When in Manila…ack, I mean, when in Cebu and itching for an adventure, touring down South is one of the ways to go. While sightseeing is usual for tourists in Cebu or anywhere for that matter, tour operator Happy Juanderer aims to promote tourism by creating unique itineraries that will allow travelers to interact with the locals by actually doing activities that the locals themselves are fond of and are experts on. This of course, eventually gives us travelers a deeper understanding and admiration for each unique destination. For this particular trip, Happy Juanderer put together this special itinerary they call PROJECT #SURSUROY to encourage local and foreign tourists to get a taste of adventure that you can uniquely experience in the southern part of Cebu with destinations just under 2 hours away from each other. The unique term SURSUROY, according to Happy Juanderer owners Dominic (from Cebu) and Sarah (from Ilocos) is a play on three words from where they both hail from: SUR meaning South, SURSUR in Ilocano is a term used for someone who is fond of traveling, and SUROY which is a Cebuano term, means to travel around.
So we just got back from this PROJECT #SURSUROY trip and I want to write this all down right away before the high I got from the trip escapes me. I have visited Cebu a number of times before but was just never felt compelled to leave the city until recently. I mean, let’s face it, it can be such a task to figure out where to go, how to get there, who to talk to and figure out which activities you’d like to do. Happy Juanderer figures out all that for you by arranging specific trips for you without the hassle of going through different channels at a price that’s not heavy on your pocket. For our particular trip, Happy Juanderer emailed me the PROJECT SURSUROY itinerary and it was packed with lots to see, food to taste, people to meet and adventures to remind us that there’s an exciting life waiting to happen just outside our four walls and four corners! We could not resist, we knew we had to do it!! So, all thanks to Happy Juanderer, here is a rundown of our trip and a rundown of our top five things to do when visiting Southern Cebu. You’ll only need but a weekend…and well, some serious guts and courage too.
1) Go Island Hopping in Moalboal
This was first on our itinerary. You’ll have to leave Cebu City early in the day to catch the sunrise and get a taste of the early morning life at the beach where a sleepy town slowly comes to life and fishermen are out on their boats ready for their first catch of the day. We left Cebu City at 4am and arrived Moalboal at 6am. Moalboal is one of Cebu’s famous beaches that flaunts a long stretch of beautiful white sandy beach and crystal clear waters perfect for divers or for the leisure traveler, swimming and snorkeling. We checked in at the Cabana Resort and had a quick breakfast at the nearby Pleasure Principle Resto Bar before heading out to the open sea and off to our first destination, Pescador Island, about 30 minutes away from the shores of Moalboal.
Pescador Island is considered one of the top dive sites in the country. Upon getting into water, I was not disappointed, the visibility was excellent and the colors of the fish and corals were breathtaking. You can see from these photos that you don’t have to go deep to see the beautiful wonders of the sea. We spent about half an hour just snorkeling and admiring the seabed, and that was just on one side of the island, the other areas we were told go deeper and are perfect diving spots as well. Other nearby dive sites are Ronda Bay Marin Park, The Airplane Wreck and the Balay reef.
This is Cabana, the resort that we stayed in while in Moalboal.
This resto bar where we had our breakfast is conveniently located near Cabana.
You don’t have to swim too deep to appreciate the seabed
