Kids and Family Snorkeling, Cebu Philippines

One of the best hotels that we visited this year is the Shangri-La Mactan Cebu! And there are just so many reasons to love this hotel. Previously, we have featured the Shangri-La Playground and rooms, and in Part 2 of this post, we want to heighten your expectations, on what else you can expect at this 5 Star resort.

In our opinion, one of the best things about Shangri-La Mactan is the Marine Sanctuary just on the hotel beaches. Officially established on February 1, 2007, it is home to over 160 species of marine life, including around 70 giant clams, are found in the six-hectare Shangri-La Marine Sanctuary. Being brought up in concrete Singapore, Mummy and Daddy including the kids are very foreign to marine life. However, all these things changed when the Hotel’s Marine Biologist educated us about Marine Life and conservation.

One of the highlights of our stay at Shangri-La Mactan Cebu, is the chance to build a fish house. Yes! This is an artificial concrete house, where marine life can make their home under the pristine waters of the Cebu Sea.

I know…when we first saw the structure, we were wondering what on earth is this? Sand and cement is like chalk and butter to most Singaporeans, and we were no different. However, part of our family adventure is always about learning something new, and we were ready to get our hands dirty. And the good news is that this process is going to be much easier, as we had the Hotel’s Marine Biologist Irene Tan, to bring us through the whole process 🙂

As we built our house, we were able to inscribe our “Tay Family” initials into the house at all. Talk about building lasting memories! :). Besides making the pyramid structure with the cement, our Marine Biologist gathered broken corals from the nearby beach and taught us how to tie the corals to the rocks. In this way, Marine Life such as fishes and star fishes will be attracted to this new man-made home.

We were then taught to build a Fish House! Using concrete and cement, which is another foreign substance to bookworms like my wife and I. Together with metal wires, we tied the broken corals with the rocks that we picked up from the ocean.

Thankfully the whole process did not take too long, as the staff at the Shangri-La offered their assistance. Many thanks to our attentive Marine Biologist who explained everything to us, and made the whole process fun! Before long, our house was completed, and we had to leave it overnight for the cement to dry.

And of course, the whole afternoon will not be complete, until you have gone through the No.1 activity at Shangri-La Mactan Cebu, Philippines. Yes! We went Snorkeling! Supervised trips to the marine sanctuary are included in the scheduled children’s activities at the Adventure Zone, while a complimentary snorkeling safari for adults is offered daily.  One wall of the resort’s Entertainment Zone is dedicated to photographs of the various species to be found underwater, and a similar sign is located on the beach.

Normally, when you go snorkeling to see corals, one needs to take a boat out! However, the best part about being next to a Marine Sanctuary is that you just swim out from the beach, and the corals and Marine life are all out there! 🙂

And these are the type of fishes that can spotted when one goes snorkeling. Expect to spot  angelfish, banner fish, blue tang, butterfly fish, clownfish, clown sweetlips, goldfish, lion fish, pipefish, puffers, rainbowfish and wrasses. Ya! Amazing right. Here are some of the fishes that we spotted with our guide! Many thanks to our guide’s underwater camera, who managed to catch the pictures of our underwater adventure.

Here is a picture of us feeding the fishes. Our guide was under the water when he took the photo! 🙂 The marine life is simply amazing! Just let go of the fish food, and the fishes are all swimming around you, ravenous for the fish food. It is quite a sight, not just for the kids, but for Daddy and Mummy as well! 🙂

And lastly, this is our fish house! Our Marine Biologist Irene put the fish house into the ocean a few days later and she sent us these photos! Nadine was delighted to see a Star Fish taking up residence in our house. A totally out of the world experience! 🙂

The whole snorkeling experience was simply amazing, and after an hour in the ocean, we were glad to be able to return to our hotel room. The great thing about Shangri-La Mactan Cebu is that there are so many ways to relax when you are at the hotel.

The scenic hotel is able to offer a picnic lunch for patrons, if you want to try out something new, during your stay at the hotel. We were given a gazebo near the swimming pool, and we had own private corner, as we sat down and had our lunch. Totally relaxing, and we could simply sit back and enjoy our day in Paradise.

Just on a side note, if you are a mango lover, you have to bring some mangoes back home with you. The mangoes here are really sweet, and cheap for Singapore standards. Just head out to a fruit shop on a way back to the Airport, and the shopkeepers will be able to package the mangoes for one to hand-carry up your flight via SilkAir.

And if you want to experience the cultural part of the Cebu, all you need to do is to stay on the resort and wait for nightfall. There is a cultural show every Monday and Friday night at the Buko Bar, where patrons will get to experience a local buffet, together with a healthy douse of Filipino culture.

As you can see, we had a great time experiencing the culture of Philippines as we sat through the cultural show. And the great thing, is that we did not need to leave the Shangri-La resort to experience the whole thing. To end the whole evening, we even had a chance to try the famous bamboo dance together! Totally Awesome experience! Stay tuned for Part 3 of our Post, as we talk about Things to do in Cebu!

This is Part 2 of our series on Shangri-La Mactan Cebu in the Philippines. To see post 1 of Shangri-La Mactan, do click here.