Moalboal Cebu: Kawasan Falls, Snorkeling, Canyoneering and More

Beaches, snorkeling, waterfalls and food in one of the Philippines beautiful Bisayan islands, Cebu. This is my idea of an ideal vacation. I had planned to visit Moalboal on my previous trip to Cebu, however, beautiful Dumaluan beach in Panglao and adventure tours in neighbouring Bohol proved too enticing for me to relocate (see my article here). As a result, I revisited Cebu four months later, determined to revisit with my partner. We stayed at Panagsama beach in Moalboal, with the intention to snorkel with fishes and turtles and visit the picturesque Kawasan Falls. Once at Panagsama beach, we realized that indeed there were several activities to do. Here is a list of the ones we came across. Unfortunately, we did not participate in every activity due to primary interest in food and time constraints, but we received plenty of recommendations from fellow travelers who shared their adventure stories with us.

*Photography: Hyeon Jin Jeong

 

How to Get to Moalboal from Metro Cebu

Max and I had a total of six days on Cebu island, and while the first and last days were spent in Cebu city in order to have access to Mactan airport, the remaining four days were spent at Panagsama beach in Moalboal. We journeyed to Moalboal town from Cebu City’s South Bus Terminal. Buses or white vans left every hour or so, and stopped running around 6 or 7pm. We paid around 120 pesos ($2.50) to board a packed white van/bus along with at least another eight passengers, and we arrived into Moalboal about three hours later. From there, we took a tricycle (100 pesos/ $2) to our guesthouse, Bamboo Huts, near Panagsama beach.

 

 

Snorkeling

One of the two major reasons for visiting Moalboal was to snorkel on Panagsama and White Beach. White beach was located further north along the coast. Both beaches are famous for sightings of coral fish, wild turtles, and the sardine run. The special feature about Panagsama and White Beach was that rather than paying to be part of a supervised tour group, snorkeling tourists can bring their own snorkel equipment or hire it along the Panagsama beach strip and snorkel alone. Both beaches have a drop off, so I was reluctant to go far out, but Max went snorkeling alone and saw plenty of fish, while another traveler, Gina from Spain reported that while snorkeling along the coast, she saw a mother and baby turtle surfacing for air. She was very emotional while she told us her story, and it was moving just to hear it recounted.

Diving tours

While Max and I didn’t do the diving tours, it seemed that many tourists around us did. These were tours organized by locals which entailed meeting early in the morning and heading out on a small boat with about fifteen tourists and three crew. The tours cost around 2,000 pesos ($40) for a few hours to head to deeper coral locations to view turtles and the sardine run. Please leave a comment below if you can clarify the price of the typical diving tours offered at Panagsama.

Canyoneering

Another major attraction for tourists visiting Moalboal was the canyoneering tour. The minute that Max and I arrived at our guesthouse, the first question we were asked was whether we wanted to be booked into the next available tour beginning the following morning. We declined, but many around us enjoyed this experience. For around 2,000 pesos ($40), the organizers equipped adventures with life jackets and kept belongings in dry bags, provided lunch, and brought tourists to various locations where they would jump from cliffs into pools. The experience ended with the last jump into Kawasan Falls. On one evening, we experienced a torrential downfall, and as a result, all canyoneering tours were cancelled both that day and the following due to conditions being unsafe. It seems that organizers put client safety above business interests, and that impressed me.

Kawasan Falls

Another major reason for my interest in visiting Moalboal was specifically to see Kawasan Falls. I read that Kawasan is one of the most impressive falls on Cebu island. Max and I headed out there after a late breakfast on Valentine’s day. We hired a motorbike and headed toward Moalboal town. After asking for directions, we took a right and then followed a meandering road all the way to Kawasan. It was a good thirty to forty-minute ride by motorbike, and we were distracted several times by the scenery en-route. We arrived at the falls mid afternoon.

At Kawasan, we parked our motorbike at the entrance, and enjoyed fresh coconut as we approached the reception area. Entry was 45 pesos ($0.90) per person. We followed the guided paths, enjoying the view of palm trees surrounding the banks of gushing water. We didn’t encounter too many people there as we arrived fairly late in the afternoon. I took a  video of our surroundings, and after a thirty-minute walk, we soon approached the largest falls.

The weather was rainy and somewhat cool unfortunately, and only a few brave people, mostly Filipinos, actually took a dip in the falls. We noted a little path to the left, and followed steps up to the top of the waterfalls, a point from which we suspected the free jumpers from the canyoneering tours use. The steps were steep but we only took about twenty minutes to climb to the top. There, we encountered a pretty bridge, cute doggies, and a toilet. It began getting dark pretty quickly, so we soon hurried to the exit.

White Beach

One of the first locations we visited initially was White Beach. We hired a motorbike and drove for about fifteen minutes. The road, like many others, was pretty bumpy. At a confusing t-junction, we took a sharp left, and followed it to White Beach. Twice, we were asked to pay a minimal fee (around 15 pesos and later 5 pesos each).

The beach itself was prettier than we expected and the water was somewhat warm. The sand was a little coarse, and few people were there. Flat rocks lay around the water edge so I walked in carefully. We only saw one vendor selling beachwear, and we met a Czech body builder who talked to us extensively about the rusty, inadequate gym in Moalboal and his plans to open up his own gym locally. Rain arrived, and we waited it out before returning to Panagsama beach.

Hire a Motorbike

My favourite moments of our entire trip were really when Max and I rode around on a hired motorbike and explored local areas. We used motorbikes from Rosita’s where we also stayed in the later half our visit to Panagsama. Rosita, a local Filipino grandmother and business woman, had at least fifteen motorbikes and mopeds that she hired out to tourists for 300-500 pesos ($6-10) per day. On occasion, business was so good that she had nothing available to rent out.

