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Welcome back, everyone! So you read the 6000 words that I put into parts 1 and 2 and decided you wanted to read EVEN MORE?? I admire your craziness. But before we begin, let’s start with a bit of housekeeping. Remember to subscribe to my Youtube channel @ Stephen Flores Travel, like me on Facebook at Passport Perspective, and follow me on Instagram / Twitter / Tiktok @StephenJFlores. And now let’s get on with the report!

Up at the Crack of Dawn

So as you know, I took a nap in my hotel room in the middle of the day yesterday. That turned out to be a good decision as I had to get up at 4am the next day because my driver for the day was coming to pick me up at 5am. The reason why I had to wake up so early was because I booked a tour through Klook (which you can find here. Would highly recommend them for booking experiences, especially in Southeast Asia)  to do an island hopping/snorkeling tour of South Cebu. On the agenda was snorkeling with a plethora of fish and coral near Pescador Island, swimming with sea turtles, and experiencing the famed sardine run here in Cebu. But I have to say, I was a bit nervous about this day, mostly because I don’t do well with boats. 

Somewhere Beyond the Sea(sickness)

I don’t know what possessed me to go on an island-hopping adventure when the last time I was on a boat I basically threw up my entire gut. To be fair, I had been on boats before where I didn’t throw up or anything, but my one bad experience from a couple of years ago led me to feel scared about boats in general. I knew, however, that this was one of the top things to do in Cebu so I knew I couldn’t miss it. That’s why I had a game plan.

I had a bunch of Dramamine in my bag left over from when I was in Los Angeles, so I took one a day for three days leading up to the boat ride and then took a double dose when we were about an hour away from the town of Moalboal, which was our destination for the day. I read on another travel website that this is what people who get sick on cruise ships do to prevent getting sick so I thought it would work on me. Whether it did or not, you’ll have to keep reading to find out. 

My Cebu Snorkeling Adventure

Road Trips are Food for the Soul

I woke up promptly at the sound of my alarm at 4am. I then packed my bag, which for today included sunscreen, towels, and the food I bought the day before, ate a little, and was out the door by 4:58. My driver was already waiting for me at the front of my hotel. And so began the two-and-a-half-hour journey to the south of Cebu. At first, there was nothing to look at given that it was still pitch black outside but, as the sun started to rise, I was treated to unforgettable views of the ocean and the lush Cebu jungle.

I don’t know about other people but I’ve always loved road trips. I find them relaxing and seeing beautiful scenery while listening to feel-good music just hits the spot for me. And this scenery was beautiful. The never-ending curtain of green that cascaded from Cebu’s highest point all the way down to the sea was a sight to behold. 

About an hour and a half into the road trip, my driver stopped at a roadside eatery named Sula’s for breakfast. It’s apparently a popular spot to stop at given that buses full of people on their weekly commute also stopped there. The food was laid out cafeteria-style wherein you pick certain dishes and then pay at the end.

I had some chicken which was pretty good and cheap at about 120 pesos ($2.03) but on the flip side they charged me 10 pesos ($0.17) to use the bathroom. I know it sounds cheap but the bathroom was essentially a wall for the gents to do their business at. Charging for that seemed a bit excessive. But anyways, after that we were on our way again. The trip after breakfast was pretty uneventful, save for one thing. 

Delaying the Inevitable

When we were about 5 minutes away from our destination, my driver parked us in a roadside mall’s parking lot. I then noticed that other cars filled with tourists were in the parking spaces beside ours. When I asked my driver why we stopped, he said it was because the person who had the money to pay all our boat captains was running late. I found this to be a tad unprofessional, and I was also concerned that my Dramamines would wear off by the time I got on the boat. But after 30 minutes the man with the money caught up with us and we were on our way again. 

HANDS OFF!

We soon arrived in Moalboal, a small seaside town with not much going on. It’s mostly used as a base for tourists wanting to either island hop or do the canyoneering adventure in Badian (which I would experience as well, but I’ll save my commentary on that for the next report).

When we got to the tourism office, we were told to signup outside. There was a table set up where we had to register our names and other contact information. We then went inside the tourism office and were told to pay a 100 peso ($1.70) environmental fee. After that, we were briefed on the safety rules and other rules we had to follow (such as the don’t-touch-the-wildlife and don’t-touch-the-corals rules.) After they briefed us, we headed to our boats. 

