TORN BETWEEN CAREER AND PASSION

Cause this trip doesn’t really need to be expensive. If you are on a budget, and you’re not really into luxurious accommodation & foods, you might want to consider this:

On getting to Malapascua Island:
1. From North Bus Terminal, you may ride a V-Hire, Ceres Bus, Rough Rider or a taxi going to Maya Port. Least expensive is Rough Rider, Ceres Bus and V-hire, it will only cost lower than 200Php.
2. From Maya Port, there are several boats going to Malapascua Island. The island is very near, so you really don’t need to worry if you go in group.
3. According to them the last trip is at 2:30PM, but there are a lot of boat owners who are willing to cross Malapascua Island to Maya Port.

Expenses:

• North Cebu Terminal to Maya Port vv Ceres 170 * 2 – 340
• Maya Port to Malapascua Island 100 * 2 = 200
• Food (the usual) 250/head (8pax)
• Island Hopping (3 spots) 100/head (8pax)
• Environmental Fee 50/head
• Snorkeling Gear 50/head
• Accommodation 500/8 heads ( #couchsurfing )

For the accommodation, we really didn’t spend much on that because we met an old couple in the boat and they offered us their house. Also, we brought our tents with us—it was kinda challenging to look a place where we could pitch our tent because most of the resorts there won’t allow tenting. We were thankful to Johan’s Dive Shop— they let us pitched our tent inside their compound, however at the end of the day, we just decided to stay at Ate Clarita’s house, it was a #CoushSurfing experience again. As a payback, we just gave P500/8 pax for letting us stay and use their comfort room.

Rooms & Accommodations range from 300-up. Rooms that aren’t in the beach front costs lower than in those are, yet they are just a few meters away from the shoreline. Just bring your essentials to the front beach and you can just stay anywhere in the island. 

For foods, there are carinderias / hawker in the island. All you need to do is just to stroll—not in the front beach.

Here are few of the things that I enjoyed in Malapascua even though I am not a diver nor a swimmer.

Island Hopping: There are a lot of boat owners who will give you a lower price up to 100/pax. In our case, we were 8 and they got 800 + 4 snorkeling gears which costs 200php, that’s 1000. There will be people who will be meeting you and will give you prices of their island hopping… Don’t be in a rush, look for a better deal. You can always haggle.

Kalanggaman Island is just an hour away from the island, Marapipi & Sembawan are almost two-hours away from there. So you have a lot of options if you really want to go to these islands.

You can still enjoy the beach, enjoy the sunset, go snorkeling, stand-up-paddle, island hopping, spend some time with the locals and stroll around the island.