Bahala Na

To celebrate New Years, along with a couple of my volunteer friends, I took advantage of the few days off from work to go to Cebu. Cebu is another island in the Visayas east of Panay, and Cebu City is the second biggest city in the Philippines and by far the biggest one in the Visayas. Cebu is famous for being the location of the murder of Ferdinand Magellan by Lapu Lapu, a national hero. Cebuano, the language spoken on Cebu and some of its neighboring islands, is often referred to as “Visayan,” an annoyance to people here around Panay who speak Hiligynon (aka Illongo) and live in the Visayas region. The only thing worse that asking someone from Panay if they speak “Visayan” (and referring to Cebuano) is asking anyone from the Visayas if they speak “Filipino.” “Filipino” is basically Tagolog, the official language of the Philippines that is spoken around Manila. In terms of population, there are many more whose native language is Cebuano, but because power is centered around Manila, Tagolog is what became the official language. Snooty Tagolog speakers don’t like speaking “Visayan” but prefer to speak only “true Filipino.”

Stef and I flew from Guimaras to Cebu, where we went straight to the bus terminal and took the 3-hour bus trip to Moalboal, a small area on the southeast coast of Cebu Island that is a popular dive spot. Moalboal is a very small strip of hotels, bars, restaurants, and dive shops. Most of the white sand beach is gone, thanks to over-development along the shoreline stopping the beach from recover after a couple big hurricanes. But, the coral reef is well managed and very beautiful. Most the people are tourists from Europe, but it’s not even close to the level of Boracay. From the farthest south hotel to the farthest north restaurant is no more than half a mile away. 

After some minor flight delays, we arrived in Moalboal at about 7PM, a little later than we had hoped. When we arrived to the hotel for which Stef had make reservations, we were told that they were completely booked. Good thing we had reservations! Well, not according to them. Even though we got up Stef’s email, the secretary had never put us on the books, and therefore there was nowhere for us to stay. The secretary called a few other hotels with no luck. But bahala na! It ended up working out because we ended up finding a cheaper hotel, and the dive shop connected to that resort wasn't even going to the marine reserve for which Moalboal is famous. When we showed up to another resort, the lady at the front desk said that there was a room available, but she apologized because the room lacked aircon and warm water. She seemed surprised when we said that that's exactly what we were looking for! At ~$7.50 per person per night, we were just happy to have sheets on the bed and a seat on the toilet!

After settling into our room, we still had to find a dive shop for the next morning. So we wandered around Moalboal, checking out the dive shops and restaurant options. We found one dive shop that was going to Pescador Island, the dive site we wanted to go to, so we were in luck. The dive instructor, Gary, told us that the boat would leave at 9AM. We said perfect, we’ll be there at 8. “I’ll still be in bed then,” he laughed. He told us 8:30 instead.

After a great dinner we went to one of the bars, where we met an Illongo speaker who was very happy to chat with us in her local language while trapped in Cebuano-speaking land. She bought Stef and I a few more "Ning Nings” than we needed (which we discovered were just Tanduay and Baileys on the rocks), and then we headed to bed.

The next morning, we walked past the dive shop at about 8:00AM, which appeared to be closed, and went to get some toast next door as planned. When we returned at 8:25, we found Gary. His laid-back Bahala Na attitude was no more. “The boat is gone,” he said. We can see it right there, we replied. “Well it’s leaving now. I told you to be here at 8:00. Now it’s 8:30.” While we were both pretty positive that he claimed he’d still be sleeping at 8:00, and we were pretty disappointed, bahala na! Stef and I walked furiously through Moalboal, something the locals weren't used to seeing, and found another dive shop that wasn’t leaving til 9:00. It worked out again in our favor, because we got to do two dives, including one to Pescador Island, so we were very happy about that. The boat was a mix of European and Japanese SCUBA divers, and a couple Filipino families who came on the boat to go snorkeling. The dives were great. Our max depth at Pescador Island was about 90 feet (very deep for the reefs in the Philippines) and the corals were in good condition with lots of fish. I was also impressed by the second dive, which was closer to the shore. The coolest things were saw were seahorses, many sea turtles, and an octopus. 

After our dives, we had some lunch and worked our way back to Cebu to meet up with Stacey, Hannah, Rob, Morgan and Jon. Our hostel, Kukoo’s Nest, was a little subpar, even with the bar already set pretty low. We were given padlocks to lock the door (since none of them close), had 1 small fan for a room of 4 people, weren’t given towels or top sheets, and the bathrooms clearly hadn’t been cleaned since I arrived to the Philippines. We knew we were somewhere special when the lady at the front desk came up and knocked on our door at about 7:00PM before we were heading out. She asked if we could pay for the room, since she had no money to have the drains fixed. 