The Moment of Truth

As we walked to our boats, I was nervously checking the water to make sure it wasn’t rough. By the looks of it, it looked pretty calm, although I knew that could change as soon as we got farther out in the water. I arrived at my designated boat and my boat captain and his second-in-command quickly set us off on our adventure, with our first stop being Pescador Island. I asked them before we left if the water was going to be rough and our captain told me it might get rough the closer we got to the island. So I looked at the horizon expectantly, waiting for the seasickness to hit me…

…except it didn’t. We got to the island and the water was as smooth as glass. We got lucky, apparently, and thank God for that. Fortunately, me getting lucky would be the theme (I know I know I like using that word a lot) for today as everything just seemed to go my way. And as you’re about to read, it only got better from here.

One note: we didn’t actually go onto Pescador Island as it was basically a rock in the middle of the ocean with no way to get on it (or at least, no way that I saw). Instead, we hovered near the island and went to a particular area on the side of the island to snorkel. The captain provided me with snorkeling equipment, which I was thankful for as I did not bring my own. I then put the equipment on and headed down the small flight of stairs at the side of the boat and went into the water. 

Finding Nemo and Friends

The water was cold but it wasn’t freezing cold, which was another thing I was blessed with that day. Once I got in, the second-in-command swam beside me to make sure the current didn’t pull me away. What I saw down there was beautiful. I had gone snorkeling in the past so I had seen this kind of thing before, but this was definitely up there in terms of how much life it was teeming with and how colorful it was.

The girl at the tourist center, when she was briefing us on the safety rules and everything, mentioned that the corals in this area was actually wiped out by a typhoon the year before and the corals we were seeing were brought in from other places and placed there so that the reefs could start growing again. Personally, I couldn’t tell that was the case as it looked absolutely gorgeous and like it had been there this entire time. 

I swam for about 30 minutes and saw all kinds of fish. At one point I saw a clownfish and what looked like a blue tangs. For those of you who aren’t well-versed in Disney, those are the kinds of fish Nemo and Dory from Finding Nemo are. I was just so fascinated by everything in front of me that I had to take a minute to do my “appreciate where you are” habit that I told you guys about in the last trip report. But floating in the middle of the sea, looking at all this life around me, made me feel so calm and at peace, kind of like how road trips make me feel. If you’ve never gone snorkeling before I would highly recommend it. It’s always a magical experience, wherever in the world you choose to do it. 

I would have stayed there longer if it weren’t for one thing that scared me back to the boat: jellyfish. The second-in-command spotted one near our boat, and that was enough for me to get out of the water. I’ve been scared of Jellyfish ever since my mom got stung by one about 15 years ago and I saw how it affected her, so I was NOT about to get stung by a jellyfish, especially since I wasn’t in a wet suit. So I got back onto the boat and told our captain that I was ready to leave and head to the next part of our trip. It should be noted that, as we were leaving Pescador Island, an ominous-looking cloud was headed in our direction and we didn’t know if lightning would follow suit so for our sakes we had to hurry it up. 

Turtles, Not Ninja or Teenage

We then traveled for about 20 minutes till we hit the shores of Cebu again. I thought my captain was taking me back to the dock cause of the impending rain, but apparently we were heading to the area with the sea turtles. I had never seen sea turtles in the wild before, and I was lucky, again, that 4 of them were out and about that day. Sometimes only 1 is out and sometimes there aren’t any at all. So it was a real blessing, again, to have seen as many as I did. The entire experience was amazing, but there was something I noticed as soon as we got there. 

There were, and I’m not kidding, about 50 other tourists in the area where the sea turtles were. It was overcrowded and, considering the raging pandemic that was still ongoing, I didn’t feel totally safe. It just felt really packed, with everyone crowding around one of the sea turtles. However, that didn’t detract from the experience which, in three words, was PRETTY FRIKKIN COOL. I mean, come on, turtles? In the wild? How crazy is that? I was able to watch all four turtles do their thing and the coolest part was one of them even went up for air at one point which was a pretty extraordinary sight (I know it doesn’t SOUND extraordinary but believe me it really was).

It was such a surreal experience seeing these huge creatures swimming mere feet away from me. This ended up being the highlight of my day and made the two-hour journey worth it in my opinion. It would have been nice to see them amidst coral and other wildlife instead of a bare seafloor, but that’s just me being nitpick-y. I’m so grateful that I got to experience that. 

