua as we hopped from the boat to the white sand beach of the island.

We missed the bus terminal going to Daanbantayan and had to circle Cebu City before finally boarding a bus bound to the north of the island. We were going to Malapascua but the night was getting too deep. Our only option was to spend the night somewhere around the area and continue our journey in the morning. We found Virgin Beach Resort at Daanbantayan through Roomorama which is relatively near the port that serves Malapascua and decided to make it our home for the night.

It’s our last full day at the island of Malapascua. We didn’t book any island tours, snorkeling adventure or diving escapades for this day; it was gonna be pure relaxation at the beach. We soaked up the sun, napped on hammocks under the shade of coconut trees, buried our feet in Malapascua’s fine white sands and swam its placid blue waters.

It’s day 14 of my Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao road trip and our second day in Malapascua, an island northeast of mainland Cebu. The clouds have cleared up and the water’s looking fine. We found a boatman that would circle the small island and bring us to some of its numerous snorkeling spots. Being non-divers, we didn’t spot any thresher sharks, which is what the island is really known for, but it was a fun underwater adventure nonetheless.

It has always been one of my dreams to photograph the Milky Way. I have seen breathtaking photos of our galaxy in photography forums before and it never failed to amaze me. I’ve been trying on and off through the years to capture it but even just the task of locating it had always been hard enough. On my 12th day on the road, as I was boarding down a midnight bus in the town of Daanbantayan in the rural parts of Cebu, I finally spotted the Milky Way with my own naked eyes. Galaxy photo, checked!