Our next destination was Malapascua, a tiny island off the coast of the bigger island of Cebu. It turned into our longest travel day yet—we were up at 5 AM for a taxi to the airport, where our flight to Cebu was delayed by four hours. During the wait, Grace started feeling really rough, and a rash she had developed after snorkeling on our boat trip seemed to be getting worse. When we finally landed in Cebu at midday, we decided to stop at a pharmacy since Malapascua, being a small island, wouldn’t have many medical supplies.
What should have been a simple errand turned into a frustrating ordeal—because it was a Saturday, none of the actual pharmacists were working in the pharmacies. We trudged around the city with our heavy backpacks, searching for one that could help. When we eventually found a pharmacist, she took one look at Grace and suggested she see a doctor because her symptoms matched monkeypox—terrifying.
Cue another wild goose chase. It took visits to three different clinics before we finally found one that was open. After an examination and a blood test, the doctor confirmed it was just a rash, along with a bacterial infection. She prescribed antihistamines and antibiotics, and we were finally on our way.
After some Googling, we now suspect Grace’s rash was caused by something called “sea lice” While snorkeling here, we often feel an itchy, prickling sensation—like brushing against nettles—which usually fades quickly and is just plankton irritating the skin. But on our last snorkel, it was much worse and lasted longer. It turns out it was probably “sea lice” which aren’t actually lice but jellyfish larvae, which can cause nasty skin reactions. Grace’s body seems to have reacted badly to them. But at least it’s not monkey pox!
With medication in hand, we caught a bus from Cebu City to Maya, the port for Malapascua. It was supposed to take four hours, but thanks to rush hour traffic (which in the Philippines is no joke), we were still in the city two hours later.
Five long hours later, we finally arrived—only to discover we had missed the last ferry. Despite our bus driver speeding along like a maniac. So, we had no choice but to stay the night in a hotel and catch the early ferry the next morning. We were the last ones on the bus and driver asked us where we were staying and kindly drove us right next to the hotel and took our bags in for us. So at least it was a 5* experience even if it took a long time!
Unfortunately, our bad luck wasn’t over yet. The ferry ride should have been about an hour, but 30 minutes in, a massive storm rolled in—dark skies, heavy rain, thunder, lightning, the works. By the time we reached Malapascua, the island was practically flooding, and we had to wade through murky, muddy water to get to our hostel. The rain was so intense that even pulling Grace’s phone out for a few seconds to check directions caused water damage.
Our accommodation was a bamboo hut high in the air so we were safe from the flooding at least even if I did constantly feel like I was about to fall through the floor!
Needless to say, sightseeing was off the table, but at least we got a lot of planning and booking done for our next few countries. Thankfully, the next day brought sunshine. Grace was up early for scuba diving, where she got to see thresher sharks and some amazing octopuses. I, on the other hand, had the much less exciting task of booking hostels and planning our next stops.
At least I got to do it in the sunshine—I went to a nice café and ordered a tuna sandwich, which turned out to be more of a mayonnaise sandwich. There were about three flakes of tuna in the whole thing. When I asked the waitress why there was no tuna, she pointed at a single flake and said, “Yes, is here,” as if I was blind for not spotting it. I gave up and just ate it.
In the afternoon, I had a stroll around the island and saw the cockerels that had woken me up that morning, apparently cock fighting is still a big thing in the Philippines.
Grace returned, and we spent the evening on the beach, chatting over drinks. Malapascua is beautiful, but unless you’re diving, there’s not a whole lot to do. We did however try a mango float, the best way I can describe it is a cross between a cheesecake and a tiramisu without coffee and with added mango, very tasty!
Next up is Moalboal—hopefully, it’ll be a bit more exciting to write about (and to experience!). I’ll tell you all about it soon. Love, Alice x
On our first night in Coron, we met up with the group from the boat trip—everyone except the German couple—and went out for dinner.
As we chatted about our plans for the next day, we found that we had all struggled to find boat tours that didn’t include places we had already visited. Frederico, who had been to the Philippines before, enthusiastically recommended some of his favorite spots. Unfortunately, none of them were included in the standard tours. He was so disappointed that we wouldn’t get to see them that he suggested hiring a private boat to visit them ourselves.
Grace had already looked into this, but even split between the nine of us, it was a bit too expensive on our backpacker budgets. Then, in an incredibly generous gesture, Frederico offered to pay for the entire boat, saying we’d only need to cover the environmental entry fees. He insisted he had plenty of money and simply enjoyed spending time with us as a group—so he was happy to make it happen.
The next morning, our boat crew picked us up and took us to a local market to buy food for the day. I couldn’t even step inside—the smell of fish in the heat was overwhelming—but Grace and the other English girls braved it and picked out some chicken, rice, and fresh fruit.
