Me and my friends were looking for an alternative vacation spot to spend the holiday (labor day) and since the whole workforce population in the Philippines attended the annual Laboracay event, the island of Boracay is out of the picture.

Cebu
Mode of transportation we used: Taxi, Bus

Upon arrival, we immediately took a Ceres Bus going to Oslob. There are a few cheap breakfast (carinderia) places in the bus terminal ranging from 35-100 pesos depending on how famished and picky you are.


Oslob
Mode of transportation we used: Habal-Habal (maximum of two people costing 150 pesos per head or lower otherwise you're being ripped off)

After roughly three hours on the road, we have reached Oslob and checked-in a humble resort: Lagunde - since our room is one tumble away from the beach, we settled down and swam to kill sometime. The beach area was peachy keen but a beach is a beach. ;)

Lunch was served in the hotel. It was so-so but there are no restaurants or better food places nearby so this would do. While ordering meals, we have also arranged with the resort people habal-habal services to take us to Tumalog Falls.

Tumalog Falls has an entrance fee of 50 pesos per creature. You can opt to take another habal-habal service going down and back up or you can walk. I strongly suggest walking.
Saves you money, gives you a good 10-minute cardio to and from, and dwindles the time you are awkwardly holding a stranger on the waist while breathing on his nape as he drives his motorbike to the destination. *shivers*

The falls will take a good 30 or so minutes of your time both from swimming and picture taking.
Unless you wish to take your time and meditate while a torrent of freezing water continuously falls on your head.
Note: Wear aqua shoes or slippers when going in the water. The rocks are sharp enough to skin your feet inside out.
Note 2: Mind your belongings. There are no lockers available.

We then proceeded our way back to resort with a stopover in the nearest town to buy dinner and eat along the beach-side of the heritage area.
Ask the locals, they all know where the heritage beach side is.

After dinner, we got back to the resort to have a little drink and then slept before 11pm to prepare for tomorrow's adventure.


Day 2:

Oslob
Mode of transportation we used: Habal-habal, Bus

Whaleshark watching and swimming.
Note: Be there early because this event is only until 1130am.
Note 2: Do not wear sunblock because the whales love the taste of sunblock and will swallow you alive. Kidding. The sunblock is harmful to the whales and the officials in the tour destination will ask you to take it off anyway.

After the whaleshark watching, a quick breakfast, check-out and off to our next destination. Since our resort is right in-front of the national highway, it was convenient to catch a Ceres bus bound for Bato.

Bato
Mode of transportation we used: Bus

There's nothing much to do apart from waiting at the bus stop for the next Moalboal bound ride and having a snack from the small stalls. We took the ordinary bus (not airconditioned) to enjoy the fresh beach-side breeze. Big mistake. Unless you're looking for some exfoliation from road dust and aroma therapy from the sweaty people in the bus, don't take the ordinary.

Moalboal
Mode of transportation we used: Tricycle

From the town center, we took a tricycle costing 40 php/creature (paid 200 pesos because the tricycle can accomodate 6)  going to our next resort: Sea Turtle House  or as locals say, "See Torr-tol". We got here around lunch time so we ordered food from the resort's kitchen - which was overpriced in my opinion (300 pesos in average per meal) for a satisfactory quality.
Alternatively, you can walk going to white beach and look for cheaper options.
The location in general is very good for scuba diving, boat tours, snorkeling, and swimming.
Note: Please do not bag the starfishes happily chilling underwater. Put them back nicely after a photo. Do not bag or throw them like a boomerang. How would you feel if a giant hand suddenly appears from the sky- picks you up and throws you like a boomerang leaving you all disoriented and confused? (If not dead)

We have also arranged a canyoning trip - for 1500 pesos per head, we paid for the tricycle to and from Badian canyoning site, and the payment for the canyoning itself. There is an altenative package worth 3500 because it includes food (obviously this is a total rip-off a lunch worth 2000 PHP per head is ridiculous). There are other companies offering the canyoning experience but anything above 1500 is a rip-off in my opinion. [More of the details on this on Day 3]

After lunch, we went by the shore area in front of the resort and walked the shortcut going to White Beach where we spent the whole afternoon swimming. We had dinner in one of the restaurants available in the vicinity.
Note: Wear aquashoes or slippers with straps, the shoreline from Sea Turtle to White Beach is slippery and attacking the rocky-mossy floor is not the latest fad.
Note 2: If you're staying at Sea Turtle, leave white beach before 7pm otherwise high-tide will happen and the "shortcut shoreline" route will disappear; forcing you to take a detour in a dark dark place conducive for rape, murder, and robbery. Okay... I made it sound too grim but the detour is long and dark. This happened to us.

