Situated in South East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean, the Philippines is made up of over 7,000 insanely beautiful islands. It is one of the world’s largest archipelago nations.
Seeing as we had just two weeks here, we decided to split up our time and over Cebu island and Palawan island (Coron, and El Nido specifically).
First stop – Cebu. We stayed in the city for our first two nights at Mad Monkey Hostel – chilling, planning our two weeks here in the Philippines, and getting to know the locals (they love to hang out with us tourists).
The Sardine Run
The famous Sardine Run is located just off the shore of Moalboal, a cute beach side town, on Cebu island. Here you can swim through huge schools of sardines near the reef-wall drop off. No need for a private boat or tour as the sardines can be found just 30 meters from the shore on Panagsama Beach.
You can hire some the gear from the dive centre on the beach – it cost 200 pesos (£3.09) for a snorkel and life jacket. Interestingly, you can do this all year round as the sardines don’t actually migrate.
The snorkelling itself is fantastic – as well as an insane number of sardines I also saw lion fish, puffer fish, and (my very first) turtle. We hung out for 10 minutes and I slowly swam beside him, watching him nibble at the coral and swim about leisurely.
Canyoneering
Canyoneering in Kawasan Falls is not be to missed. We swam, jumped, and trekked our way through Kawasan Canyon. It is the perfect way to fulfill your adventuring needs whilst taking in the surroundings of canyon and its many beautiful blue waterfalls. It starts with a super speedy 1km zip line over jungle (optional but definitely recommend), and takes around half a day to complete the canyoneering.
Only the first jump (3m high) is compulsory but the higher jumps are optional. I was super brave that day and ended up doing every single jump on offer – including the huge 10m finale jump. Which I did not once, but twice! The trick was to not think too much, just jump.
We also saw evidence of the aftermath of December 2021’s typhoon. Our guide was telling us how devastating it was. “We had no power or signal for two months, just candlelight at night”. Some villages still don’t have power yet, 5 months later. You can see in my last image one of the destroyed buildings. Before the typhoon, the highest jump used to be 16m – but due to landscape changes, huge rocks have moved and the water is not as deep as it used to be.
Osmeña Peak
We hired scooters for our time on Cebu for ease of travelling about; it only costs 350 pesos (£5.32) a day between us. We scooted up to Osmeña Peak in Dalaguete as the highest peak on the island (1013m) was recommended for the unique 360 degree views of the hills.
Once parked up, you have to pay for a guide and do a short 15-20 minute trek up to the top. Whilst our guide was taking our photo at the summit, we heard somebody shout “OMG!” from behind him…
It was a Dutch girl we had travelled with in Africa on our safari tour in the Serengeti two months ago. Small world. She wasn’t supposed to be coming to the Philippines at all but after a series of flight issues she changed plans. Fancy meeting her at the peak of Cebu; we couldn’t have planned that if we tried. We caught up and said we would meet for drinks later in Moalboal. A storm was beginning so we hugged goodbye and she said drive safely – “don’t die” she shouted as we walked off. Well, we survived of course, but it was on the way back to Moalboal that we go into one of the scariest situations on the trip so far.
The storm passed but the time we spent waiting meant it was starting to get dark. We really had no choice but to drive carefully and keep going. We confidently followed Google Maps directions, and partway through the journey noticed the road was getting less and less… like a road. At one point only one side had concrete down, then no sides… and we were eventually left what can at best be described as a ‘rocky footpath’. Leon’s face below doesn’t quite show the right amount of fear.
A local family came out to either try to help us or laugh, and at one point the father had both of us on the back of the bike while he drove. He left us to go our own way and we paid him for his trouble, but we still had another hour of half pushing half driving before we met up with the other side of the unbuilt road. But hey – we made it in time for our BBQ ribs reservation.
Earlier on in the day, we had also run over a nail, so had a flat back tyre. We got it fixed 4 times! Each time it was “fixed” with emergency adhesive at a repair place, we drove down the road for 5 minutes only for the tyre to go again and splatter the neon green sticky goo all over my ankle. So concerns over the tyre going again were on our minds.
Waterfalls
Philippines has some of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve ever seen. We were lucky because most were really quiet! We even had the first one all to ourselves for the majority of our time.
Dao Waterfall
Binalayan Hidden Falls
Binalayan also requires a short hike (15 minutes) to get there, and a paid guide to access it. Here you can climb up to some areas behind the waterfall to jump in, but there will be some guides most likely requesting you pay them. Not a bad idea if you want to climb behind the waterfall.
Aguinid Waterfalls
We arrived just at closing time so the guide wouldn’t let us go past level 3, but we’re told it’s worth visiting if you get the chance, there are 5 levels total!
Tumalog Falls
We had accidentally saved the best until last. Surrounded by jungle, Tumalog Falls with its sheer size and stunning turquoise waters will take your breath away. The cooling refreshing water was so nice in the hot heat.
Swimming with Whale Sharks
Wow – just, wow. We were in Oslob for the whale shark watching. And what an experience it was! They only run this experience in the morning (roughly between 7am-11am). Before you get the boat out there and jump in, you get briefed and there are strict rules like you cannot wear suncream, and you must keep your distance (5m).
It is very artificial experience – the fishermen are feeding these gentle giants shrimp. Leon said it felt like we were at a zoo, but without the glass. We were told some days you can see a few whale sharks, but some days there can be 20.
Fun Facts:
- These beautiful creatures grow up to 18m (the biggest one recorded was 18.8m).
- They’ve never killed a human – and they don’t take any interest in them either! So watching them from a distance is very safe.
- They are filter feeders – so suck in plankton, small fish. Their mouths can be up to 1m wide. It was incredible watching them.
El Nido
We met our friend Tom at Coron airport, he’s travelling with us for the next two weeks.
Island Hoping
“Super Premium” experience which was a day of island hoping – swimming and snorkelling. Visiting:
Kayangan Lake
Barracuda Lake: with
Twin lagoon
Coral garden
Siete pecados
WW2 Skeleton Shipwreck
Scuba Diving
Coron is gifted with a huge variety of snorkelling and diving sites, catering to all levels of experience.
WW2 Skeleton Shipwreck
Location: Northwest corner of Coron Island
This 25m steel-hulled Japanese boat sunk on 24th September 1944 during WW2. Now encrusted with coral and barnacles, the remaining wreck consists of the keel, ribs and stringers. The boat slopes from a depth of 7 to 22 meters – which makes it perfect site for snorkelling, free diving, and scuba diving.
El Nido has a very structured tour system. We chose Tour A and Tour C.
Tour A: Big Lagoon – which you kayak through. It has the most stunning colour turquoise waters.
Secret Lagoon (not that great if I’m honest, it took 10 minutes to get in through a tiny cave and it wasn’t so secret. We weren’t really that impressed, but we had also chosen (by accident) to do the tour on the wekekdn
Tour C for swimming, snorkelling and sunbathing.
Helicopter Island
Secret Beach
Leon and Amy’s Big Adventures 