While waiting outside and watching the other boat crews gather their supplies, I had a realization about the pork we’d been eating on our El Nido-to-Coron boat trip. We had been wondering why it had so much cartilage, and I suddenly put two and two together—it was probably pig’s head. I decided to keep that revelation to myself. Oh well, at least it had tasted good!
With our food sorted, we set off for our first stop, a viewpoint overlooking the island and a stunning lake where we got to swim. The lake was full of tiny fish that were so used to tourists they had no fear—you could actually scoop them up in cupped hands of water.
Next, we explored some breathtaking lagoons and went for another swim. The towering rock formations looked so dramatic and unreal, it felt like we were on a movie set, as if they were made of polystyrene and craft materials rather than actual rock.
For lunch, we stopped in a quiet cove and had BBQ chicken, rice, and fresh fruit. The fruit was incredible—the mangoes and pineapples here are unbelievably sweet and flavorful. I can’t get enough of them.
After lunch, we visited another lagoon, this one only accessible by swimming through a narrow tunnel in the rock. Again, it was stunning. One of the best parts of the day was how relaxed the pace was—we weren’t rushed from place to place like on the typical tours. We could actually take our time, swim, explore, and enjoy the scenery without feeling like we were on a schedule.
Our final stop was a snorkeling site. At first, we weren’t too excited—we’d already spent three days snorkeling—but the boat captain assured us it was worth it. And wow, he was right. The coral and marine life were unbelievable; it felt like being dropped into an aquarium.
At one point, we swam around a rock and came face to face with a barracuda. Given that we were wearing jewelry and barracudas are known to go after shiny objects, it was a little nerve-wracking. Thankfully, it seemed just as startled as we were and quickly swam away. We also spotted a triggerfish, which aggressively defends its territory in a cone-shaped zone extending from the seafloor. Luckily, we kept our distance and didn’t provoke it.
Puffer Fish, Barracuda and a turtle
The rest of the marine life was far less intimidating—needlefish, starfish, pufferfish, parrotfish, and even a sea turtle feeding nearby. It was an unforgettable experience. That evening, we all met up one last time for dinner before heading our separate ways. The next morning, Grace and I had a flight to another island—Cebu.
Our time in El Nido didn’t start of great, we turned up at our hostel, the one with the best ratings in the area, to find it dark cramped and dirty looking. So we immediately headed back out into the town on the search of a different one, the only one that still had space was double to price, but thankfully this trip were no longer penny pinching and unemployed so we decided to splash out on the much nicer hostel, still unsure how the other one had such high ratings.
After we had moved all of our stuff over and showed we went out for a lovely Italian dinner sharing a pizza and a salad. But yet again I had vomiting and diarrhea about an hour later, which is no ideal as we only had one more day in El Nido before we were supposed to be doing a three day boat trip.
So the next day, sadly our only full day in El Nido, I spent the morning in a local clinic trying to get to the bottom of what the issue is. After a fun stool sample in a dubious looking toilet and some waiting around for results I was told I have a parasite infection, probably from a salad or contaminated water. Luckily 10 says of antibiotics should resolve the issue and the doctors visit and medication only came to around £50, well worth it to be on the mend!
Thankfully the next morning I wasn’t feeling as weak and tired and had managed to keep some food down, so we decided to go ahead with out boat trip. We had booked a two night, three day excursion from El Nido to Coron, we were luckily on one of the smaller catermerang boats, there were 11 travelers; A Dutch couple, A Swedish couple, A German couple, tow other British Girls and an Italian man. Along with four staff on the boat.
It was a super fun three days, we visited sand bars, snorkeling spots and beautiful beaches. We lucked out on our first day when we found a brand new looking snorkel and goggels at a snorkeling spot somone had obviously dropped and left without as we were the only people there. The snorkeling spots were amazing we saw so much cool corral and so many cool fish, we also saw some turtles. The group soon cottened on that Grace was the girl to stick close to when snorkeling and I lost my private guide, but she was showing us all the cool stuff in the ocean and stopping us getting attacked by trigger fish and a large Barracuda at one point!
We also got very spoilt with three freshly cooked buffet meals each day. In the evenings we docked up on small islands and ate on the land, the first night on of the English girls was feeding some dogs all our leftover chicken adobo and we’re getting very grumpy looks from the boat staff, only afterwards did we realise the food was for them too and they just waited for us to finish before they ate. Woops!
