As far as travel days go today was pretty damn flawless. Our guesthouse owner in Siquijor drove us to the port at 6:30am in his shiny, white tuktuk. The original plan was to get the slow ferry to save money. Two fast ferries were leaving beforehand so we just sat around and waited until we realised if we paid £1 extra each we could take the faster one and we made our move. This turned out to be an impeccable decision. When we arrived in Dumaguete we quickly hopped in a trike and zoomed off to the Sibulan port. We ended up getting stuck in traffic and our next ferry was due to depart in just a few minutes, if we missed it we’d have a 1.5 hour wait. As soon as we pulled into the port we ran to the ticket booth and down the ramp where the big roll-on-roll-off ferry was waiting, the men had already untied the ropes and were just holding it back for us, what a relief!

Thirty minutes later we arrived in Liloan where the water looked so beautiful and clear, it was one of the prettiest ports I’ve ever been to. We now needed to walk to the main road to catch a bus travelling to Moalboal but the air conditioned ones only run hourly and we also read online that they depart from a station 4km away. We figured we’d try the road option first but then a trike came by and offered us a very fair price so he whizzed us to the bus station, checking his watch along the way. He pointed to the bus we needed and as soon as we sat down it left. Wow, I guess the trike driver knew and really tried to floor it so we didn’t have an hour wait.

Eventually we made it to Moalboal, well, a few kilometres away in Panagsama Beach which is the main tourist hub with lots of eateries, bars and dive shops. It’s also where the famous sardine run takes place just meters from the shoreline. We actually visited Moalboal on our first trip to the Philippines and while there’s a few fun activities to do in the area like visiting the milky blue Kawasan Falls, we’d already seen them all so this time we were just staying two nights to cut the long journey north in half. It was a bit of a shock to see so many tourists after being in Siquijor which had such a chilled vibe and just felt more off the beaten track.

We still wanted to snorkel with the sardines though because we loved it last time and we have our own snorkels so it’s a great free activity. Things had changed quite a bit since our last visit in 2016 and we were shocked at how busy the area was, in and out the water. The sea was just full of people in groups, bobbing around in their life jackets.

The great thing about snorkelling in Moalboal is it’s just a short swim across the shallow water to a big drop-off where the reef plummets about 30 meters down. This area has become a safe haven for humongous shoals of sardines that swim in unison creating fabulous dark patterns in the blue water. The visibility wasn’t great this time but also the sardines seemed to be deeper in the water so the experience wasn’t great as a snorkeler. We did however spot a lovely turtle who swam right up to me and was in a very chilled, slow-moving mood.

We tried snorkelling with the sardines again the following morning, hoping for better visibility and less people but it was very similar and we were shocked how many people were already snorkelling on group tours in the morning. The sardines swam below us in big groups, with sunbeams piercing down through the water towards them, but it just wasn’t the same experience as our first time. Not only was the snorkelling better last time but we also went scuba diving and it’s definitely worth paying extra to dive as we were amongst the sardines. Our dive took us through an almost tunnel of sardines where it all went dark. We also saw big tornado shaped columns and lots of fascinating shapeshifting where they were swimming in unison, changing from dark to glistening mirrors as the sun hit their bodies.

While we were snorkelling there were divers way below us and I found it quite mesmerising watching the big, jelly-fish shaped bubbles rising all around us from their breathing apparatus. Suddenly I became fearless about swimming in the deeper areas because these bubbles, some large and some tiny and sparkling like glitter totally entranced me.

There wasn’t a beach to relax on, the shoreline was just a bit of a rocky, jagged, reefy mess and there was zero shade which was the biggest problem for us. In the end we found a sort of beach resort a bit out of town that had reasonably priced drinks and a little patch of shade with a sea view so that’s where we spent our afternoons. It was even possible to snorkel directly from the resort, the visibility was worse here but we did spot a few more turtles which was lovely. Our evenings were spent grabbing a delicious veggie burrito and taking it down to the coast to watch the sunset. One evening a lone, moody cloud shaped like a cauliflower harboured its own little storm. It was so bizarre to see a lightning storm within a small cloud, with bolts lighting it up.

The hotel room we booked in Moalboal was unbearably hot, we were sweating buckets all night which made it very unpleasant. I think we need to stop being so budget and pay for air conditioning next time…but we never seem to learn!