Philippines - Farewell - Panglao to Mactan island

Friday, 21st December 2018 - 
After breakfast at the Events Cabana, as the Restaurant Cabana was being cleared up from a wedding the night before, Jose and I checked out at 9am and after farewelling our family we were driven to the airport in the Resort's van.

Karina, Thomas and rest of the family would check out at 11am as they were taking the ferry to Cebu, where they would stay for a day before departing to their house in Batangas (south of Manila) and Thomas's parents and brother back to France.

The events cabana

Our option to leave the island of Panglao to the island of Cebu was either take a 2 hour ride on a ferry at 12pm and then a taxi ride from the Cebu Ferry terminal to the International Airport, which depending on the horrendous traffic could take from 20 min up to 2 hours, and we could risk missing our 4,45pm flight.

A more reliable choice was a 20min flight on a tiny Cessna Caravan.

At the Bohol-Panglao airport we were directed to the Air Juan counter and after checking our passports the lady they were expecting a Filipino couple because of our surname. 

Karina had already mentioned that when she says her surname everyone says it's a Filipino surname. The name comes from a Portuguese explorer who worked for the Spanish Governor of the Philippines in the 16th Century, he might have left some descendants there ...  

Before departing we had a chance to take a photo with the pilot and pretty young co-pilot, and the 2 kids from the Korean couple flying with us were even invited to sit on the pilot seat and have photos taken. Friendly team 😊

Right to left - Air Juan pilot, Jose and I and the young female co-pilot

A kid on the pilot seat, Jose and I inside, me in front of the Cessna

Our carry on luggage had been taken in to the rear of the plane and the 6 of us took our seats. 

Leaving Bohol Airport and flying over the island

The scenery below us was breathtaking and I moved from one side of the plane to the other snapping away, while Jose filmed a few bits.

I really didn't know what to expect, but it was such a fun trip seeing the azure waters below, the small islands, the seaweed mangroves ...

Seaweed mangroves (top left), azure waters, small islands

From the Seafood restaurant sign (below, bottom left) I managed to find that it was the small Gilutongan Island which can be reached by ferry from Cebu island.

We had to circle three time above Mactan island before landing and I was able to see this fabulous resort with an enormous pool, which from google maps I gather is Plantation Bay Resort. Below you can find a video of from us circling Cebu and landing in Mactan.

Plantation Bay Resort and Spa pools in Mactan island 

The domestic airport is located in the 65km2 Mactan island across the channel from Cebu City on Cebu Island.

It was here that in 1521 during the Battle of Mactan the Portuguese born explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Fernao Magalhaes) was killed by the Mactan chief Lapu Lapu and his men. 

At Mactan Airport and the Waterfront Airport Hotel seen from the airport

We landed around 10,30am and shortly after we exited the airport and crossed the road to the Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan.

We had a few hours to spare as the International terminal was only a 15 min bus ride away, and again thanks to an internet search of what we could do on the island during our 5 or 6 hour stay, I came across a blog where someone mentioned that the Waterfront Hotel was the ideal place to relax by the pool, shower, get wi-fi and eat a good buffet meal at the Uno Restaurant for the sum of Php1000 (Aud27) each. And that is what we chose to do! 

Waterfront Hotel - Restaurant (top right) Lobby, Christmas gingerbread house bakery

We checked in our luggage and decided to have an early lunch as we had eaten breakfast at 7am. 
The food offering at the Buffet was fabulous, and we helped ourselves to various foods and salads.
The desserts looked mouthwatering and the chocolate fountain, wow, but we had already eaten too much, so we shared a plate with 3 or 4 desserts.
Coffee, juices and water were all included, but alcoholic drinks ordered from the bar have to be paid for, and they are very expensive.

One side of the Uno Buffet Restaurant

Buffet, dessert area, a castle cake and chocolate fountain

Desserts

After lunch we went down to the basement and sat reading on the chairs by the pool.
It was quite humid and we could have put our bathers on to swim but after a huge meal we didn't feel like it.

Hotel Pool and me on a lounger

About 2 1/2 hours before our flight departure we collected our luggage and crossed the road to the Domestic airport to catch the shuttle bus to the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, which is the Philippines second busiest airport. 

It opened in July 2018 and will have the capacity to handle 12,5 million passengers a year.  The old International airport is now just used as the Domestic terminal.

The modern Mactan-Cebu International Airport

We joined the line for Security and were asked for our airport tax receipt.
Back we went and joined a long line behind a counter with only 1 assistant!
Some people started complaining, one "clever" lady tried to jump the queue and was told off by the person who was then behind her, and she said she didn't realize that was a queue to pay the Airport tax 😡.

The tax was Php850 (Aud23) per passenger on international flights, and the Php300 for domestic flights, is always included in the ticket price.

After paying, we joined the long queue for passport control and security checks. There were dozens of counters but only 3 people working and time was ticking by. Once again people were complaining and some were asking the people ahead if they could jump the queue or they would miss their flight.
Eventually the person in charge requested another 3 staff members go to the counters.  Two started straight away but one of them took her time by first connecting a small fan, going through her bag, dusting the counter, etc before she finally called someone from the queue. 
Everybody was fuming...and then at security they made people remove shoes, and men had to remove belts, anything in their pockets, etc.

Finally over, we ran to the departure gate as they were calling for passengers to board the Air Asia flight to Singapore.
Jose and I were sitting in different rows, but it was only a 3,30h flight to Singapore.
With no entertainment I tried to read my book, but in the middle seat next to me was a 6 or 7 year old boy watching movies on his tablet without his headphones on, so the sound was distracting. His mother on the aisle seat had her own tablet and headphones so the noise didn't bother her for sure!!

And after a short delay due to late passengers (not us) we were on our way to Singapore.

From Panglao (little island below Bohol) and Mactan (the little island across Cebu) (photo from the internet)

A 2 minute video I made of our little plane circling above Cebu and landing in Mactan island.