Sardine RUN (Away From Me)

After watching the turtles for maybe 30 minutes, I hopped back on the boat and we began another journey, this time to the wide open sea. It was time for the famed sardine run. I had seen pictures of it before and, honestly, it looked spectacular. Imagine thousands of sardines swimming around you so much so that you’re encased by them and the deep blue water all around you. Spectacular, right? Well, my experience was decidedly less than spectacular.

We weren’t allowed to swim that deep because of the strong current, so we were restricted to only staying on the surface. Which was fine, but the sardines kept swimming away from us when we would try to get close and they never came in droves like what I saw in pictures. I guess the only way to really do that was to go diving. So that was a bit of a bummer but it was still a cool experience to see thousands of fish swimming all around you. And the way they glistened in the sun was pretty cool and made it look like they were shining silver pieces floating in this vast blue-colored landscape. It was still a very cool experience, it just wasn’t the highlight of my day. 

Here and There and Back Again

At this point, it started to drizzle. So after swimming for about 30-40 minutes, we made our way back to the dock. What transpired next was 30 minutes of rain pouring down on us as we made our way back in what had quickly become the coldest and most uncomfortable part of the trip. I think it was a mixture of the wind and the rain but it was just freezing on that boat and it didn’t help that the dock seemed to get farther and farther every time we got close to it. But thankfully we made it back eventually.

I tipped my captain and his second-in-command 500 pesos each ($8.50) and quickly got off the boat. I headed for the shower area near the tourist center and put on a fresh set of clothes. I then went back to the car and my driver and I made our way back to Cebu City. The car ride was uneventful. I was actually asleep for most of it. The only thing of note that we did on that car ride was stop to get burgers at Jollibee (which cost about 55 pesos ($0.93)). 

As I was headed home, I felt so happy and grateful that I braved my seasickness concerns and did this. Not only did I not get seasick once, but up to this point, this was the best day I had had on this trip. Granted this day only had to compete with the insanely hot city day from the day before but still, the trajectory of this trip was going up and I was happy about that. 

Feasting Like a Pig

When I arrived back at my hotel, I tipped my driver 250 pesos ($4.25) and then showered and freshened up for dinner. I planned to have Lechon for dinner that night. For those of you who don’t know what Lechon is, it’s one of Cebu’s and the Philippines’ signature dishes. It’s basically a roasted pig, but its skin and the sauces you dip the meat in make it very flavorful. I heard one of the best places to get Lechon in Cebu was at this place called the House of Lechon. For them to have Lechon in the name meant it HAD to be good. So I left the hotel at around 5:30 because I wanted to beat the dinner rush especially because it was a Saturday night. This time, because it was difficult for me to book a Grab, I had the hotel call me a taxi, which arrived in ten minutes. I was taken directly to the restaurant and paid the driver 70 pesos ($1.19). 

I arrived and saw this beautiful, modern-looking restaurant and asked the hostess if I could sit outside. I took one look at the menu and decided I needed to try the Lechon sisig (which, for those of you that don’t know, is a really good dish made out of, erm, pig face. I know, it sounds weird, but it’s literally my favorite food on this earth) and an order of Lechon as well with some white rice.

This all cost about 635 pesos ($10.76) which was a bit pricey but believe me it was WORTH IT! The sisig was just grilled to perfection. It was oozing with flavor and just hit every single mark I have when it comes to judging good sisig (I think I’m a bit of a sisig connoisseur). The Lechon was fantastic as well. Rich, flavorful, crispy, and juicy. It was just everything you could possibly want from Lechon. If it weren’t for the price I would’ve ordered seconds and thirds. I didn’t stay long and left after an hour because I had another long day ahead of me. So after inhaling all that food I paid my bill, booked a grab, and headed home for the night. 

And so we have arrived at the midpoint of our Trip Report series! Only two more installments to go! Tomorrow, we experience canyoneering in Badian, which many people consider to be the top thing to do in Cebu (and let me tell you, it was one of the most fun and memorable things I’ve ever done).

Want to experience this trip report on video? Click here to view my vlog for this day!

Links to the other installments of this trip report series:

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 1: I Almost Got Scammed

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 2: Melting Through Historic Cebu

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 3: Swimming with Sea Turtles

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 4: Cliff-Jumping and Canyoneering

Cebu Trip Report ’22 Part 5: Temples, Flowers, and a Great View!