http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Philippines , Malapascua Island en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:57:21 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:57:21 UTC Was das Boot von S.Isidro anging lag die Touristeninformation bei einer Auskunft richtig das Boot fuhr erst um halb 9 ab als es voll genug war die andere Auskunft dass das Boot direkt nach Malapascua fahren wuerde war leider falsch. Es fuhr in der Tat nach Maya wie wir erwartet hatten.Es war eine schoene zweistuendige Ueberfahrt 180 P in einer grossen Banca einem jener sehr fotogenen ty http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-339285.html Leaving PalawanFor a while we were wondering whether we were going to make it off Cacnipa Island. With the threat of a typhoon coming through we'd had to make peace with the fact that we may not get back to Puerto Princesa in time to catch our flight to Cebu. There are worse place to get stuck... As it turns out the wind calmed down enough for us to escape paradise and at 6am we were on the banc http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-328507.html As travellers it always seems like a good idea to go back to places where you had a good experience. For the second time in 6 months we have been very disappointed by places we have revisited. We should have known things would not go smoothly when stupid Cebu Pacific wouldnrsquot allow us to book flights online itrsquos website has an inability to accept foreign bank issued credit cards. Whe http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-325944.html Malapascua Island was purportedly an idyllic tropical paradise an unknown little island tucked away just north of the big island of Cebu. Until thresher sharks were discovered on the nearby shoals Malapascua was simply an island of villages. Since then a diving boom has created a string of resorts and dive shops along the white sand beach traditional thatch huts and a tiki bar with a thatch http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-291540.html Apart from my closing comments for the trip the very last entry this will be the last blog entry of the trip in terms of describing our activities and as a result will probably be one of the longest as we crammed in a LOT in just 2 weeks Skip this section if you don't want to hear about our Diving courses and adventures....OPEN WATER 4 day PADI COURSEDespite the Box Jelly Fish Saga in http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-280692.html TropicalCrystalWhiteSunnyParadiseQuietCoconutsHappyPerfect http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-276629.html Oh the Philippines. It has got to be my favorite countriy in all of Asia along with Indonesia. Filipinos are friendly the country relatively light on tourists still and the diving viz and coral life is amazing. Did I mention that the beaches from Boracay to Palawan to Malapascua and Cebu are all blinding white and make heavy use of those palms that take you straight to Tropical Paradise. AND http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-276612.html We have just finished visiting our 13th and final island in the Philippines. There are a total of 7107 islands so we have just 7094 left to visit on another trip Wow I thought we had covered quite a lot in our 5 or so weeks here but we certainly have a lot left for next time...Since I last published a blog we have been to three different places all famous for diving. Consequently we have http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-263780.html We realise that we've been going on about our transport experiences over the last few of our blogs but this is because travelling is all we've seemed to have done over the last couple of weeks.To be brief the non aircon bus got us to the port town of Maya on record time owing to another determined speed demon driver see the videos If anyone is interested the buses leave from 5am onwards from http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-208542.html Noch salzig vom Tauchkurs und nach einer halsbrecherischen Busfahrt ca. 35 Stunden PHP 60 in den Norden Cebu's kamen wir im Staedtchen Maya dem Abfahrtsort nach Malapascua Island an.Wie immer in solchen Orten wenn der komplette Bootsverkehr von einer Handvoll Einheimischer kontrolliert wird wird zunaechts versucht die Touristen ueber den Tisch zu ziehen. Fuer die 45 minuetige Ueberfahrt auf http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-201554.html Malapascua Island is only a 30 minute boat ride from Maya but making that short journey means avoiding a couple of tedious scams which fortunately we'd read about. On arriving at the dock a guy immediately attempted scam number 1 saying there were only 2 other passengers wanting to go to the island and the boat wouldn't leave until there were 24 people on board so maybe we'd like to hire a b http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-189269.html Hard to believe but this Island marked the last stop before Hong Kong and the end of the 13 country journey. It was to be vacation. Not to delve too deep into semantics but i do not consider the rest of the trip a vacation. The journey was at many times difficult its goal was not 'pleasure' or relaxation but rather life experiences personal growth and my inner need to see the world. this last http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-130314.html