Bantyan & Malapascua Island

We arrived in Bantayan, Santa Fe after a long bus and boat journey and it was HOT. For the first time during our travels we didn't have anywhere pre booked to stay and this will be the last time we make that mistake. We got a trike with a man who looked like a Bond villain, he only had one eye and red painted finger nails. I didn't really trust him showing us different hotels, we gave him the name of one we were considering and he took us to a random housing area and stated that was the location. A few places we tried were fully booked so in a panic we picked up some wifi and booked a place, he wasn't happy about going there wanting us to take his recommendations instead. Traveling around looking at different places in the heat is not for me and the place seemed cleaned and central. We headed out in Santa Fe, our hotel was based just a couple of minutes from the main strip with all the bars and restaurants. We went to a place called Cafe Del Marre and had delicious fresh pasta. Whilst sitting there we experienced 2 power cuts, island life at its best!

The next day we hired a scooter from the hotel and drove up the coast to Bantayan to use the only cash machine on the island 😱 we stopped at a couple of beach spots on the way back for food and drinks. The Philippines has amazing beaches, soft white sand and crystal clear waters make it an absolute treat to swim in. Bantayan is very chilled and we couldn't find any accommodation we really loved so decided to move on to Malapascua island the next day by boat.

We decided to hire a boat to get to Malapascua instead of the public boat - bus - boat option. The bangka was supposed to take 2 hours but it was more like 4. We stayed at thresher cove dive resort in a little cabin on the beach 😍 it wasn't flash by any stretch of the imagination but it was still nice to wake up to sunrise over the sea. The first night a little dog came to get ready on the balcony with me which obviously had my sold. Malapascua is huge for diving with thresher sharks, you can do the dive as part of an advanced open water course. We attempted to tell a little white lie to the dive shop about Bailey having his PADI but got rumbled ☹️ Malapascua has some nice little beach restaurants which we visited each evening, no real party scene maybe because everyone has to get up at 4am to dive with the sharks 🦈 Bailey started doing part of his PADI and we completed another dive together.Read more