Qing Travels: Malapascua Island

All I can say is that this is an exhausting travel. Bumped off in two flights, 1.5 hrs flight, five hours land travel, 3 hrs boat waiting and 30 mins of boat travel before I got to Malapascua Island.

I was bump off in two flights and I was waiting from 9pm to 12am to get in any flight to Cebu. Then got a flight at 12:30 am and was so relieved when I touched down to Cebu but it is just the start. It was a 45mins travel time from Mactan Airport to North Cebu Bus Terminal and got to a van for my 4hrs straight land travel. I got a short random nap from flight to my van travel which I am not used to. Once I got to Maya port, I met three travelers and we are opting to go to Malapascua Island. In the port, we waited for three hours before we completed 6pax so the payment for the boat will be lessened (P1500/6pax). My three hours waiting is a relaxing one because of the beautiful sunrise that is welcoming you with a beautiful morning. It was worth the tiring travel.

Okay, touchdown to Malapascua Island! One of the reasons why I decided to go to Malapascua is the Kalanggaman Island tour and I already booked my tour beforehand to Kuya Ramil who is so kind to get me a habal –habal, Kuya Roy. Since it is still breakfast time and I need some energy for the day, Kuya Roy is willing to wait for me for my Malapascua Tour before I check in to my hostel at 2pm. Then, the tired has kicked-in in my system, since I am not used to less sleep so I decided to cancel my habal-habal tour instead I ask Kuya Roy to get me to a cheap resort so I can rest there before I check in to Thresher Cove. Then we didn’t find one, then he told me he will drop me to Moonlight. Then after a little conversation with the landlady, he confirmed me that I can stay there before my hostel check in and guess what? It’s just free! The landladies are also so kind and accommodating, they just let me used the resorts amenities too. I rested and organized my things and had a good nap too. I decided that I will inform Kuya Roy to get me at 1pm and I have like 2hrs to kill before that. I asked one of the landladies if there is a near beach from Moonlight and told me there is a beach just 5mins walk away. 

In just 1 min I saw a resort, Mangrove Oriental Resort and decided to go there, I asked the guard at the entrance if I need to pay and told me that it was not needed, so I entered the resort and saw beautiful villas along the way then after 5mins of walk I saw the beach. It was so pretty and you can swim there for free! It was like I found a hidden gem and it was stunning. Yes, I sat there, beach bum and just feel the island life. There are mangroves where the name of the resort was taken, I didn’t saw many tourists in the resort, and maybe they are in other tours so it was like I have the whole resort all for myself. It was one of the highlights of my stay in Malapascua.

At 1pm, Kuya Roy went to Moonlight to pick up me so I can check in to Thresher Cove, I booked a mixed dorm in Agoda and it was affordable. The resort is good too, they will give you complimentary juice once you arrived. I waited for my room to be ready and allowed me to stay in the resort. The staffs are so helpful too and they are so accommodating. I stayed in their beach, sat there and just enjoy the blue ocean. When I came back so I can go to the room they told is not yet ready again, I just say okay and just eat my lunch at their café while waiting. After a few mins the staff went to me to tell me that my bed is ready, finally! I rest for a while, take a bath and talk to one of my roommate and decided to do the tour together. One good thing about Thresher Cove is that they have their own habal-habal drivers that are always available anytime so we had a 150/hr deal with them. Here are the spot that are in the tour:

Malapascua Lighthouse

Free entrance fee

All I can say is that it was not promising but if you are curious you may check it out.

Cliff Diving (formerly known as Los Bamboos Resort)

P25/head entrance fee

This is the only tourist spot I enjoyed, but I didn’t tried to cliff dive. What I enjoyed is the overlooking view of the vast ocean that surrounds the island. You can also see a cave and the lighthouse from there, it was quite relaxing too. I recommend to go there until sunset, it would be so much pretty and I didn’t able to that though.

Cave

Please skip this cave thing. *in my opinion* But none the less the beach there is pretty compared to Thresher and the beach front.

Beachfront

You can walk at the beach front for stroll, eat at the restaurants there or wait for the happy hour if you are into liquors. We went there to watch the sunset unfortunately it was not a full sunset but it still best!

Thresher has this 6pm huddle for the new guest where they will discuss what the rules of the resort are and some information about the island and after the huddle, new guest will have one free drinks of their choice. Unfortunately, I am too tired to attend the huddle so I just sleep and call it a day. 

All in all, I still had a great Malapascua stay. The long and tiring travel is so worth it! Even though Malapascua Island is well known for the divers because of the Thresher sharks and rich undersea kingdom a non-diver will also enjoy the stay on the island. One thing I will recommend is that you can definitely tour the island in one day and the island life there is so cheap. Now off to Kalanggaman Island!

Your stray kid,

Qing