Sunday, February 5, 2012

'Round South Cebu Adventure

When we went to Oslob the first time, we were there for only a couple of hours since there wasn't much to do. We haven't planned our trip properly as it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, thus we headed back to the city right away. Although we had fun with the whale sharks, we realized it was wasted trip (and wasted gas) as we could have done more stuff if only we planned ahead.

When plans of going back to the whale sharks started brewing up, we decided to make the most out of it. We decided we are going to drive round south of Cebu and spend the night in Moalboal to snorkel. And fun we did have!

We left the city at around 5am. We had a few stops, first in Jollibee Carcar for breakfast, then we crossed to the other side to buy the famous Carcar lechon and chicharon. We also bought some fresh fruits. We arrived in Oslob at 8:30, and we were immediately accommodated to swim with the whale sharks. After that, we hung around for a couple of hours, hoping for some of our office mates to catch up with us, but it turned out that they left the city too late.  

no, we didn't buy the whole lechon, just a couple of kilos

By noon, we decided to drive further, and rounded the southernmost part of Cebu until we ended up on the eastern part of the island. We had fun looking through the picturesque view of the sea meeting the mountains. I am constantly amaze of how much beauty our beloved island has to offer.

We stopped at Moalboal, and had a couple of drink by that cottage you see right in the picture below. They had the nicest waitress I've ever met. She advised us to try going to Pescador Island as the corals there are so much nicer.

This is the resto where we had malibu and coke!
The beach in this side of town isn't that great but the marine life is awesome for snorkeling.

marine life in Panagsama Beach, Moalboal

We had a hard time getting a room as most of the rooms were fully booked. But we managed to find a couple of rooms in one inexpensive resort, and one nice room in another posh resort. So me and my companions had to split for the night. 

The following morning, we engaged the services of a boatman to take us to Pescador Island, where they say you are guaranteed to swim with turtles. The fee for the boat was PhP2,500. It was bit pricey for a short trip but I guess the area has been so commercialized and has been saturated with mostly foreigners, thus the dollar rate.

boat ride going to Pescador Island
The locals did not disappoint us. They weren't exaggerating when they said that Moalboal has indeed the best diving spots in Cebu. The corals are indeed very nice and alive. We didn't see turtles in Pescador Island, but when we moved to Tongo Point ( a marine sanctuary), we saw not just one, but four turtles! Unfortunately, our underwater camera's battery died on the way there so we weren't able to take pictures of the turtles.
blue fishes at Pescador Island

awesome coral reef at Tongo Point
Moalboal truly has so much beauty to offer. If you are not fond of exploring the underwater world, but would love to lounge under the sun on a soft, sandy beach, Bas-dako is the place for you. Here, the sands are white and the waters are crystal clear.


white, sandy beach of Bas-Dako

And yes, beautiful sunset, too!

fall in-love with this sunset!


It was totally a beautiful experience. We stopped at Milk Station in Barili on the way home to gorge on soft ice cream made from fresh cow's milk, ngo hiong and pizza, while we partied to the beat of M.C. Hammer's Vanilla Ice and You Can't Touch This. It was an awesome adventure!

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