Malapascua, Philippines

Getting here was an adventure. We left Donsol about two minutes too late and the ferry tickets we needed went to the person directly in front of us in line. The next ferry was twelve hours later, and no, we couldn’t buy tickets in advance. Welcome to the Philippines.

This turned into something of a blessing. We met a young couple in the same boat, literally, and immediately began laughing. Over the course of the night we swapped stories, guarded each other’s bags, played cards, watched Mission Impossible 4, and ate a 17-day-old fertilized duck egg (a Filipino specialty called Balut). Then our 3:00am ferry wisked us away, saving us a night’s accommodation.

After that we simply had to take a tricycle ride, 1.5 hour van ride (bone-cracking), another 5 hour ferry, tricycle, hotel room, 3-hour bus ride and 30-minute boat ride and voila! We were in sunny Malapascua.

The island is gorgeous, white sand beach ring a coconut palm interior. No roads mean no cars and the local pace of life drips along like honey. There’s just enough development to have everything you need while still feeling like nature is king. In short, it’s paradise and this paradise is filled with a lot more than speedo clad Europeans. To see what I mean have a look at the photos.

Written by:

Scott Dusek is a writer and photography originally from Seattle, Washingon.

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