We met a Chilean traveler called Rodrigo at Rosita’s, and he told us that he was keen on visiting a beautiful lookout point called Osmena Peak. He planned to travel there alone just after we left Panagsama beach.

Driving with Max to and from Kawasan Falls, we stopped to photograph rice paddies, and took photos of the palm trees against the water while avoiding treading on hundreds of tiny frogs. We also stopped to explore a local beach. During our motorbike wanderings, we stumbled across a little village, and there saw a local family preparing to make the local delicacy, Lechon. Lechon is made by slowly turning a young pig on a split to create very tender and succulent pork meat.

After visiting the falls, we later found a lovely spot by the main road just outside Kawasan entrance where we watched the sun set. We noticed a local boy doing summersaults and thoroughly enjoying himself in the ocean. I think both Max and I were a little jealous of all the fun he was having.

On our travels through Moalboal town, we also stopped to soak up the atmosphere at a local park. There, teenagers played music, singing along to drums and guitars, and families of three generations hung out chatting, drinking and enjoying each other’s company.

This family environment made me think about my home environment in Korea, I feel a lot more isolated in my small apartment, working and coming home to an empty apartment day after day. I’d like to experience what these people have with a family of my own. That’s one of the negative things about being raised in an individualistic culture. It was a really eye-opening experience to be part of that environment for an hour or two.

Tour Oslob

From Moalboal, you can join a tour that heads two hours south to Oslob. Every tourist it seemed had an opinion on the Oslob whale-shark tourism, and this topic seemed to creep into most conversations with every tourist we met.

Some did head down to Oslob to swim with the whale sharks, while others viewed this kind of marine tourism as exploitation and refused to join these tours despite really wanting to have an opportunity to swim with the gentle giants.

The primary concern was that local organizers arrange for tourists to spend time with the whale sharks but keep the whale sharks around by enticing them with food. As a result, it seems that these whale sharks are not traveling in their usual migration patterns, and are not producing babies. Concerns are that this kind of tourism affects breeding and this could impact this particular species as a whole. I’m not sure how much this tour was, but we chose to not do it for ethical reasons. If you have any more information that can shed light on this topic, please comment below.

Island Hopping: Pescador Island

I didn’t meet anyone who experienced this tour, but I previously heard that Pescador is beautiful. Island hopping tours arranged for visiting numerous locations including Pescador, and these tours usually included lunch. I saw tours posted that varied in price depending on whether you take a private tour or whether several others would join and therefore bring the price down. I believe tours started at 2,500 pesos per person (around $50). Please feel free to correct me.

Eat, Eat, Eat!

What Max and I did mostly was eat. We ate at a couple of local eateries (one restaurant and one street food stall) in Moalboal town, but mostly enjoyed the expensive (by comparison) tourist food on Panagsama beach strip. We enjoyed versions of chicken adobo, Lechon pork, sweat n sour fish, burgers, American breakfasts, pizzas, pasta, and plenty of San Miguel Pilsners. Our favourite eatery spots were The French Coffee Shop for breakfast (around 250 pesos/ $5 per person), and Veranda and Café Cebuano (around 400 pesos/ $8 per person) for lunch and dinner. See my article here to read more about food in Moalboal and Pagnasama.

Get a Massage

Several massage services were available in Moalboal. Our tourist neighbours at Rosita’s headed into Moalboal town to get massages, however there were also a couple of locations on the Panagsama tourist strip that offered massage too.

One was a massage spa located at the entrance of the beach strip just across from Veranda restaurant, and the other was a humble gig offered by a souvenir vendor who sold abaca straw bags right at the end of the Panagsama souvenir strip. I didn’t inquire after prices, however I imagine that the luxurious looking spa would charge at least 250 pesos for an hour’s massage.

Souvenir shopping

I’ve now visited the Philippines three times, and two souvenirs which I consistently pick up are pearls and items made from local abaca straw. On this visit, I shopped in several locations, including Carbon Market in Old Cebu City, Panagsama beach strip, and last minute souvenirs at Mactan Airport.

My favourite abaca items to buy are fans, handbags and wallets. See my video on Youtube here. Max also picked up some pretty and comfy slippers (around $16) for me at the airport. I love the colour combination of the wallets (40-60 pesos/ $1 each) which make for neat purses to use while there. I picked up pink, grey and black pearl earrings, all at just over 100 pesos ($2) per pair. The best pearls are usually imported from Palawan island.

Bonus:

The way to confirm that pearls are genuine is to note lack of symmetry (every pearl has a unique shape), ‘defects’ and swirly markings. If you want to take it a step further, you could bite it (don’t crack your teeth!) and note that no indentations are made since pearls are very hard. And lastly, if you hold a flame against the shiny exterior, a pearl won’t suffer any creasing. I recorded a video detailing the process. See it here.

Overall, Moalboal is a great spot to catch some sun for a few days. While the canyoneering and island hopping tours tend to be the large draws, don’t forget about heading down to the beach to snorkel at your leisure, and rent a motorbike to enjoy the drive while soaking in the view. Lastly, catch a sunset or sunrise, and bring a good camera. I hope this article gives you lots of great ideas for your visit.

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More articles by travelandtash:

Street Food and Restaurant Cuisine in Moalboal and Cebu City, Philippines

7 Days in Dumaluan Beach, Panglao Philippines

Horror Travel Stories: Koh Samui, Thailand

 

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