While catching up with the volunteers and having some dinner at an Indian restaurant (my first one since getting to country), a volunteer friend we met in Cebu named Jon told us that down in Oslob he had gone snorkeling with whale sharks. Whale sharks are the biggest types of sharks and are the biggest fish in the ocean. They are extremely docile though and like many whales eat only krill. Swimming with whale sharks is something I’d wanted to do ever since first learning about them at the Island School back in 2004 and hearing the story of the founder’s children who spent the afternoon swimming with one that was passing by the island. We had heard about the whale sharks from some other volunteers and some of the dive shops in Moalboal, but without Jon’s tips we would have never made it. In particular, we would have to get there early

It was still dark when Stef and I took to the street at 4:00AM on December 31 to go to the bus terminal, where we got on the bus heading southeast. After about 3 hours, we arrived in Oslob. It seemed like we were out of luck after driving through Oslob for almost 20 minutes, but all of a sudden we saw a little sign, and our conductor, who had been napping just a minute earlier, told us that this was the spot. Once we got to the shore, we were surprised to see how organized the operation was. We were told that the whale sharks were still out there, no more than 50 yards from the shoreline, and Stef and I could rent fins and swim out there ourselves, if we were willing to pay the 300 peso fee (less than $10). We happily obliged.

Going out there was pretty incredible. They are so huge animals, definitely the biggest I’ve ever seen in the water. The fisherfolk were feeding them at the surface, in order to keep them around for the tourists, so while it would have been cooler to just spot on, I was still very satisfied with our experience. Watching them feed and swim was incredible. While obviously I know they are sharks, I was still expecting them to look more like whales. But between their tails and their square heads – they definitely looked like sharks. Watching one turn away from his food and swim in my direction definitely got my heart pumping. They were thankfully much more interested in the food than their swimming companions. There were about 4-5 in total.

 

After a delicious burger at TGIFriday’s, which can only be found in Cebu and Manila, and a desperately needed afternoon nap, it was time for New Years Eve. We started out at a really nice restaurant called the Tinder Box. A few hours later, we went to meet some friends at a night club nearby. We were confused to see that it didn’t open until 1AM. Bahala Na. Following Jon’s lead, we audibled and went to a bar that overlooked the city. We really lucked out that the club was closed, because this place had the most incredible view overlooking the city. At midnight, fireworks were everywhere. Rules and regulations here in the Philippines are generally not very tight, especially compared to the U.S. and especially with things like fireworks, so it was quite spectacle. There were a couple really nice, big shows but in general there’d just be smaller ones popping up all over the city. My friends who were celebrating in Iloilo and Manila said that it sounded like a war zone on the ground. That was exactly what I had been thinking: the city looked like it was under siege rather than celebrating New Years Eve. Later, an American friend told me that this year 1,500 fingers were lost due to fireworks explosions in the Philippines and nearly 15 were swallowed. Somehow, I believe it. 

Afterwards, we went to a bar where we met a Persian British traveler and her German Filipino husband. They took us a night club, which we were shocked had a 500 peso admission fee. While ~$15 for New Years might not sound like much, for us it was unheard of. We went to two more places (the second one was simply closed), and ended up finding one that was 100 pesos with a free drink. I’m glad that Stacey D got me and Hannah to rally at 3:30AM, because while I had been sleeping in the cab, the dance club was a great time, and we returned back to our hostel right just before the sunrise. The next morning, we grabbed some New Years brunch at Mickey D’s. What better to start the new years then waking up to them a pair of Golden Arches in the horizon! 

Pescador Island, the most famous dive site in Moalboal.

Whale sharks! In Oslob, Cebu.

Stef and I never really figured out the best way to get us in the picture with the whale shark. Sadly the camera died shortly after.

See how big they are compared to the swimmer on the right. And these were little guys!

A throwback picture of the Island School campus. On the faculty dorm on the right, you can see the whale shark mural. Swimming with whale sharks is something I've wanted to do ever since.

At the Tinder Box with Rob and Morgan.

And Stef, Jon and Jon's girlfriend.

The Guimaras volunteers ready for the countdown.

Stacey and Hannah found these for 5 pesos lang!

Happy New Years!

Me, Hannah and Esai in the back of our new friend's jeep. We were very lucky, since there were no vehicles from the bar at the top of the hill down to the rest of the city. 

At our next stop.

Our last stop of the evening. I promise Stacey was still awake.