A not so early morning start to our first day trip excursion to Kalanggaman Island. We booked the tour through a local guide where he walked us to the boat that would take us and a bunch of folks – in all there were 20 people. Waded a bit in the water in order to walk the plank on to the boat. Once everyone boarded, we were off for the 1.5 hour journey.

Another beautiful day on the island.

After an uneventful boat ride, we made it to the island. It really is a beautiful as all the vidoes, blog and trip reports make it out to be. The boat dropped us off on the calm side of the island where the palm trees were located. Lunch would be provided in a few hours but we were free to do whatever we liked in the free time we had on the island. On the area covered by trees, there were covered huts where people could use to relax, a camp site where people could camp over night, small table setup selling food and drinks and finally, toilets. There was a big covered communal area where tables and chairs were set up for people to sit down and have lunch. Kalanggaman Island is also a dive site that is a wall dive going down pretty deep.

Me wading in. I held right at the point where the floor drops and it took me by surprise.

A shot of the sandbar portion of the island.

What it looks like on the other side. As you can see, one side of the beach is calm while the other side was choppy but still decent enoughh to wade in.

Can I apply to be the FT Instagram model?

Lunch was served around 12.30pm. The boat crew cooked everything on site and it was served buffet style. No line up, just crowd around and attack.

And then relaxing in the shade for a bit before heading out in the water again.

We hopped on the boat at 2.30pm and were back at Malapascua by 4pm. The next day, we headed out to Bantayan Island – we hired a private boat and it took around 2.5 hours to get there.

Some pictures along the way.

When we got to the island, we got off at Kota beach and made our way in land. Kota beach has this interesting sandbar that constantly changes due to shifting winds and wave patterns. We hired a tricycle to take us to Paradise Beach.

Not as many boats as Malapascua. 😀

Off we go!

Our starting point in the distance.

Passing through town.

Safety is a must …

Definitely not in Kansas anymore.

We got off and had to walk down a path to get to the beach. The path was not easy to walk if you have flip flops on (like me) as there were lots of rocks/stones along the way.

After 10 minutes of slow walking, we made it to the entrance of the beach where some random guy collected 50 pesos as an entrance fee. This fee was used for “maintenance and upkeep” of the beach.

OMG YASS.

Swimming down the back led me to this area.

With a romantic spot for any couple wanting to have a private moment.

Another FT Instagram moment.

After 2 hours at the beach, we headed back to Kota beach to catch our boat back to Malapascua. Before that, we stopped off at a spot that the local kids come to.

#wheninrome #livelikealocal

Got back to the drop off point and had a refreshing drink.

Another pic of the sandbar.

We got off to a late start getting back to Malapascua. When the locals say to leave early, there is a reason behind it and we definitely did not listen. The ride home ended up being very choppy and wet but we made it safe and sound. We all freshened up and headed out for our last dinner at Malapascua. Ended up at the Mabuhay restaurant which was a little bumping that night. This was the strip that all the beach resorts were located on.

I went with the sizzling ghampas (shrimp) and it was delicious.

This was our last night in Malapascua and we had a 7am start the next day to travel down south to Oslob and Moalboal. Stay tuned!