Malapascau

Day 149 - 151.

We would be saying goodbye to Jon, Howard and Soph for a few days as we headed to Malapascua and they ventured South.

We boarded our private boat (majority funded by a lovely south Korean family) and thus avoided a day of public transport and got a bargain 2 hour private boat across the straight to Malapascua - an island a 100th the size of the already tiny island we had just come from! And what a way to travel it was, this certainly beats the night buses of India, only 8am and the sun is easily late 20s°, perfect for a boat cruise.

Malapascua was certainly disconnected, with no roads, atms or general services- doctors police etc it was a pretty basic style of living. We headed out to discover the island on foot, traversing the maze of local villages, countless cockrels on every corner and the happiest children we are yet to come across - just don't throw sand in their face, they do not like that, not one bit.

After sourcing limbster a snorkel and mask (for the second time might I add, just for the bants) we aimed to reach every bay on the island and make the most of our new equipment, and we did just that. Leapfrogging from beautiful beach to beautiful beach exploring the corals wherever possible and avoiding those pesky thresher sharks, or at least some of us where...

Real test of the old swimming skills here, both noted serious improvements required to diving skills / breath holding ability, my swimming could use a small upgrade in performance also. All in good time.

Slight improvement in food variety here also, able to source vegetable kebabs and thus provide some relief to a near starving limbster. Corn onion and more bloody corn was on the menu as a result, that was when she could stomach it mind, something to do with a dog some missing face and a set of pertruding teeth from memory.

It's not all fair as we did find some cracking pesto bread and a Greek salad at our favourite snorkelling spot, golden rule being it's just never the same twice but a welcome treat nonetheless.

To escape the crowds, or the few other people on this island we went local style and hired an old school paddle boat. It could have been a result of us miscontruing the advert for paddle boards but hey we decided to embrace it regardless. We spent the hour enjoying the sun go down over a San Miguel whilst Limbster made every attempt to capsize us throughout, fortunately to no avail!

P.s always keep an old boarding pass, you never know when you might need one.Read more