2012 Travel Series No. 5: Part 1- Malapascua Island, Cebu

Destination: Malapascua Island, North of Cebu City

Dates: May 5-7, 2012

With: Solitary Adventure

PART 1 - The first glimpse of Malapascua Island

NOTE: Malapascua means "mal" bad/unlucky "pascua" Christmas...direct translation - "Unlucky Christmas".  The term was coined by the Spaniards who reached the island one stormy christmas morning.

Friends have always question the intent of my frequent travels to Cebu.  Well the reasons being, one I have quite a number of Cebuano friends.  Two is because there's more to the Magellan's cross and the Sto. Nino Church.

Before this trip, I've only visited one island within Cebu province - that is Bantayan Island.  I have heard and read about Malapascua but I never had the courage to plan a visit as I had the impression that it would  burn my pocket.  And boy, I was wrong! So here's goes my full account of my solitary travel to the beautiful island of Malapascua.

I booked a 4am flight from Manila to Cebu via Cebu Pacific.  One has better chances of avoiding flight delay when traveling during the very early morning.  I reached Mactan Airport just before 6am and hopped on a cab to the North Bus Terminal in Mandaue City.

To reach Malapascua one can take the almost 4 hour bus ride - 160pesos non zircon; 180pesos zircon bus (Ceres Bus Lines), commute with other passengers via an air-conditioned van (170pesos/passenger max capacity of 18), or travel in style by renting a cab for 2500pesos.

There was no aircon bus traveling very early in the morning so I squeezed in an air-conditioned van.  The travel was far from smooth as 3 other people were squeezed in the same row as I was.  There was a chicken cooking under the front seat.  And most contributing to the agony of the ride was the stretch of ongoing road construction that tested the vans suspension and my cushion behind (it was sore when I finally reached Maya port).

I tried hard to slept it out during the ride but I just couldn't.  Good thing, the countryside scenery provided relief.  If there are passengers traveling to Hagnaya (for the ferry boat to Bantayan Island), the van will first side trip to Hagnaya first before taking the nearly one hour route to Daang Bantayan to reach Maya port.

Maya Port is the jump off point to Malapascua Island.  Ferry boat leaves every 30 minutes starting at 7am until 2pm.  With 850pesos one can travel express by renting one ferry boat.  I opted to commute paying 80pesos.

Alas!  After 15 minutes we finally landed in Malapascua Island.  The travel was smooth.  En route, I was greeted by flying fishes.  It was a sight!  From afar, Malapascua Island looked like a lump of earth in the middle of the open sea with glimmering white sand beach.

Bounty Beach

The ferry boat anchored in the main beach - BOUNTY BEACH near the Blue Coral resort.  I was a little disappointed when I landed - the beach was not as white as I hoped it would be, the beach was not sand but coral stones, the resorts were not flashy.  I had Malapascua painted on my mind like some high class Boracay.  But as I stroll along Bounty beach, the myriad of better looking resorts came into view.  The resort I was billeted on was located at the farther/southern side of Bounty Beach, almost 15 minutes walk from Blue Coral Resort.  

Mike & Diose Cottages and Beach Resort is one of the oldest resort in the island.  Founded by Mike Wieland some 15 years back who married a Filipina and put a few huts.  I occupied half of the original bungalow, the only remaining one in the resort since they have put up a new building (adjacent to the old cottage) and named it Aabana Resort.  The room was modest, with two single beds with a balcony and a shared bathroom - all for 600pesos a night.  Not bad, right!  Not really, since I contracted "contact dermatitis" caused by the linens.  Anyway, I'll not detail that in this article :-)

The entrance to Mike & Diose's resort.d

In general, Malapascua's hospitality service badly needs improvement.  It seems that the locals are still not used to getting visitors or they prefer foreign tourists.  This is noticeable in the resort where I stayed, the restaurants, the motorbike drivers, etc.  

Going back to my story - while waiting for the staff to "clean" my room, I went looking for lunch.  Ging gin's restaurant came in well recommended.  So I search in a maze of houses within the village.  It was about 15 minutes from the resort in the middle of the island.  The place looked more like a canteen than a restaurant.  Open air with not so welcoming attendants.

All for 250pesos.  The good taste compensated for the long wait. However, I hope the service can be improved.

The problem with the place is not the food.  The food tasted very good.  Beside the poor customer service is the long wait.  Customers were all complaining, including me, for the food to arrive.  It's a test of patience and tummy discipline as you have to wait between 30-45 minutes for your food to be served.

Around 1pm, I went back to the resort and took a very shallow afternoon nap.  Around 4pm, I decided to go explore the island.  I was wasting time being in my itchy bed.  Near the Malapascua Legend I was greeted by a local who offered to take me island hopping.  I ended up getting him to take me around the island using his motorbike and island hopping the following morning.

Mike & Dioce's beach front.  One of the best in the island.

The driver, Dennis, was more than accommodating.  We literally drove and visited every corner of the island - from bantigue cove, to the bamboo islands, and yes, the light house.  Malapascua is really a charmer.  I fell in love with the place that I had to come back soon.

Malapascua lighthouse

Entrance to the Bantigue Resort

Sunset at Bantigue Cove

My ride :-)

Buffet dinner.  Lechon all you can :-)

Tour was over after a little over one hour.  I went back to the resort, washed and started to find the best restaurant for a hearty suffer.  Bounty Beach is indeed a high class Boracay interns of food prices, one set meal of a slice of grilled fish, rice, soup costs 650pesos - WOW!  So I ended up walking back to Blue Coral Resort where a restaurant serves buffet food at 250pesos.  Not bad with the variety and taste (including a hefty serving of Cebu Lechon).

I ended my day by plunging into the cold Malapascua water.  I was very much looking forward to the following day - snorkeling over Coral Garden.

 GETTING THERE:

1/ Take a Manila-Cebu flight via Cebu Pacific, Zest Air, AirPhil Express, or Philippine Airlines

2/ Take a cab from the Cebu International Airport to the Cebu North Bus Terminal.

3/ Take a bus to Daang Bantayan or squeeze in an airconditioned van for 180pesos.  If you have the budget, take a cab for 2500pesos.

4/ Take a ferry ride for 80pesos from Maya Port in Daang Bantayan to Malapascua Island

Check out this website of Mike Wieland for a map of Malapascua Island and more info re lodging and accommodations.