The day ended when we got back in the resort because of the tiring trip and we also needed to prepare for tomorrow's activity; one of the highlights of this trip.


Day 3:

Moalboal

A tricycle picked us up going to Badian which took 40-50 minutes.
We stopped by the town center of Oslob to have breakfast.
Note: Take a heavy breakfast because the canyoning experience is tiring.
Note 2: You can buy bread and a small bottled water also. Just for snack purposes. Please don't buy grocery supplies enough to feed a family for weeks.


Badian

We started 9am.

Our canyoning experience was arranged the day before so we were dropped at the house (site) already. But if you are planning to go there on the day itself, go to Badian Church (near the Kawasan Falls entrance) and ask the locals where the JoePro canyoning house is located. Unfortunately, they do not have a website.

Canyoning with my awesome friends

Note: Wear shoes that can walk on rocky grounds and can be used for swimming as well. If you don't have one, rent a pair at the JoePro starting point. In our case, the rental fee was included in the 1500 per head charge. Don't be surprised if it's wet and smelly, of course other people used it already. You've got no one to blame but yourself for not having awesome shoes. Haha
Note 2: You will be given 2 options, upstream or downstream. Do the downstream one, it's fun and more challenging. Ironically. (Because of the jumping off cliffs and climbing and more jumping) 
Note 3: Bring a GoPro or action camera and a bottled water. You can also rent one at the JoePro site.
Note 4: Please dispose your trash in the right place, there will be "center" at the end of the trip and it wouldn't hurt to hold your garbage until then.

The whole experience was worth every penny and sweat. It can last 3 - 5 hours depending on you and your friends' speed to walk, climb, and muster enough courage to jump off ledges. It is advisable to verbally harass a friend who signed up for the trip but delays everything because he's scared - he will eventually do it anyway. Haha. After the canyoning, we dropped by a restaurant along the way for lunch before heading back to the resort.

We got back to Sea Turtle Resort, Moalboal and went sea turtle and fish spotting.
Note: Watch out for sea urchins. Be careful where you land your feet.
You may not see them. But they can see you.

The day ended with a good drink, and a game of King's Cup with friends.



Day 4:


Moalboal
Mode of transportation we used: Tricycle, Van (UV Express)

Had another overpriced early breakfast at the resort (no choice) and then checked out early to head back to Cebu. From the town of Moalboal, we took a UV Express going to Carcar which more or less will take an hour.


Carcar
Mode of transportation we used: Bus to Cebu

According to people, this city is known to have the best Lechon in the Philippines; so we tried it out. Apart from the searing sun, the traffic (which according to locals never disappeared) the lechon delicacy that we bought in the public market tasted the same as the ones in Cebu city. It was difficult to get a bus going to Cebu because the interval took around 20 minutes each and it's usually full. We ended up standing in the bus en-route Cebu city.


Cebu
Mode of transportation we used: Bus, and taxi

Upon reaching Cebu bus station, we took a 5-10 minute cab and checked-in at Holiday Spa Hotel, killed the rest of the midday in the gym before deciding to take a nap. The evening was spent lightly- walking around Ayala Mall where we had dinner before going to Distillery, Liv, and Alchology to drink. Yes we jumped from one place to the next because we wanted to get a feel of the crowd. I enjoyed Distillery best just because it's a small place and there are no dresscodes (I hate dressing up to fit in).

The night ended with us treating our tipsy selves with good BBQ at Larsian before taking a cab and heading back to the hotel.


Day 5:

Cebu

This day was spent doing light activities because of the flight to Manila happening in a few hours. We checked-out around 12pm leaving our luggages in the hotel and rushed to Ayala to catch a restaurant screening the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight over lunch. Unfriended was showing in cinema so we watched the movie and then played Uno cards after just to kill time - you can use this day for last minute souvenir and pasalubong buying.. or tindering. *ehem*

It was only around 6pm and our scheduled flight was 2:40am, we had all the time in the world to have a 2-hour pampering in a wholesome spa. I am not being defensive here. Hahaha. (the rate in Cebu is cheaper) and had dinner over a tower of alcohol. Around the time we ended, there wasn't anything in particular we felt like doing so we went to the airport and slept in the waiting area until our flight back to Manila.
Note: You can't go in the airport looking intoxicated.

The whole trip was worth everything and there are still lots of other activities to do in Cebu. We will definitely go back.

Labels: canyoneering, canyoning, Cebu, Oslob, travel, whale shark