It was time to move from the hectic, busy city and put the vacation mode on. Here you can get to know all about traveling from Cebu to Moalboal on a motorbike
Now with just one big backpack (We left the other at our friends’ place) and two scooters we left the city behind us. Our next stop was Moalboal. A little sea city around 85 km away from Cebu city. There is basically just one main rout going there. After crossing city named Car Car, we were driving nearly the whole time with gorgeous views of palm forests, sea and bays.
The route took us more than we expected but since the roads are not in the best conditions and there is a lot of work in progress, we took our time. We Arrived around 7 pm, totally damaged especially our butts. Our accommodation was around 5 min walk from the beach – J and C guest house. The price was reasonable, around 500 pesos per night and since we are travling in the low season the entire place was most of the time just for us. Breakfast costs 100 pesos which we used 3 times. Other times we always bought something on a market and prepared it in the kitchen. All guests can use the kitchen at all times so we used it also few times for preparing dinner or lunch. After checking in, we immediately found new friends and after a bottle of beer went to play beer-pong and visited the locally famous Chili bar. Our night exceeded our expectations and we met a lot of new people, both from the Philippines and travellers like us.
Moalboal is the perfect area for swimming with turtles and sardines. And totally for free! You just have to go to the beach around 10 am, look where already a bunch of people is swimming around and join them! Turtles are there specifically with the high tide in the morning but sardines, as we experienced, are there the whole day. It was so cool to watch them since they are totally free and can go wherever they want. The turtles are so used to people, that not even 10 people around them made them feel threatened. They just continued having their breakfast on the bottom.
In order to enjoy this sea experiences, we needed some snorkel equipment. Therefor we went to the closest city mall and got some. You can also buy them at the dive shops as we discovered later, and they are definitely providing the better ones. Also, if you don’t want to buy one, just rent some. It´s not expensive but for our long travels buying them is more comfortable and hygienic 😀 We paid around 2500 pesos per box (goggles and snorkel).
In the meantime, Sven desperately needed new haircut and since we were already in the city, why not try some local barber shop? I have never seen someone to take his job that seriously but the result payed off. Even for the time we spend there, around half an hour for waiting and hour for the actual trimming. And as a plus he got also shaved with the big razor knife.
The best rated experience you can go for from Moalboal is definitely the Kawasan falls and canyoneering. Every place in Moalboal, either it´s dive shop, restaurant, or your own accommodation, is providing this trip and many more. The price is usually around 1300 – 1500 pesos, but you will also get offers until 1700 pesos. They will pick you up, give you breakfast, take you there and back again. Since we had our own scooter, we went alone. There is a lot of possibilities from who we could buy the canyoneering adventure with Kawasan fall in the end, as there are a lot of agencies along the way. Be careful and don’t let them scam you! They tried it on us but didn’t succeed since we asked a few Philippinos for a reasonable price beforehand. After asking in around 3 agencies we decided for ‘Alan and Nancy agency’. The best thing, we didn’t need to wait for anyone else joining our tiny group. We just got our exclusive guide and let´s go! First, they brought us on motorbikes to the entrance. It took us around 10 min. Then we had a choice, either take a zipline which is around minute and half long and it covers a distance of ca. 880 m. The second option – walking 45 min to the actual entrance. We chose the extra adrenaline from the zip line which added another 500 pesos/person above the original price. I definitely advise recommend you to just pay and go because it was fantastic. I even got to choose if I want to sit down style or superman style. You can guess for which one I went. 😀 right! The superman of course. Laying on your belly, not holding anything I got to enjoy the experience the fullest. The whole track of the falls took us around 3 hours. Our guide was supportive, never hasting around and taking pictures and videos of us enjoying the jumps.
Right after that we wanted to do some track, and everyone was offering us the Osmena peak. We read that it´s certainly a place worth to go to as many bloggers and travellers describe the awesome views from the top but since it was that much touristic, I really didn’t want the battle with another hundreds of people. Instead, we went to the ‘Casino peak trek’/’Lugsangan Peak’. It´s on the same way as Osmena peak, but around 2 km closer, and the decision turned out in great for us. We stopped in front of one hut where one lady is every day waiting for her customers. The entrance fee is 30 pesos/person, after we signed the cashier book and went up. The trek itself it´s just 10 min but it´s very steep. When we were getting to the top, we nearly had to climb thru the rocky path. Then on the top, which we had totally for ourselves where we were by the way totally alone, we sat down on the rocks. We took out all our gadgets so we could record the beauty around us. The peace and quiet we got up there were a pure necessity. No one bothering us, no people taking selfies except of us ;), oh that was what we needed after the amazing but a bit overcrowded adventure on Kawasan falls.
On the way back we met a lot of local people carrying enormous amount of stuff on their motorbikes. It was very hard for me to understand how it is possible they can still hold the bike that strait on the route. 😀 That’s totally another level of transportation.
The area of Moalboal is so picturesque and romantic. A few times we went on a little excurions around (always with the camera in my hands) the place and got some breathtaking views. Especially the colors of sea and sun going down.
Not only at night but also at daylight has the Chili bar a lot to offer. The restaurant terrace which is taken over by party animals in the night provides a beautiful ocean view a daytime.
There is one really sophisticated and European style café in Moalboal. I immediately fall in love since the menu contained true great flavor coffee as I know it and couldn´t get anywhere else and also offered a few amazing dishes and very tasty carrot cake. I think from their menu, we tried everything through the few days we spent in Moalboal. Not overpriced and still making big dishes after which we finally felt full, not like in other overpriced restaurants around. The name of the place is `Smooth café´. One day we even met one of the owners, a Canadian guy who told us about his idea of making a place that was truly missing there. I definitely think he succeeded, with coffee, dishes and great funny staff members fluently speaking English. Oh, I miss this place so much already.
At our last night in Moalboal we wanted to go to celebrate this great place. The choice was, of course, the Chili bar. As most of the other travelers left days before, we were almost alone to go. Luckily for us, in the hostel where we spent our last days, the receptionist girl – Mercedes came with us. Really have to say she is such a sweetheart and for sure without her, the hostel wouldn’t be that much fun. Sad that the owner doesn’t realize that. Again, the Chili bar didn’t let us down. Together with Mercedes, we had a great tipsy night and we said the proper goodbye to Moalboal.