We choose Hotel Elizabeth Cebu bcos it is located centrally and has a family room. We had the Executive Suite, which comes with a living room and kitchenette. The hotel squeezed an extra single bed in the room, beside the double bed and also one in the living room. We slept comfortably.
The hotel is aged but all we needed were beds and proper showers and the room served both. In fact, it came with 2 toilets and that was much appreciated.
I only realised that I have not made the activities reservation a day before the flight. I did lots of browsing and reading but forgot to book them. We had wanted to do island hopping and saw one on Klook but was no longer available at such short notice. I managed to book a similar tour on Cebu Tour website. It was in fact slightly cheaper than Klook.
CT sent me an email, informing that the driver (and car plate) will be picking us at 7am. That meant waking up at 5ish, so that we can hit bfast when the restaurant starts serving at 6am.
Mochi was well looked after. JK sent us pictures showing Mochi happily chilling. No humans, so peaceful.
I had expected other people in the pick up transport but we were the only ones. The driver sent us back to Mactan. I had intentionally picked islands near to Mactan, so that we didn’t have to travel too far by car. Then we realised that we were at somewhere nearby for the SUP. Should have just stayed in Mactan for the night.
We arrived at some harbour/ pier and had to pay some PHP 40 environmental tax. Then we were brought to some part of the pier/ port where 2 boats were waiting. We had to clamber onto the 1st one to reach our boat. We were again pleasantly surprised that we were on a private tour! The boat took off immediately.
Bcos we were the only ones on the boat and their consideration of safety probably means good so long as nobody goes overboard, we were allowed anywhere on the boat.
See, they didn’t even insist on life vest.
I duno how long the boat sailed before we reached the 1st snorkelling spot. Again, it was stretches of waters that was pretty shallow at times that goes on forever. I think we were near the Gilutungan island, bcos that is what the activity itinerary says. We were not the only boat and every boat has only a few passengers. The cost of operating one of these boats must be quite reasonable.
The 1st snorkelling spot was in some area far away from any land. We were told that the water was about 5m deep and were pointed to the nearby areas where there were more fishes. We were well prepared with dry bag, snorkelling masks (newly purchased from Decathlon), protective bag for the phone and sunblock. Very important in sunny Cebu.
We geared up and hit the water. I was the last one and the water was cold. I quickly swam to where the rest were and was overly excited and panicky and took a while to calm down. I didn’t particularly like snorkelling when I was younger. I don’t mind the fishes if I am watching them from a distant but don’t appreciate if they invade into my personal space. Hoho. My coping mechanism is the ostrich style - I put my head above water when the fishes come too near. See no evil.
Nana had the phone and busied herself taking videos.
Ya, those little things were the fishes. Ya, not fantastic clarity but Bali and Phuket alike standards. Sadly, most (or all) of the corals were dead.
We took a little rest before Nana and I went down again. I realised that my tolerance for fishes has increased tremendously. I later found out that Zaky didn’t like fishes too, especially if they are too near to him. He is obviously my son. Lol. I was very comforted when he was holding my hand in the beginning; I probably comforted him too. Thereafter, I clung on to Nana’s life vest for comfort bcos she preferred to have her hands to swim and take videos.
At some point, there were people from nearby island who tried to sell us expensive stuff - 1st, expensive coconuts and drinks, like PHP 250 each (about S$6 each) then some expensive shellfish that they claimed would be grilled later on. These are all alive and moving.
We spent PHP600 on these few urchins and shellfish. Not that we particularly like seafood (except Daddy Lim) but more to help the “fisherman” trade. The kids were keen to try the sea urchins too. I asked to keep the spider shell thereafter. So pretty.
We moved off to the 2nd spot, which was some little island. That should be Nalusuan. On the way to the island, we saw so many starfishes and sea urchins on the shallow seabed. We joked that we should have caught our own urchins.
When we were docking, one of the crews picked up a starfish. Hard, hard de.
We let it back into the waters shortly. I think no starfish was harmed.
The island was really tiny and I think it has a hotel on it. We generally saw a lot of Koreans and Japaneses in Cebu. One of our guides said that the Koreans easily stayed for 2 weeks to 1 month for vacation and at the same time for their kids to learn English. Really? Learn English in Philippines? But it is true that there were so many more Asian tourists as compared to the ang mos.
