At the first beach the charge was 50 pesos to enter. We found it fairly unusual to pay to go to the beach so continued on. The next beach we came to was in a locals area. It was not really a beach but access to the sea. It was in a rather seedy area with lots of graffiti. We decided not to take a dip here. Finally we came to another small public beach. This one had sand and was opposite a small island. It was only 10 pesos to enter so we paid up.
Darryl went for a swim and swam across to the small island. The water was shallow but there was a strong current running between the island and the mainland. There was also nothing to see except a sandy bottom and lots of broken glass on the seabed.
After a quick dry off we left and bought an ice candy from a hole in the wall. As most of the shops have bars, this is the best description. The lady was very friendly and told us how she made the ice candy with lots of evaporated milk and other sweet things! She also told us not to go back to the beach at night as it is dangerous. We trusted her judgement!
We left, got lost and found ourselves leaving the grafitti lined walls and appearing at a brand new and very modern housing estate. It certainly wasn't expected. The security guards pointed us in the right direction back to the main road. We stopped for lunch at a little stall. It appears the lady artificially increased the prices for the western tourists but the meal for the 2 of us was still very cheap indeed.
On the main road we took a Jeepney the last few kilometers to the Mactan Shrine. The shrine consisted of a couple of interesting statues, one of Lapu Lapu, an chieftain and one to commemorate the Battle of Mactan, with a background of mangroves and islands. Lots of stages and stalls were being set up for a big festival in a few days to celebrate the victory of the Battle of Mactan with a reenactment of the battle. Unfortunately, we will be leaving tomorrow.
A jeepney took us half way to the hotel and dropped us off at the shopping centre. We stocked up on snacks for tomorrow's journey. and changed our last pesos to dollars. Back at the hotel we packed our bags before eating dinner at our local BBQ stall!
