My hammock was lazily swinging about as the soft sun escaped through the leaves overhead and filtered through the thatch roof of Aabana’s large viewing deck. Getting up was a chore but Malapascua Island’s white sand beach was beckoning me for an afternoon stroll.

Like most places in the Philippines, the island got its name from the Spanish conquerors of yore. It was said that a group of Spaniards once got marooned in the island during Christmas Eve. Irked by the accident, they dubbed the island as Mala Pascua, which translated means Bad Easter. Even though the real name of the island is Logon, the name stuck like a seven-year bad luck.

Malapascua is famous for two things; white sand beaches and thresher sharks. From above, one can see that the whole island is completely surrounded by a strip of white sandy shoreline. The more popular of these is the Bounty Beach on the south side where numerous resorts and restaurants have made their stakes along the banks.

Foreign tourists often flock the island not for the beach though but for the sharks, thresher sharks. These long-tailed super predators are regularly sighted along Monad Shoal which is about twenty minutes away by boat from Malapascua. Local dive shops are often busy with activities during the day, catering to more adventurous explorers wanting to experience swimming with these graceful predators.

To be honest, I enjoyed swimming more along the beach at Bantigue Cove than at Bounty Beach. The sand is equally fine at both beach but a large part of Bounty Beach’s underwater is densely populated by sea grass, which makes swimming, especially on low tide, very uncomfortable.

The sky started warming up as I reached the far end of the beach. A hut at a rock outcrop indicated the happy hour for beer chuggers; for photographers though, the golden hour is our happy hour. I crossed over to Logon Beach and immediately found my hour.

Small wooden boats lazily bob along the serene shore of the cove as waves softly slap the cream-colored sand of the beach. A few fisherfolks on their way seawards looking for dinner were framed by puffs of yellowish clouds and the silhouette of the far-off Chocolate Island.

The clouds parted and the sun broke. The sky and waters of Malapascua were painted in warm yellows and tinge of oranges. God rays poured down into the horizon, the locals seemingly unaware of the majesty of the scene rolling before my very eyes. I suppose these are nothing but everyday occurrence to the people of Malapascua, I envy the people of this island.

Evening descended and a cool blue darkness enveloped the island. The restaurants fronting the beach switched on their lights and transformed the shoreline of the island into an outdoor bar. Torches were staked and soft music wafted in and out of the coconuts lining the beach.
I have seen a similar scene in Boracay but I like how intimate Malapascua’s night life is compared to the jungle parties of Boracay. There are hardly any crowd here and there is no partying going on, the atmosphere is laid back and still very beach-like.

The night soon got darker and I proceeded homeward. Along the way I spotted a couple of hammocks swinging just as lazily as the hammock I abandoned a few hour before I took a walk along the shores of Malapascua. I thought to myself, what’s a couple minutes more of lounging around before going back to the resort. Hurrying is a foreign word and relaxation is the common word at Cebu’s Malapascua Island.

Bounty Beach Malapascua Island
Address: Bounty Beach, Brgy. Logon, Malapascua Island, Daanbantayan, Cebu
Entrance Fee: None

GPS Coordinates: 11.3302,124.121313
View Location on Google Maps: Click Here