We slept in basic wooden huts with mosquito nets, and showered in water collected from rain, somehow even in this most basic and isolated of places we still couldn’t escape the Filipino love for karaoke and there was a battery powered machine, which made for our evening entertainment, the first night we had a karaoke off with the other boat staying on the island, they claimed it was unfair because I was too good a singer which may have been the best compliment I’ve ever had and I would of been very happy with it except it made me a bit too confident and it all came crashing down with a rather lacking attempt at Adele! Ohh well I guess I’ll stick to my normal day job when I get home! The boat crews were also joining in, singing their hearts out even if they didn’t always know the words, we particularly enjoyed the captain’s rendition of ‘You take my breath bread away’
The group was super fun and we all really got on playing dice games and chatting in-between stops. The Italian guy traveling on his own turned out to be an Actor and director apparently he is a main character on the netflix series ‘White Lotus’ which was lost on all of us, we had all heard of it but none of us had seen it. But he was telling us the cast are waiting to hear if they have won an oscar they have been nominated for.
It was a fun three days, except for some light to moderate sun burn for everyone on the last day when we seemed to be driving in a way that gave zero areas of shade, even our factor 50 suncream couldn’t seem to save us, but luckily we were the ones who got off the lightest and it’s already turned brown!
It was a great way to travel to Coron, even if we are knackered now! Can’t wait to tell you all about Coron soon, lots of love, Alice x
That’s right—we’ve made it to the Philippines! But not without an incredibly long journey.
We checked out of our hostel at 11 AM and hung around until 5 PM, then took a two-hour taxi to the airport. After more waiting, we finally boarded our 11 PM flight—a four-hour journey to Malaysia. There, we had another four-hour layover before catching our next four-hour flight to Manila. After landing, we faced yet another three-hour wait before our final one-hour flight to Puerto Princesa.
We stayed overnight in Puerto Princesa before hopping on a shared minibus to Port Barton, finally arriving at around 5 PM. Safe to say, after two and a half days travelling, we were absolutely exhausted!
We were so tired on the journey that at one point grace tried to buy some minni eggs only to discover they we actually just little quails eggs, we settled on an ice-cream instead.
Port Barton is beautiful but strange—a fascinating mix of rustic charm and rapid development. It feels like a town that has decided it’s on the verge of becoming a major tourist destination but has skipped the gradual transition, jumping straight to the final stages in some areas while barely beginning in others. There are no paved roads, and most buildings are simple wooden or plastic huts, yet among them stand large European-style restaurants with pizza ovens and modern amenities. It’s a place caught between two worlds, making it both intriguing and a little surreal.
Our hostel perfectly embodies this contrast. From the outside, it’s a modest structure—breeze blocks covered with woven banana leaves, tucked away on a dirt trail backed by forest. We arrived with no idea what to expect. But inside? It’s like a five-star hotel—gleaming tiled floors, beautifully crafted wooden bunk beds, and a brand-new power shower. It was an unexpected surprise, but definitely not one we’re complaining about!
We booked a boat tour for our first full day in Port Barton, setting off on a bright orange catamaran shared with about 15 other people. While we didn’t get to chat much with the Filipino family on board, the rest of the group was made up of Europeans of varying ages, and they turned out to be a fun and friendly bunch.
Our tour took us to several stunning spots. We stopped at a large sandbank in the middle of the ocean, where we spotted starfish beneath the clear water. Next, we visited a small fishing village to pick up our fresh fish for our lunch before heading to multiple snorkeling sites—at two of them, we were lucky enough to see turtles gliding through the water. Throughout the day, we explored beautiful beaches, walking along the soft sand and soaking in the scenery. One of these beaches was also where we enjoyed a delicious BBQ lunch, making for a perfect break in between swims.
Our tour guide, Pong, was a lively guy in his early 20s who kept the energy high throughout the day. He was constantly cracking jokes, dancing around the boat, and bursting into song, making the whole experience even more enjoyable. To top it off, he treated us to plenty of rum cocktails at the end of the tour—so our last few snorkels were definitely a little bit tipsy. That might also explain why we forgot to reapply sunscreen and ended up with slightly burnt backs as a souvenir of the day!
After rinsing the salt water out of our hair with a much-needed shower, we headed back to the beach to watch the sunset with a group of Spanish, Argentinian, and French-Canadian girls we had met on the boat tour. The sunset itself wasn’t spectacular, but the conversation more than made up for it. Pong happened to be at the same bar, so he joined us, keeping the energy high as always.
Later, we moved to a taco and ceviche place that the French-Canadian girl, Cassi, had been eager to try. The food was delicious, but the evening took a sad turn when we noticed a stray dog with a large, open wound on its back. We quietly slipped him some of our leftovers, Pong explained that the wound was likely from a local slashing at the dog with a knife—something people do to keep hungry strays away from their food. It was heartbreaking to hear. We called a local shelter to report the dog’s location in the hopes that someone could help, but beyond that, there wasn’t much more we could do.
