Moalboal, a tourist town with a local touch
After spending the first few days of our Philippine in Manilla, we made our way South to Moalboal. The trip there is tough but straight forward. A flight from the capital to Cebu and there all you have to do is chose for a car or a bus. The bus is significantly cheaper, but the car will give you way more comfort. Anyways, the trip there will be more than worth it.
The town of Moalboal
Moalboal surprised me from the moment I got there. After seeing the metropolis of Manilla I expected to rest of the Philippines to be the same. However, Moalboal is very localised town, full of small restaurants all trying to make something of the increased tourism. The locals live among the tourists, their houses neighbouring the hotels directly. Power is not a given and city is made of nothing more than dive shops, restaurants and hotels. And I loved it.
The atmosphere in this town has been unique for me in the Philippines. The local, laidback attitude of the people allows you to really calm down. There are no paved roads and I believe the bumpy streets adds so much to the atmosphere. Even though we didn’t have airconditioning in our tiny, wooden and noisy room. Accomodation in Moalboal isn’t cheap, especially once you would like to have airconditioning. But don’t let this put you off, because the sights you will get to see are definitely worth a few sweaty nights.
Diving with turtles and sardines
Moalboal is mainly known amongst divers, they will make their way down here to dive in the famous bowl of fish. A few years ago, a huge school of sardines migrated to the shore at Moalboal. It is possible to snorkel right from the shore and you will find big groups of tourist hanging onto boats to see them. The locals have really hit the jackpot when these fish came here, as it is so impressive to see. Actually, the snorkelling in Moalboal is also really amazing. At high tide you can see the sardines, dive down between them and on the way back you will most likely see multiple turtles.
However, I’ve done the best diving of my life in this little town. We did a dive called the sardine run and it is a very simple shore dive. You will get in and swim until the drop off. You will go down in-between the sardines until you reached the depth where you are under them. When you look up you will see millions, really millions of fish, moving in sync, floating from left to right, just hypnotising you as you swim along. It is an incredible and unique sight. If I understood it right, this only happens in one other place in the world; South Africa. And there it is only once a year. In Moalboal you get to see this unbelievable sight year round.
if you’d like to check out my previous diving experience check out my previous post
The locals have understood, just like in many places in the Philippines, that the underwater life has to be protected. They have understood that this life is their main source of income because of tourism. There are many rules in place to protect the fish and turtles, and the main one is a restriction on fishing. This restriction has allowed this huge bowl of fish to flourish.
Moalboal is truly a little gem, to get away from the city, see some amazing underwater life or to use it as a base to hang out with locals and tourists alike. When you sit on the beach to watch the sunset, you look onto the mountains from Negros, giving you the feeling you’re sitting on a lake but it is actually an ocean full of life. It is a small town giving you all the natural beauty the Philippines has to offer.
