Travel

  Itinerary Day 0. Nov 16. Thursday. United Airlines flight to Manila departing SFO at 11:35pm. Day 1. Nov 18. Saturday. Arrive at Manila, fly to El Nido. Checked in at the Sea Cocoon Hotel (4 nights) Day 2. Nov 19. Sunday. Island Hopping Tour A Day 3. Nov 20. Monday.  Island Hopping Tour C Day 4. Nov 21. Tuesday.  Island Hopping Tour B  Day 5. Nov 22. Wednesday.  Fly to Bohol. Visited tarsiers, Chocolate Hills ATV tour, Loay fireflies. Checked in at the Alona Austria Resort (2 nights) Day  6.  Nov 23. Thursday. Island Hopping Tour to Balicasag. Day  7.  Nov 24. Friday. Ferry to Cebu. Private transfer to Moalboal. Checked in at the Sambag Hide-away Hotel (3 nights). Day  8.  Nov 25. Saturday. Oslob for whale shark watching. Moalboal snorkeling to see sardines. Day  9.  Nov 26. Sunday. Snorkel and relax at hotel beach. Day  10.  Nov 27. Monday. Visited Simala, Cebu city sites, Sirao garden. Checked ...

Claire wanted to skip breakfast, so we just went to the airport at 9am. It was a short 10 min drive from the Maayo Hotel to Cebu airport. Then Claire wanted to eat food at the airport. I should have forced her to eat breakfast buffet at the hotel. Our flight was Eva Airline. Our first leg was to fly to Taipei at 12:30pm. We were served lunch during the flight. We arrived Taipei at 3:30pm. Then we found some restaurants and got a boba milk tea, and some food, paid with credit card. The food and boba were really good. Our second leg was to fly to San Francisco at 7:30pm. All went well. The food was good on the airplane, reminding us why we always like Eva more than United. We arrived at 3:30pm and Ethan picked us up from the airport.

After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel. Since we skipped attractions like Sumilon and did not eat at nicer restaurants these days, I had enough cash to pay the hotel balance (~ 4200 PHP) and did not need to use Paypal. We met the driver Danny at 8:30am and head towards Cebu. Simala This a giant catholic church. We took some pictures from outside. There were hundreds of people waiting in line to go inside to kiss the statue of "Mama Mary". Cebu We visited Magellan's cross,  Basílica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu Basilica. Then we walked and ate at a McDonald's.  Sirao Gardens There were two gardens here. One garden was called the original one, it is further from the parking area with 140 PHP per person entrance fee. It has many spots for photos. It was not the best flower season. We saw some trees called Mickey Mouse plant, they had yellow fruits resembling Mickey Mouse.  The other garden was called Sirao Pictorial Garden, is closer to the parking area with 70 PH...

We spent the whole day either doing screen time in the room or snorkeling in the ocean. Claire practiced dive down to take photos. Now she is a master of taking underwater videos and photos.

Whale Sharks  We met the driver at 4:30am to go to Oslob to see whale sharks. We arrived at 6:10am and there was already a line. At the safety briefing, they said no sun screen, so we did not apply sun screen. We got our ticket and the number showed that there were more than 200 people ahead of us.  We ended up waiting for three hours before our number was called. The waiting area has only minimum facility: there were chairs, a bathroom with no hand washing place, and a rinse area. There were lots of street vendors, so we bought some food to eat.  When our number was called, we went to an area to put on a life vest, then went on a paddle boat. There were about 10 people on each boat and the boatman paddle for about five minutes to an area where the whale sharks were. There were like 6 or 10 whale sharks around. Each was surrounded by tourists. There were staff on kayaks feeding the whale sharks so that they swim around on a path near the tourists.  The time we s...

Ferry I had booked the 10:40am Oceanjet ferry from Tagbilaran to Cebu. Our driver picked us up from the hotel at 9:15am and we reached the Tagbilaran ferry at 10am. We then paid the 30 PHP per person entrance fee and 100 PHP per luggage check in fee. Then we waited there for our boat to arrive. There were a few restaurants in the waiting area, so we bought some food to eat. I got some ground pork on rice for only 120 PHP ($2.5). Our boat arrived on time. I bought the cheaper tourist-class ticket. The big cabin had AC. They played Clifford the Big Dog on the big monitor. It was a smooth 2-hr ride. Once we arrived, we waited next to the boat for our luggage to be unloaded. Once we got the luggage, we walked out and found the driver that I had previously arranged.  Hotel It was a 3.5 hour drive to our hotel, Sambag Hideaway Bungalows in Moalboal. Here are the pros and cons of this hotel. Pros Location. It is located at a quiet location off the noisy beach center. Hotel has a private b...

We got up and met Arniel at 6am. He took us on a motorcycle to the loading area to save us 15 minutes of walk. We then hopped on a boat and started our tour.  Dolphins We first went to see spinner dolphins. There were a dozen of them jumping along the boats.   Balicasag Island We then arrived at Balicasag Island. Our boat captain went to arrange for us the snorkel tour and fins rental. We waited at a restaurant and pre-ordered some food so that we could eat after the snorkel trip.  Then a tour guide from the island came and took us on a snorkel tour. Following his advice, we bought two packs of crackers from a lady who turned out to be his mom. He then took us on a kayak and paddled to the other side of the island to see turtles. He explained that the turtles were on this end of the island whereas the fishes were on the other end and that we would start here so that we would swim following the current.   The water was crystal clear. We saw five turtles alon...