Leaving wet rainy England behind, we arrived in Cebu excited as a warm wave of tropical air welcomed us. A new destination to explore – we couldn’t wait!! Immigrations went smoothly and within 45 min we were exiting the airport terminal to find Michael, our host for our stay, waiting for us. Bottles of water and snacks were presented and our two and a half hour journey to the resort began.

The road exiting Cebu city took us past shanty towns and fish markets stretching over the waters of lagoons and rivers and then through several towns along the east coast before winding over the mountains to the west coast. A fascinating journey. Another 40 min brought us to Kasai Village where we were warmly welcomed by the staff and presented with a refreshing Kasai mango shake. A quick introduction was given and we were shown to our spacious rooms prepared with flowers on the bed. Exhausted from the long journey but happy to have arrived, we had dinner and headed off to bed full of anticipation for the coming days.

The following morning we were introduced to the dive school, presented with our rental gear and shown our very own hanging and storage space for our equipment. Diving began with a check out dive on Kasai Village’s stunning house reef. Just past the dive centre, a short walk and swim across a coral plateau leads to a dramatic drop off teaming with life. It felt great to be blowing bubbles again and it was immediately obvious that we were in for some fantastic diving with perfect visibility and a huge amount to discover.

Following a light lunch and a swim in the pool, we headed off for our second dive of the day. This was a boat dive off Kasai’s traditional style outrigger called a Banaca that works perfectly as a day boat. Tobago Marine Park, a short hop up the coast brought us a great gentle dive on a steep wall over flowing with an enormous variety of coral life. Schooling reef fish ducked and dived around us and closer inspection of the reef brought wonderful findings of shrimps, crabs and nudibranches. A turtle made an appearance towards the end of the dive too.

Not satisfied with just the two dives for the day and excited to discover more, I signed up for a night dive. Three of us including the dive master Joanna once again headed for the house reef just as it was getting dark. The reef buzzed with life and the strangest of creatures busied them selves amongst the coral heads. Huge basket stars positioned them selves in optimum feeding positions stretching their alien like arms out into the dark. During the dive we saw octopus, a cuttlefish feeding, huge nudibranches and snails, bizarre looking crabs and shrimps and to end it all we came across two shadow batfish in the shallows. Our 60 minute dive ended in perfect time to join the others for dinner.

The rest of our stays diving did not disappoint. Most mornings we did two boat dives and added on a few extra afternoon dives or night dives during our two weeks for a small additional fee. We discovered critters neither of us had come across before such as the mandarin fish, the ornate ghost pipefish and the orangutan crab, basked in the vivid colours of the extensive variety of coral life and thoroughly enjoyed the small groups and easy relaxed diving. The whole host of macro creatures gave me the perfect chance to practise my underwater photography. Jonas our dive guide gave us detailed dive briefings and was keen to teach us two new species every dive. A sunken aeroplane and Cathedral Caves added a different twist to the weeks diving and a few of our surface intervals were spent on White Beach sun bathing on the gorgeous white sand, my kind of surface interval.

During our trip we also had the opportunity to experience Cebu topside on a few non-diving days. The area around Kasai Village Beach Resort is very rural and heavy mountains form a gorgeous backdrop to the resort that sits on a peninsular. We took the opportunity to take a horse ride through the lush tropical mountaintops winding our way up narrow paths over local farmland, past water buffalo and smiling children. We did a similar tour towards the end of our trip on motorbikes. It was great fun dirt biking up rough mountain road. On this tour we also had the opportunity to swim in a waterfall and drink and eat fresh coconut straight from the tree served by a local family at the highest point.

On our fourth day the Kasai Village team took us on a short trek to see three beautiful waterfalls. The aqua blue of the water is breathtaking against the lush green jungle. We had the opportunity to swim under the cool waterfalls and had a BBQ prepared for us for lunch. Local women washed their cloths at the rivers spring whilst children played in the water. Two local women shared a water apple fruit with me, a friendly gesture that mirrors the warmth and friendliness of Cebu’s people.

Our final non-diving day was spent in Cebu City on a cultural tour. We spent the morning looking around San Pedro, a 16th century fort built during the Spanish invasion, a huge Catholic church reflecting the main religion of Cebu as well as a Taoist Temple revealing a Chinese influence. We also visited a local market with stockpiles of dry fish, fruit and flip-flops! Intrigued locals waved and smiled as we passed. Lunch was taken in a local restaurant where we indulged in local cuisine. The afternoon hours were passed browsing the 8-hectare super mall for some great bargains on clothes and shoes. Exhausted but with a better understanding of Cebu and a few sneaky purchases, we returned to our tranquil resort for a swim and a beer.

Dived up, relaxed and having a real sense of discovery we spent our last day pampering our selves with Kasai Villages Spa treatments. Their Divers Massage is exceptional and one pedicure and manicure later we were feeling very special indeed. With our tans topped up we prepared for our last nights Beach BBQ. Tables were laid out on the sand terrace on the waters edge, lit with burning torches. A local band provided the entertainment and we chatted happily about all the wonderful discoveries we had made over our two-week stay. A truly unique destination. As the sun dropped behind the mountains of Cebu’s neighbouring island and the sky filled with pink, I could only hope that I will have the opportunity to visit this amazing island and resort again in the very near future.