Moalboal - Cebu - Philippines

To read an overview of our itinerary on this 3 week trip to the Philippines, click here.

Sardines at Panagsama Beach - Moalboal

Cebu Airport (Mactan) to Moalboal

If you have the money and just wanna get there, you can expect to pay around 2,500 for a private driver (note: you can get much cheaper doing the reverse route privately as many cars just want to get something for their way back to Cebu city).  Otherwise, here's the best cost to time efficient method:

1. From Cebu airport take a taxi to the South Bus Terminal.  Take a cheaper white taxi (not a yellow airport taxi) and ensure they use the meter (they may try to quote a high fee like they did with us).  It's quite a drive, around 40 mins depending on traffic, and should cost under 400 pesos, not too bad especially if you're sharing.  

Note: If you're really looking to save, there is a cheap (around 30 pesos) 'Mybus' that takes you from the airport downtown (every 30 mins - disembark at Park Mall then travel to South Bus Terminal via jeepney) but not really worth trying to save a few pesos here, especially if you have luggage, in my opinion.

From The South Bus terminal, find the Air Conditioned Yellow Ceres bus travelling to Moalboal (just have a walk around and ask, you might have to wait for an AC bus and non-AC buses will will try to get your business!).  The buses are frequent, around every 30-40 mins and it will take you around 3.5 hours to reach Moalboal.  You pay in cash on the bus (someone will collect) it was 140 pesos per person. Once you get to Moalboal, there will be tricycle drivers who will be happy to take you to your guest house.  We stayed near Panagsama Beach as this is where the sardines are located (lots of tourists pay to travel here from white beach on snorkel trips when there's really no need).  If you're staying in this area too, get off at the second bus stop in Moalboal (the one near McDonald's is the first stop, so just take the one after that).  Tricycles to this area shouldn't cost more than 150 pesos (tourist prices of course).

We stayed in a nice little guesthouse called Roo's.  The staff, Eden & Princess were really nice, though the rooms are quite pokey and small it was a well run establishment and the owners, whilst not present, were very supportive via email.  The main things we wished to do whilst we were here were to either dive or snorkel with the sardines and do some canyoneering.

Get a massage by the beach in Moalboal

Firstly, the area itself leading towards Panagsama beach is quite nice albeit very touristic.  There are a lot of options in terms of places to drink and eat, many of them having verandas overlooking the sea.  Lots of them serve reasonably priced food of a decent quality but we found a couple of belters which blew the other places out of the water, those being 'Ven'z Kitchen' and 'The Pleasure Principle'.  Ven'z does really good quality local food (pop in the day before to place your order if you want seafood), and The Pleasure Principle's seafood platter combo is especially good value.

Creative sign at Ven'z Kitchen

The Pleasure Principle's seafood platter

The Pleasure Principle's pizza

Canyoning/ Canyoneering and Kawasan Falls

A friend of ours had done this previously and highly recommended it to us.  Whilst it may seem that jumping from great heights from rocky outposts into plunge pools with questionable safety standards might not seem part of what you want to do during a relaxing holiday, we thought we would give it a go.  Relatively pricey by local standards, Roo's guesthouse were able to arrange our guide and experience for 1,500 PHP per person, which turned out to be better than other places where I'd seen this offered.

We were up at 9am and ready to go, our tricycle took us to another nearby guesthouse where we waited for other customers and we also rented some diving booties.  Good footwear is essential, and if you don't have closed shoes with good grip then your guides should hopefully insist on helping you to rent something of a good standard.  Soon, we were in our hello kitty jeepney being carted on the 40 minute or so drive to the falls.  It was a stunning coastal route, and also a nice opportunity to chat and meet other people in the group.  There were clearly a few nerves, including myself, as we weren't sure what to expect and some were conceding that they most likely wouldn't complete the largest jump of around 15 meters.

We got dropped at a kind of outpost where we had to register our names, and from there we made a 20 minute or so walk to get to the stairs which lead down to the canyon and the starting point of our adventure. It's also worth noting that you make sure you wear suncream and drink/bring plenty of water, as even just 20 minutes of exposure on a hot day can take its toll.

The first thing that struck me was that it was a lot more shaded and cool in the canyon, the second thing was how stunningly beautiful it was.  It seems to get more and more picturesque as we progressed and I would say that even if you didn't wish to do any of the jumps, it's worth joining the activity just for the scenery.  To begin with, our guides lead us through small jumps and areas where you would just lie down and let the flow of the water carry you over a small drop, not unlike a slide at a waterpark.  As the day progressed, we attempted jumping from bigger and bigger heights.  Some people didn't feel comfortable with some of the jumps, which is totally fine as the guides will show you an alternative route.  As we were there on a weekend, the canyoning was quite busy so there were instances where we essentially had to 'queue' to make our jump.  Of course, this was prolonged by the more hesitant jumpers who needed a fair share of  '3..2..1... countdowns' before plucking up the courage to throw themselves over the edge or, more likely, scuttle back from it and take the alternative safe route.

