Cebu

Had my first vacation this last weekend, 4 day weekend for the end of Ramadan. Even though 98% of the country is Catholic...I believe the reason for this is to appease the muslim population located in the Mindanao region. Hey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me, Philippines.

My roommate had a free ticket to Cebu with his mom and Aunt, so I decided to tag along. Cebu is an island in the Visayas region in the Philippines, and I convinced them to come with me to a town called Moalboal because it is supposed to have fantastic Diving. And it does. Wall dives, reef dives, spectacular diversity of coral and wildlife, including sea turtles, dolphins, and, most famously, the Lion fish, which is pretty badass. I went on 4 dives, two full mornings, for a total cost of $100. Which, interestingly enough, I still haven’t paid for. They told me I could pay for the dives altogether at the end with a credit card, so I spent all my cash on Tanduay rum (obvi). Then when it came time to pay, their line for the credit card machine was down and they told me there was no way to enter the number manually over the phone.

There was also no functioning ATM for miles, although during my search I did discover an Automatic Tubig Machine (Tubig is the Tagalog word for Water). Their proposed solution was for me to go to an HSBC branch in Manila with their account number and deposit money that way. Ahh the developing world. No paperwork, just trust that I will do the right thing.

Anyways, this town is awesome, totally in the middle of nowhere, dirt road with small resorts along the beach. I could wander out of my guest house in the morning, cross the road, and be at the dive shop. The second morning it was just me and the dive master, Dodo, living the dream.

“I’d like to dive with some sea turtles, Dodo, where should we go?”

“Oh, Tongo Point, its beautiful and many sea turtles live there.”

“Word.”

It was beautiful weather the entire weekend, and we managed to avoid the typhoon that passed by Manila over the past few days. Actually a good deal more powerful that the one that just hit the east coast of the US. And I bet none of you Americans even knew about it. How does that make you feel? Just kidding, I hope everyone on the east coast is alright.

On the 3rd day Jeff and I rented motobikes and drove about 8 kilometers to Kawassan falls. It wasn’t quite the serene waterfall I had been anticipating, as the area was packed with filipino tourists. But the falls really were beautiful, with turquoise blue water and numerous pools deep enough for swimming.