2/28-3/1After coming down from Talanis and taking a days rest once again in Dumaguete we said our good byes to the locals there that we had come to know over the last few weeks and headed north to a town called Sibulan, from there we got a ferry to Cebu island and headed via bus up the west coast to Moalboal.
I had found out from some of the other travelers and the bulletin board at one of the hostels that the diving in Moalboal was worth seeing, and it was on our way to Leyte anyway.
Everything I describe to you is some of the best parts, mixed between a myriad of travel. Long hours walking, cramped buses, dirty jeepneys. Its all a great experience but lets all just remember that not every moment of it is tropical paradise and beaches.
That being said, Moalboal is by far one of the most tourist ridden places we've been to. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were, as is the norm in high tourist locations, assailed by dozens of trike drivers asking us where we were headed, what we were doing, etc. By now though, we have become near experts in dealing with this kind of... attention. We made short work of shooing them away/politely refusing their services, and made our way, 60lb packs and all, to the nearest pier to have a look around.When I say pier I mean a concrete jetty haphazardly extending into the bay. After such a long bus ride its nice to just walk around a bit and get your bearings before continueing. Being that the area was swarmed with those of the lighter pigments, it was easy for us to ask some other tourists where the cheapest hotels were.
Turns out that there are really no hotels in Moalboal itself. We were instead directed to an area called Panigsama, which after a short trike ride (20php/person) later we found that it was a sort of amalgamation of tourist resorts, forming into a complex of sorts. Buildings connected together, walkways snaked their way in and out of the beach, down alleyways and even strait through bars. It would have been amazing for some urban paintball.
We've gotten pretty good at finding the cheapest places around as soon as we get into an area, though I'll not kid you, we certainly weren't impressing anyone with our choice of accommodation's... Thats a pic of a crab we found walking around in our bathroom.We found a place an "Corletta's" for 400php a night (200 ea), settled in and started exploring our new surroundings. True to expectations everything in this "community" was about twice as expensive as in Moalboal proper. So much more expensive in fact that it was worth it for us to hire a trike to take us back into town just to have dinner and still come out ahead.
We spent the evening there supping and drinking into the evening. We took our bottles of San Miguel onto the wharf and watched the sun set. Groups of girls and guys dotted the pier and we got our share of attention from all as we passed.Looking back on it, and even then, there was always a wish that we could have stayed somewhere longer, developed deeper friendships, as it would be so easy to do here. maybe even... dare I say... have separate rooms! -gasp
Any way the sunset was... well... was making me wish I had a better camera. if a 35mm is worth 1,000 words than these pictures are the daily special versions. We caught a night trike back to Panigsama and wrote in our journals out on the tiny concrete pier in front of our room. It wasn't long before we were approached by 2 girls who sat and talked with us into the night. (eventually one threw out the expected sales pitch for some local dive shop-its really just the way things work 'round here)The next day we were out and about to look at costs for dive shops. We found a shop that gave us a good deal (damn were getting good at bartering deals) a package set 3,000 php for 3 dives. talked down from 7,000. I'll totally plug the dive site here, its called Pete's dive center in Panigsama, Moalboal
Unfortunatly i was saving my pictures for when i got to see whale sharks and I only have the one disposable camera. So I don't have any pictures from diving here. We dove a reef wall on Pescador island, amazing. Our second dive was just a reef shallow dive. Lots of micro life and some sea turtles.
The boat needed repairs so we skipped out on the 3rd dive and only had to pay 2,000 php. That evening we partook of one of the local (albeit over priced - and when i say over priced its a relative to the area term because by our standards its still nearly free) bars. We drank there for a bit, reminiscing about the trip thus far and a bit bummed that we only have another week in the Philippines.
Long after the sun had set we headed back down the beach way to our accommodation's, along the way we were met by a different two girls, whom obviously had a bit to drink, and sat on the pier near our hotel drinking and talking with them in the near full moonlight.The weather was perfect, the moon was full, tropical waters lapping at our feet, and two beautiful women at our sides; we REALLY, should have sprung for separate rooms. -sigh
But alas, we were too leave early in the morning to head to Leyte or Padre Burgos (we hadn't quite made our minds) so with much regret we had to say goodnight to our lady friends and in the morning leave all that may have been behind us.
Moalboal isn't really a town I would say is a must go, but it fills its role. If your loo king to spend less than a week in the Philippines then it would be a pretty nice place. If you were looking to do some diving and sit out on the beach most the time then its a great place. For us though once we dove it a bit there wasn't much left for us there. (other than beautiful women)
These are sea urchins that we found on the beach all split open and looking like they had been eaten. There just so happened to be a spoon right next to the pile as well. Made for an amusing site to behold just sitting out on the beach.