Shortly after we got off, the crew brought us to the other side of the island. He said that it was another snorkelling spot and there were more fishes. He wasn’t lying. We already saw the many fishes while walking to the spot. The water was so clear.
We spent a much longer time snorkelling here. Zaky didn’t like it; there were too many fishes, too big and too near to him. I like it. Hoho. It was mainly Nana and I. I spent a lot of time clinging onto her life vest to feel safe but after a while, I got much braver, such that I was able to snorkel on my own. I was in the waters for a long time on my own. I like the fishes so much. It was so clear, like watching TV. Zaky said that it is exactly what he watched when he goes to the dentist. Hoho. There were also so many different species of fishes, some of them with really nice colours and patterns while others just look gong gong. Lol. I just stayed away when somebody came into the waters with fish feeds. It was pleasant to watch from a distant but I wouldn’t want so many fishes swimming around me.
Daddy Lim and the kids got bored and cold and the spot got crowded and we left. We went back onto the boat and decided to start lunch at 11ish. Lunch was provided, as well as Nana’s beloved bananas. Her bucket list for Cebu was to eat their delicious looking bananas. Checked!
We had been eyeing the food since we boarded in the morning. The 3 shells were bbqed and the urchins were left what they were. Then the boatman brought the urchins to the back of the ship and came back with the top off. The “meat” was tiny. I had uni before but cannot remember how it taste. Daddy Lim and the kids said that it was tasteless, just salty. I think that is from the seawater. Haha. We couldn’t get the “meat” out of the spider shell and asked the boatman for help, we heard them banging away and the meat (and shell) never came back.
There was nothing much in the last island - Caohagan. Many boats were parked nearby and the boats with Filipinos were very happening, from loud music to dancing and also karaoke. We waddled in the ankle high waters to the shore. People were having lunch and beer. We got a PHP50 ice cream that tasted like bland shaved ice and hope that we wouldn’t end with a tummy upset.
We didn’t stay long and decided to head back to the boat bcos there was barely any unoccupied shade available. The sun was scorching hot. The beach was nothing to shout about too though the kids managed to find a few tiny seashells to add to their collection. With that, we headed back to the pier/ port. This time, Zaky, Nana and I sat at the front of the boat, enjoying the sights and breeze.
I also dozed off a couple of times bcos it was so comfortable. Even though we were baking in the sun, it was more comfortable than hot.
The driver was waiting for us when we arrived. The ride back to the hotel took about 45 mins and it was still early. We decided to do some mall crawling at a mall that was about 5 mins walk away.
We didn’t do much shopping, bcos I remember that we didn’t have much luggage space. The kids decided on a massage. We paid PHP500 each for a Swedish massage that is supposed to be relaxing but the kids came out, saying that it was painful but still relaxing.
The plan was to tabao Lechon for dinner. That was my bucket list food for Cebu. Lechon is supposed to be some grilled pork (or chicken?). We missed something similar in Bali and promised ourselves to try that in Cebu. We found a famous House of Lechon 3 mins walk away. There were a big crowd waiting and we were told that the Lechon was sold out for the day. It was only 6pm. There were other food but we didn’t want to squeeze with the crowd. Not giving up, I ordered grab delivery for Lechon and we were waiting hopefully but eventually had to cancel the order bcos the delivery got delayed 3 times without promise of our Lechon delivery.
While waiting, I headed to the gym. It was decently sized.
The only problem is that the treadmill is so well used that the speed button (except for 12km/h) were all spoilt. So it is either to go at 1km/h or 12km/h speed. Ya, the latter is too damn fast and I might just fly off the treadmill. I was lucky to get the 8km/h speed button to work and had to stick to that. Then I decided to stop at 2km, and go tabao dinner with Daddy Lim.
We found a nice looking restaurant nearby and tabaoed pasta for dinner.
The restaurant has a cool advertisement with their number attached. I want a unicorn too!
With a full tummy and stuff packed for tomorrow’s activity, we turned in to bed. We have a long day ahead. Today’s and yday’s activities were both so good and beyond our expectations. The only problem was that Nana was sunburnt. Remember that she was happily sitting at the front of the boat and baking? Well, she covered her ugly tanned line from canoeing but was shiny red like the Lechon. Hoho.
This was already 1 day after and Nana has a cute kitten on her lap, leaving a cute paw print.
We have high hopes for the next day’s activities.
Good night!
Mummy Lim
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