Seeking Justice in Cebu: Moalboal

The weekend before last (July 17 and 18), we (Riley, Matt, Ali, and I) met up with my friend from back home (Viren) and two of his friends (Justin and Christine) and went down to Moalboal for the weekend. Viren and I used to work together at Cornerstone and he will be starting a JD/MBA program in the fall. He took this summer off to do a little travelling and stopped by the Philippines for the last week of his trip. I was so excited that we were able to meet up in Cebu! It was my first piece of home here in Cebu. We met them at the bus station and rode the local bus (with no aircon) about three hours to Moalboal which is south of Cebu City. And, lets face it, Moalboal is just a fun word to say! The place we stayed, Quo Vadis, was overlooking the ocean and even had stairs that led straight into the water. After we got there, we rented motorbikes and rode around the island a bit. We rode about 20 kilometers outside the city and then hiked to Kawasan falls. We arrived to the falls just before dusk, but couldn't resist the urge to jump in the pools and swim under the falls. The water was so cool and refreshing. But, while I was swimming, I realized I had gotten very used to swimming with fins. I soon discovered that you can't swim very fast without them. At least, I can't. After the falls, we rode back to Moalboal and had dinner at an italian place on the water. Sunday morning, we rode out to the White Sands Beach, but only had time to take some pictures before we needed to head back to meet up with Francis, Mic Mic, Leslie, Agnes, and Brian to go diving. Viren, Justin, and Christine weren't certified, so Francis taught them the basics and took them on a discover dive. We rented a boat and went out to Pescador island for the first two dives. Pescador island basically is a huge cylindar that goes deep into the water, creating a cool ocean wall to swim around. On the first dive, we saw thousands of sardiness. Its crazy to see them all move together in mass. They essentually created a wall that we were able to swim behind. Francis was hoping that such a large population of sardines would attract some sharks, but alas, no sharks... After those two dives, we went back to the island and did a third shore entry dive. During the three dives, we saw 4 sea turtles. They were really cool and are surprising quick when you try to catch them! After the dives, we were planning on taking the bus back home, but Francis and company were so sweet and offered to give us a ride back which meant cramming 13 people and dive gear for 13 people into two cars. I didn't think it was physically possible, but I was proved wrong. Poor Mic Mic was sitting in the back of a jeep with all the dive gear. I'm not sure how he fit into such a small space, but he just kept saying "I'm a caver" (he repels into caves and crawls through tiny spaces for fun). It was a really fun trip.