The small island Malapascua is located about seven kilometers north-east of Cebu and about 25 kilometers west of Leyte, home to a traditional fishing community of around 3500 people. Surrounded by white sandy beaches, broken up by small rocky outcrops. Tourism is still new in Malapascua. The island has a handful of resorts and a couple of dive operators, but for the locals life is much as it always was. Malapascua Island is also known as Logon Island, named after Barangay Logon, the main village in the southern part of the island.
Malapascua Island is just over 2.5 kilometers long and about one kilometer wide. It takes about 3 hours to walk around the island. You will meet friendly fishing villages and lonely, idyllically situated coves. The locals are interested to meet foreigners and like to find out your name and were you come from. The island is also suitable for families and young children. Not just the shape of this small island reminds of the island of Boracay, also everything else can easily keep up. In fact, on Malapascua Island, everything is somewhat smaller, but the mix is right. That is why Philippinos have begun to call Malapascua Island the “little Boracay”.A fantastic view can be seen from the lighthouse northwest of the island near Guimbitayan.
Getting to Malapascua
The trip from Cebu City to Daan Bantayan/ Maya (the jump-off point), would normally take between 4 to 4.5 hours by bus. A 4-hour trip, it is long enough for a supposedly leisurely travel so you should take the airconditioned bus, Ceres Tours, to relax a bit while in transit. Maya is some 145 kilometers away from the city via narrow and winding road passing through scenic landscapes along the way.
During the bus ride one will pass Mandaue City and Consolacion
The bus ride is far from smooth over a winding and narrow road all the way to Bogo, a progressive town which is more like a city itself. The bus will reach Bogo about 2,5 hours later and then after a 15 minute stop for unloading passengers will go to the last leg of the journey. The towns of Medellin and Daan Bantayan are located in a peninsula connected to Bogo only by a narrow isthmus. The bus had to slow down as we entered the peninsular towns as the road was surprisingly unpaved
About 4-4,5 hours after leaving one will reach Maya wharf and then continue the journey to the island, this time by boat. Malapascua Island is a 30-minute boatride across a shallow 8-kilometer channel from Maya.
About the Author: WayPH