To lift the mood, we grabbed some gelato before heading to a hostel with a live band. As it turned out, even more people from our boat tour were there—it’s a small village, after all! The atmosphere was great, and the live music made for a fun night.
I also finally found a drink here that’s as cheap as beer but actually drinkable—it’s called a Smirnoff Mule. It seems to be a mix of ginger beer and vodka—not my favorite, but definitely an improvement on beer and, most importantly, cheap!
We stayed for a while, listening to the band and chatting. When they played Hey Baby (you know the one—Heeeey, hey baby, ooh ahh, I wanna knooooow if you’ll be my girl), me and Grace couldn’t resist teaching the group the dance moves we used to do at school discos. Who says we’re not still hip and cool?
It was a fun evening, but we called it a night around 11 p.m., wanting to be up early the next morning for a waterfall hike.
Cassi joined us for our waterfall walk the next morning. The route wasn’t particularly strenuous—only two hours, much of it on paved or dirt roads—but the sun and humidity, even early in the morning, made it challenging.
Also, after laughing at Grace’s stomach misfortunes in Sri Lanka, karma had come for me, and I had spent the previous evening suffering. As a result, I decided to skip breakfast, which probably didn’t help with the walking.
Despite the heat, we enjoyed the journey. The first part of the walk took us through the quieter backstreets of Port Barton before leading to open roads, lush greenery, and rickety bamboo bridges. Finally, we reached the waterfall. After our sweaty trek, the cool water was a blessing, and we happily took the plunge.
As we sat on the rocks drying off and reading, a group of local kids approached us, eager to sell coconuts. They quickly became fascinated by my Kindle, repeatedly asking, “Book? How many books? Library?” Every time I turned the page, they gasped in amazement, eventually gathering around me like I was performing a magic trick.
After a few hours of being the local entertainment, we decided we were dry enough to get dressed and start the trek back. What we hadn’t considered was how much hotter the midday sun would make the return journey. There was no shade, the hills felt steeper, and we were drenched in sweat by the time we reached town.
Running on empty after skipping breakfast and tackling the heat, we made a beeline for a restaurant near Cassi’s hostel. The catch? It was at the top of a massive hill. That final climb nearly finished me off, but the panoramic views and incredible food made it worth the effort. Grace had a laksa—a coconut noodle soup—while I devoured pork asado, a spicy soy-based broth with chilies, peppers, and tomatoes, served with rice. I had finished mine in no time.
Our original plan was to go to the beach after lunch, but after so much sun, we opted for showers and naps instead. Later, we sat outside in the hostel’s social area and got chatting with some guys—Max from Germany, Neil – a Dutch guy, and an English guy named Elliot. We all went for dinner, where the conversation naturally turned to travel horror stories. Grace and I shared our classics: her emergency surgery in Bolivia and the time we got shot at in Colombia. We thought we had strong contenders—until Max shared his experience in Guatemala, which had made international news.
Max had decided to climb one of the country’s big volcanoes, a six-hour hike. On the way down, he mistakenly took the wrong route. Instead of backtracking up the volcano, he figured he could cut across the jungle to reconnect with the correct path. Big mistake.
The terrain was treacherous, with deep craters and unexpected drops, forcing him to take a disorienting route. He quickly ran out of water and, with a weak phone signal, couldn’t call for help. Luckily, he managed to send a text to his ex-girlfriend, asking her to alert authorities before his phone died. For three days, he was lost on the volcy, surviving without food or water. His detailed retelling had us all on the edge of our seats, I won’t go into all of the details of the first two days. In the end on the third day, he realised he had two choices, both with a high chance of killing him: sit tight and hope rescuers found him before dehydration killed him, or attempt a dangerous 20-meter descent. He chose the latter, launching himself at a tree growing on the side of the cliff, sliding down the trunk, and dropping the last five meters onto a flat rock—narrowly avoiding jagged boulders. It was the most intense story I’ve ever heard, so much so that we moved to a quieter bar halfway through just to hear him better. We certainly went to bed thankful our Guatemalan volcano hikes never ended like that!
The next morning, we went to explore White Beach with Elliot. It was a 20-minute tuk-tuk ride away, and given how bumpy the roads were, we essentially got a free massage en route. I was relieved we’d chosen a sturdy tuk-tuk—some of them here look like they’ve been welded together from scrap car parts and seem like they’d fall apart on a road like that.
White Beach was stunning, It’s beautiful sand living up to the name. We arrived at 9:30 a.m., and it was practically deserted except for some goats. It was the perfect way to relax before a quick lunch and then squeezing into a very cramped minibus for our next stop: El Nido. I’ll tell you all about that adventure soon.