If you're ever played the game 'Skyrim', the scenery at the falls is like one of the levels that was designed with such beauty you might believe it could have only been engineered manually off the back of a vivid imagination.  With dapples of sunlight glistening off bright blue pools, the sound of rushing water and Kaleidoscopes of butterflies flitting by it truly was serene.  We trusted the guides to advise us how and where to jump and with our buoyancy aids and helmets felt as though we were secure enough.  The guides would often do flips and dives into various pools just to exemplify just how confident they were!

The final jump was high.  It must have got everyone's hearts racing and if it hadn't been for the build up of other jumps I don't think I would have had the stomach to attempt it.  Kate went first, she sauntered up to the edge and didn't hesitate when the countdown was issued.  A perfect launch and entry when hitting the water.  Next was my turn.  No option now but to take the easy and quick way down and without thinking (which ultimately is the best way to approach the day) threw myself over.  I think my form wasn't great but I was in the water and alive, was that a little bump on my back? Yep, my life vest cushioned me slightly, as I hit the water my feet went forward and my back ever so slightly made contact with a rock or something at the bottom.  The camera strap was left on my wrist but had broken off and the camera was floating away! That is a bit scary.  The guide afterwards said that I had jumped slightly in the wrong place and I like to think that I was never in any real danger but just goes to show there can be quite fine lines between safety and danger.

Not to scare anyone who is considering doing this in the future, I think it is overall very safe, but a friend said they saw somebody being taken away on a stretcher before we made our way to the end point of the falls.  I think the biggest risk is turning an ankle or slipping on the wet rocks between jumps rather than the jumps themselves.  If you listen to your guides and jump safely and confidently, you'll be fine.

The route ended at Kawasan Falls, where there were already a lot of people in and around the water.  Our group swam into the falls and hung out in the area for a bit, as they were quite impressive, albeit busy as many people make the trip here not necessarily doing canyoneering but just to see the falls.  As the rush of that final jump slowly wore off, we were ready to make the beautiful walk to get to the car park of the church where our 'Hello Kitty Jeepney' was waiting for us.  It had been a very action-packed and fun-filled day and we were all now ready to have a bit of stability in our lives!

Swimming with Sardines

We spoke to a few people including those in our guesthouse who had been in town for a few days already, and the general consensus was that it wasn't really required to dive in order to swim with the sardines, as they were located just offshore from the nearest beach to us.  That was brilliant news, and we decided to give it a go with our fins, masks & snorkels.  We marched down to the sea wall one afternoon but the tide was high and the waves were crashing so we decided to get a banana shake and wait for things to calm down a bit.  Some people were snorkeling from boats, and it wasn't so much the waves when swimming but the getting in and out that worried us.  Eventually things calmed slightly, so we decided to make a go of it, opting for one of the alleys that lead to the sea.  It's quite difficult getting into the water, as there are lots of sharp rocks so good footwear is definitely recommended.

Sunrise assessment of the waves at Panagsama Beach

We managed to get in and the first thing we noticed was that the visibility was pretty poor.  To make things worse, Kate was having some trouble with her mask leaking and we were getting a little bullied by the waves as we tried unsuccessfully to resolve the issue.  Whilst we did see a good amount of sardines, we decided to cut it short.  Getting back in was also tricky, and I cut my hand a bit on some sharp rocks as the waves decided to pound me and I lost balance when taking off my fins.  It all felt like a bit of a failure, but it was our own fault for not really thinking about our timing.

Sunrise at Panagsama Beach - Moalboal - Phlippines

The key is to go in the early morning, when the sea is calmer and the visibility is better.  So this is what we did.  Very early, around 5am, the alarm went off whilst it was still dark and we gathered our things and made our way to the seafront once again with just a few cockerels breaking the silence as we went by.  The sea did indeed look a lot more peaceful, like most of the people in Moalboal perhaps it too hadn't quite woken up yet.  It was still dark after the short walk, so we opted to wait until we had a bit more light.  Ultimately we went it where the tricycle drivers park.  There are no 'good' places to enter from the land, but there was a spot we had seen some divers walk up the previous day where we opted to go in.  Some of the tricycle drivers followed us with big grins, I think hoping to see us struggling with the entry, but smartypants here had mentally mapped the route the locals lead the divers meaning we got in with minimal issues.

Sardines and Panagsama Beach - Moalboal - Philippines

This time the experience was a world apart.  We could see right to the bottom, and after a short swim a wall of countless sardines appeared right in front of us.  The current was a little strong, but there was a buoy with a line which we used as a reference point and also held onto when we needed a rest from the submerging to get a better look at our fishy friends.  We must have snorkeled for an hour and a half or so, and we were only sharing the water with a handful of others as well as a couple of small, local fishing boats.  Not only were there gigantic walls and balls of sardines, but there was actually some pretty decent coral and small fish that went with it.  It was an experience that lived up to our expectations, and I would definitely recommend swimming with the sardines in Moalboal to anyone.

Kate swims with sardines in Panagsama Beach, Moalboal

Coral and fish in Panagsama Beach, Moalboal