nicetiesoflife posted: " "Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second."― Marc Riboud Philippines consist of 7,641 islands, and I'm not quite sure if there's a single soul who was able to explore all these, not even our navy I suppose. One "
"Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second."
― Marc Riboud
Philippines consist of 7,641 islands, and I'm not quite sure if there's a single soul who was able to explore all these, not even our navy I suppose.
One of my goals when I started traveling is to explore at least 1% of the total islands my country has! Ok my goal may sound achievable for you but for me it is an accomplishment already. I have a full time job which requires me to report 8hrs a day, 5times a week, and I don't intend to leave the corporate world to become a digital nomad, it's not my cup of tea.
I prefer balance, and balance for me is to keep earning for a living while enjoying my job, at the same time I have the pleasure to leave and go on a holiday whenever I wanted and feel like. And when I say a holiday it means at least 2weeks exploring a new place.
One of the places I visited was Malapascua Island in the northern most part of Cebu island. Malapascua is in the Visayan Sea and is administratively part of the peninsular barangay of Logon, Daanbantayan, Cebu. The land area is quite small, about 2.5km x 1km and has eight hamlets within the island.
Several decades ago, the island is known for its white sand beach and was formerly called Bounty beach because of the bountiful, lovely coral gardens and walls. Then in the early 1990s it became, and until now a popular dive destination. Some popular dive sites near the island is Gato Island, Monad Shoal, and Kemod Shoal. Monad Shoal is an underwater plateau where thresher sharks and manta rays can regularly be sighted.
The best months to visit Malapascua is during dry season between the months of December-April wherein chances of rainfall and typhoon is low. I visited the place in 4th week of January because tourist volume is still low. December, March-April are the peak season. The quickest way to reach Malapascua is to fly to Cebu directly through the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Lapu-Lapu City just outside Cebu City. From the airport, board a private vehicle or a public bus to New Maya Port. Travel time from Cebu City to New Maya Port is around 4 hours. Then get on a boat going to Malapascua Island, it is a 30min to a 1-hr trip depending on the type of boat.
Take a look at the photos I've taken during my stay in the island, they are not so creatively and artistically done ( never thought of sharing these) compared to some of my works, nonetheless, it gives you a real feel and deal, unlike other photos where in reality did not meet expectations
The island as seen from the boat. Fishing is one of the source of livelihood in Malapascua aside from tourism and farming.Watching the sunrise on my first morning in the island. Arrived in the island quite late and for me it was just perfect as I get to rest and watch this beautiful event on my first day.Sunrise in a cloudy morning, still perfect I was a bit sad seeing the heavy clouds, thought it rain is imminent but alas! the sun came out Why check Google Maps when you can find this one in the island. So here's an overview of the villages in Malapascua.A relaxing view by the beach earl morning. This man is the caretaker of the resort I stayed in. Decided to chat with the fellow and paly with his dogs after a cup of freshly brewed coffee while waiting for my friend who went for an early morning Thresher Shark dive. Unfortunately I don't have my dive certificate yetI visited Malapascua.So I was content with meeting four legged friends by the beach while waiting for my friend who had a great time watching the sharks and mantaraysHow about swimming with the dogs? Same fun as watching sea creatures while diving, well at least for me Island life is simply awesome, this photo explains why Wondering what kind of boat that transport guest to the island? Here's how a smaller boat looks like, this is way faster than the bigger boats, at shortest is a 30 minutes trip.This is what I see waking up early in the morning, the place that we rented is facing the beach These boats are waiting to be rented for island hopping activity.Calm sea, creamy sand and a blue horizon, simply perfect for a quiet and solitary walk.So on my first day, after playing and swimming with the dogs, I decided to walk around the island and explore. Anyway as I've stated at the beginning, the island is just 2.5km b 1km so, one can actually explore the area by foot. This is at the other side of the island away from the resorts and tourism area.While exploring we came across this mansion standing alone at the other side of the island. According to the care-taker the mansion is owned by a very popular singer and used to be a rest house and sometimes they allow guests to rent. During our visit they don't have guest and were allowed to look around and lounge. I love this balcony facing the beach and some small huts owned by local fisher folks.A fishing boat moored by the cove.Met these two fishermen preparing their lunch after they've sold their catch.I wouldn't mind sharing freshly grilled fish for lunch
One of the source of livelihood in the island is carving souvenir items to be sold to tourists. Here I watched one of the villagers carve a thresher shark image using a piece of discard wood.
The finished product- obviously I bough one for souvenir
aside from meeting the locals, while walking around the village, also took photos of anything that I found interesting in their backyards They also raise livestock's as source of income aside from fishing and farming.
On my second day, we decide to go tour the island and check out the nearby islet, Dakit-dakit. We hired this mini-motorised pump boat to go around the island. I like the idea of the father teaching or showing his kids how they earn livelihood during school breaks. The two books are very professional, I must say. They know how to entertain guests like us.Dakit-dakit islet. Dakit Dakit is made up of small rocky formations, some below the surface and some above it. These islets have beautiful soft coral gardens and is a dive site . The current in this area sometimes can be strong making snorkeling difficult.Exchanging hellos to the fishermen we meet while circling around the island.Locals are expert free-divers and they even free dive to catch seafood.Loving the view of cream sand Rock formations is seen in some section of the island.One of the hihgligh tof our island hopping is to see the Malapascua Lighthouse and talk to the villagers in the area. It was fun and refreshing To end this photo story, I am leaving you with a photo of this light house and something to ponder about.
"Lighthouses don't go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining." – Anne Lamott
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