Bad Christmas or Malapascua named by the Spanish who discovered the island located 8 km off the northern tip of Cebu. A small island with less than 5k citizens, it has so far retained it's charm and simplicity.
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Malapascua can be reached by boat from the Maya port on the norther tip of Cebu and a 4 hour bus ride from Cebu City. The small port has both public transportation boat trips to Malapascua several times a day for around $1usd, or you can negotiate with the many boat captains for your private 1hour boat ride to Malapascua. If you have a large party you may want to opt for a private boat, although it is much more expensive it will be less crowded and you will not have to wait for the next departure. Malapascua is famous for diving, and snorkeling along with its white sandy beaches. There are many resorts, many small villages and it is a great place to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
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Some of the local kids posing for a picture
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Not being a diver, and one to grow impatient sitting on the beach, there was not much else to offer. Fortunately, we met a couple of the local police officers at the resort bar one evening and over several San Miguel's we all decided to rent some motorbikes and the police would give us a private police escort of the island the following morning. The island's roads were actually hard packed sand about as wide as a sidewalk between the various villages. Passing another on-coming motorbike was always an experience as there was always less the 6 inches between your handlebars as you passed by. During our tour we met several of the locals and even happened upon a fisherman with a fresh catch of squid which we bought and took to the police compound for lunch.
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The most special part of the visit, was our lunch at the police compond, which was a combination of a small police office and the home of the island's barangay captain. The Barangay Captain is equivalent to a mayor or in the case of Malapascua, the police chief, mayor, judge, etc. His family was very gracious and made our trip to Malapascua very memorable and we promised we would return to visit them again next year.
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My friend relaxin- not divin
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For those interesting in diving, Malapascua offers wall diving, where you can see thresher sharks, hammer heads, manatas, sea horses, along with several sunken spanish ships and japanese ships sunk during WWII.
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We stayed at Malapascua Island Exotic Dive and Beach resort. One of the nicer and more expensive resorts on the island, they had 16 apartment style rooms, some with air con and others with only a fan. While we were there a fan was more than enough to keep us comfortable on the cool nights. The resort also has an internet cafe, bar, restaraunt, massage and spa service and and IDC dive center. The island does not have 24 hour electricity, however, this resort has its own generators to supply power when the local power grid is shut down.
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Discos are a popular form of nightlife in the Philippines. One even we attend a beach disco, complete with plywood dance floor, dj and San Miguel.
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The Exotic restort restaraunt was over priced, we took all of our evening meals at other resorts or in town at one of the local restaraunts. The resort retaruant does have a good selection of filipino foods and some delicious bannana shakes :)
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Let's Get Ready To RUMBLE
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Malapascua has cock fights on Sundays or for Fiestas. Our police friends took us to one of these fights to watch their birds win their fights, while we enjoyed some San Miguel. If you have never been to one, I would encourage you to go there is alot of excitement and fun to be had whether you are betting or not
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Published on Sunday March 25th, 2007
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Mon, Mar 26 2007 - 03:35 PM
 by rangutan
| Great report, a bit short like mine tend to be too! An interesting hideaway island. |
Mon, Mar 26 2007 - 02:58 PM
by eirekay
| Mr. Biya, this series on Phillipines has really caught my interest. I hope to put this on my list of future destinations! |
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