Hot Pink Coconut

Cebu, We Love You: Sutukil, Mactan Island, Cebu City, and Malapascua

My boyfriend and I, together with some friends, went on a much-deserved getaway to the beaches (and cities) of Cebu last March 5th to 9th. As of this moment, I have sunburned skin, aching muscles, emptied pockets, and an endless treasure box of memories.

Our flight to Cebu took off at 4.45 in the morning of March 5th. In less than an hour, we were at the Mactan Cebu International Airport, planning our itinerary for the day. After waiting for a few minutes, we hopped inside a cab to explore the beauty of Mactan Island (before we had to head back to the airport and meet up with Kimi’s mom). Our first stop was the Sutukil (Sugba – Tuwa – Kilaw) at the Lapu-Lapu Shrine.

After buying 1/4 kilo each of squid and shrimp, we proceeded to the dining area with a view of the mangroves while we waited for our food. It was a heavy brunch (though it’s only a little past seven), of breaded and fried calamares (squid), buttered shrimp, and kangkong (water spinach) in soy sauce and garlic. According to my boyfriend, my friend Kimi and her sister Ida, the seafood dishes they had were fresh and worth the price (except for the excessively sweet buttery flavor of the shrimp dish). The shocker, however, was the price of the kangkong dish: we paid 140 pesos for a bunch of water spinach blandly cooked in soy sauce.

Laughing at the incredulity of paying ten times the price for a bunch of kangkong than in the grocery, we hopped on our rented cab and asked our driver to take us to a public beach where we could spend a couple more hours. Our driver took us to some public resorts, and we actually stopped to check one out, but were only disappointed. The sea was blue and the sand was somewhat white, but it wasn’t exactly what we wanted.

After much deliberation, we decided to head back to the airport. We stayed at the Lobby Lounge of Mactan Waterfront Hotel for rest and refreshments. Ida and I shared a yummy strawberry shortcake and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. At about ten, we met up with Tita Babeth at the arrival area, said our hellos and goodbyes, then boarded a cab to Cebu City.

We made our way to SM Cebu City for a last-minute food and toiletries shopping trip. More baggage in tow, we then headed to  Cebu’s North Bus Terminal to start our journey to Malapascua, an island off the northern tip of Cebu. The trip to the town of Maya, the jump-off point to Malapascua, was a grueling, dust-filled bus ride which was far from relaxing, especially in a non-air conditioned bus. But at 100 pesos each for bus fare, you wouldn’t really complain.

Four hours later, we arrived at the wharf in Maya. Kimi and I sat on rocks and delightfully scarfed down the take-out pasta from Sbarro. For 50 pesos, we secured a seat on the waiting pump boat; in about half an hour, it filled up with enough passengers. We reached the shores of Bario Logon, Malapascua in less than 40 minutes, and were awestruck at the beauty of the place. Two male locals, both of whom we later befriended, immediately approached us when we arrived. They helped us find a place to stay at, and apparently being boatmen as well, also offered boat rides for our snorkeling trip the following morning.

We stayed at a small two-room house at the back of Hippocampus Beach Resort. If I’m not mistaken, it was called During’s (or Turing’s) by the locals. We rented the room with a double bed, shower, and fan for a meager 800 pesos. Renting an air conditioned room was really not in our plans, as electricity in Malapascua is only available from 6 to 12 in the evening. We arranged our luggage inside the room, changed into beach clothes, and headed out to the beach front to chillax in the sunset. Ahh, the beauty of catching the last rays of sunshine over the shores of Bounty Beach, Malapascua was truly breath-taking. A couple bottles of cold San Mig Light, a liter of Sprite, a bag of Marty’s vegetarian cracklings, a bag of French Baker pan de sal, cheese and mayonnaise, and left over CNT Lechon and puso (Cebu’s local rice to-go), made the chillaxing all so (ful)filling.

Tired from the whole day’s happenings, but happy nonetheless, we decided it was time to take a rest. It was already past 10 when we finally went to bed. The following day, my boyfriend and Kimi woke me up a little after 7 for our snorkeling trip. We waited impatiently for our guides to arrive—they were late by a good twenty minutes. When they came, we excitedly boarded the boat and asked the bangkeros to head out to our snorkeling destinations right away.

Our first dive site was a little disappointing: strong currents, a small reef, and only sparse groups of fish. Feeling seasick after just a few minutes in the water, we headed out to the next dive site, the Malapascua Lighthouse Wreck. This is my second favorite of our four dive sites. The water was peaceful, although a bit murky, so we didn’t really get to see fish and corals; but the view of the Japanese World War II landing craft that sank was just awesome. Our boatman even cracked a joke about the wreck: we won’t see Casper there. (Haha.) Our third dive site was in peaceful waters, too, and the view of the corals were amazing. Kimi and my boyfriend couldn’t resist skin diving to touch the softer corals. The fourth dive site, disappointingly, was also in strong currents, but the reef was amazing, and we actually saw the most fish there than in the other three sites combined.

After three hours of snorkeling, we headed back to our room to shower and dress up. We hurried so we could have lunch at La Dolce Vita, an authentic Italian restaurant, and be just in time to catch the last pump boat back to Maya. We were the only customers at La Dolce Vita that lazy afternoon, so we got to chat with the attendant on the bar/counter. Apparently, the restaurant was formerly co-owned by a Filipina and an Italian (who decided to put up his own restaurant, Angelina Beach, just a few meters away from where La Dolce Vita stands). We ordered a regular pizza, two dishes of pasta (that included two meals: fried chicken and bread, and breaded pork chop and bread), and soda. I loved their home-made bread and Arrabiata pasta, which reminded me of the same dish in my fave Italian restaurant here in Manila. I was disappointed with the pizza though: the crust was too thin and flaky, and the ingredients were a bit sparse. Nevertheless, it was a very filling lunch.

Finally, and sadly, it was time to board the boat to Maya. We had to head back to Cebu City to meet up with Tita Babeth and Ida, and make an evening tour before we go to Bantayan Island early the following morning. Five and a half hours later (yes, the trip took that long because it was Friday night and the driver made a total of four stop overs!), all we wanted was to take a nice, long, warm bath, and stuff ourselves with delicious food. Even before we reached Cebu City that night, my boyfriend and Kimi were already dreaming of hot bulalo (beef bone-marrow) soup, so imagine their starved thoughts.

We got off the bus at SM City Cebu, hopped on to two jeepney rides, and walked the few meters to Sampaguita Suites on Mango Avenue, where Tita Babeth and Ida were staying. My boyfriend and I wanted to check in there as well, but they were fully booked, so we went around to look for a decent and affordable pension house. We chanced upon the only pension house in the vicinity that has vacancy: C’est la Vie Pension House on Juana Osmena street, the same pension house Kimi and I stayed at when we went to Cebu in 2007. We arranged our luggage, freshened up a bit, then headed out to have dinner at Abuhan Dos on Fructuoso Ramos street. My boyfriend and Kimi shared a huge bowl of pochero (bulalo soup in Cebuano) and kinilaw na tuna (raw tuna), while I had vegetable tempura.

After dinner, we headed back to our respective lodgings. We agreed to meet up at 3.30 am the following day for our trip to Bantayan Island with our friends who went to Bohol the first two days of our getaway. Exhausted from the long day, my boyfriend and I finally went to bed a little before midnight.

(Find out what happend next by clicking here.)