Malapascua, Cebu

May 12 - 15, 2005

Regine and I landed in Malapascua after a three hour FX ride to the Maya Pier and a 45-minute boat trip across calm waters. When we got there, we looked at the shoreline and realized... there was none. Every inch of shore was taken up by a fleet of boats. Apparently, we had arrived right in time for the island's fiesta. Party on!

By the next morning, the party was over... and the boats were gone. We could now reclaim the beach for human beings in need of some sunshine. Which is exactly what we wanted to do - be in the sun and have no agenda beyond these things: 1) snorkel... 2) eat seafood... and 3) maybe go diving.

So.

Snorkeling: We hooked ourselves up with masks and snorkels and a boat for Friday morning. After breakfast we headed out. And had a blast. We saw blue coral. I saw my very first banded sea snake that wasn't on some nature show. Regine drifted with the current and ended up in the 'land of big and colorful reef fish.' Neither one of us had a waterproof camera with us.

Eat Seafood: This was tougher than we thought it would be. We couldn't find good crab. And resorts were running low on shrimp and squid. This is what happens when you visit during a fiesta. Most fishermen dont go out because they are inland preparing for the festivities... so there is a steep decline in the amount of fresh catch that ends up in the market. The upshot of this was we never did have crab... BUT we did eventually have really good seafood dinners (fish in gata for me and squid & shrimp in teriyaki sauce for Regine).

Maybe Go Diving: became Really Went Diving. On Saturday to be exact. With the great people at Divelink Cebu. We hit the Lighthouse for an hour... leisurely gliding and finning. Regine kept floating up... hahaha. And it was kinda funny to see her keep holding out her hand to our dive master so he could pull her back down.

And somewhere in the three days we also: walked around the island's perimeter... got familiar with the baranggay area (fondly called 'the favela')... found a way to ignore the karaoke bar behind our resort (no song repeated!) ... pretended that Exotic Resort was our real home... found ingenious ways to to maximize Wet Wipes (great for cleaning your feet)... nearly stole a Brasil sarong ... ran into Xabi (our friend from EBC) and his girfriend (actually joined them for a dinner filled with really interesting and enlightening conversation... cooed and giggled over beach dogs and tiny brown children...

See, so if you think about it, for two girls with no real agenda... we actually got a lot done.

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