I Got My Diving License in Cebu and Spent Six Days Eating Lechon

In June 2026, I traveled to Cebu in the Philippines.

The biggest goal of the trip was to get my diving license on Mactan Island. Looking back, though, it feels like I spent just as much time eating lechon, drinking San Miguel, and getting swept up in unexpected events as I did underwater.

It started with somehow ordering enough Jollibee for 5 people right after I arrived. Then, just before heading home, I left my iPhone in a Grab. Somehow, both situations worked out in the end.

Here is a look back at the 6 days from June 4 through 9, with plenty of photos along the way.

Table of Contents

• June 4: Heading to Narita Airport
• June 5: Arriving in Cebu and a Food Fight on Day One
• June 6: The Fear and Fun of Breathing Underwater
• June 7: Getting My Diving License
• June 8: Leaving My iPhone in a Grab
• June 9: Exploring Cebu City Before Flying Home
• Final Thoughts

June 4: Heading to Narita Airport

With a flight the next morning, I started the trip with an overnight stay near Narita Airport. I took the Narita Express to the airport with all my luggage in tow.

For dinner, I went to Matsudo Tomita Mendan at Narita Airport. After one bowl of ramen before departure, I checked into the hotel. I was still in Japan, but reaching the airport made it feel like the trip had already begun.

June 5: Arriving in Cebu and a Food Fight on Day One

I flew from Narita Airport to Mactan-Cebu International Airport on Cebu Pacific Air.

My first meal after landing was at Jollibee. Somehow, though, the food I ordered turned into enough for 5 people. With plate after plate of spaghetti and fried chicken lined up across the table, my first day in Cebu became an instant food fight.

I still do not really understand how it happened. But once I had ordered it, there was nothing left to do but eat. That first meal became a pretty unforgettable start to the trip.

Afterward, I checked in at Mercure Mactan Cebu. I took a short break, then went to The Mactan Newtown to exchange cash for the trip.

From there, I headed to The Mactan Newtown Beach. People were parasailing over the water, and beyond them I could see boats traveling back and forth to Olango Island. Instead of rushing from one sight to the next, it felt good to spend some time by the sea, idly watching the sky and the boats.

For dinner, I went to Mactan Alfresco. I compared several kinds of lechon and drank plenty of San Miguel. The crispness of the skin and the flavor of the meat varied a little from place to place, and from day one, lechon had already become the center of the trip.

There were cats everywhere around here, and every one of them was ridiculously cute. The dogs, on the other hand, were a little scary. Whenever one came close, I found myself tensing up.

June 6: The Fear and Fun of Breathing Underwater

The morning was day one of my diving license course.

I was confident in my swimming, so I had been thinking, “If I can breathe underwater, I can basically swim forever.” But once I put on the gear and actually went under, breathing underwater itself was scary at first. My head knew I could breathe, but my body was not ready to believe it.

Once I got used to the feeling, though, it suddenly became fun. Little by little, I began to understand what it felt like to enter the world I had only ever watched from the surface.

In the afternoon, we met up with one more person at the airport. After that, we had dinner at Azure Beach Club.

We came all the way to Cebu and still ended up eating at a place called Azure. Apparently, we cannot help being Azure Travelers wherever we go.

June 7: Getting My Diving License

The morning was day two of the diving course. The fear I had felt about breathing underwater the day before had faded, and I finally had enough room to enjoy being in the ocean.

Then I did it: I got my diving license. I finished with a fun dive, where I saw huge schools of sardines. The sight of all those fish surrounding me was genuinely beautiful.

In the afternoon, we walked around Ayala Malls. The daytime heat in the Philippines makes it tough to stay outside sightseeing for long. A cool shopping mall, where you can walk around and stop for breaks, is a welcome relief.

I took a breather over an iced coffee at Bo’s Coffee Primo. Bo’s Coffee is a common sight in the Philippines.

For dinner, we went to Sugbo Mercado. We wandered through the crowded food stalls and enjoyed a mango shake from Ally Mango, along with more lechon.

June 8: Leaving My iPhone in a Grab

In the morning, we went to SM City Cebu to buy souvenirs. I picked up dried mangoes and banana chips, both classic Filipino treats.

For lunch, we went to I Love Bucket Shrimps Mactan. We ate a generous serving of garlic shrimp while looking out over the waterfront.

We had planned to go sightseeing in the afternoon, but that was when trouble hit. I had left my iPhone in the Grab car.

I opened Find My on another iPhone and could see the missing phone moving. We asked the hotel staff for help, and they called the Grab driver for us.

The driver said, “I have another passenger right now, so I will bring it over after I drop them off.” Watching my iPhone keep moving across the map while I waited was deeply unsettling.

In the end, the driver brought it all the way back to the hotel, and my iPhone returned safely. I was so relieved. I am still nothing but grateful to the hotel staff and the driver.

We missed our chance to go sightseeing, but we did make it to Rico’s Lechon - Ayala Malls Central Bloc for dinner. We had lechon, sisig, and a noodle dish that was a little like yakisoba. The sisig was especially good. Of everything I ate on this trip, that was number one.

June 9: Exploring Cebu City Before Flying Home

Our flight home was at 2:00 a.m. on June 10 - in other words, 26:00 on June 9. We first moved to a day-use hotel so we would have somewhere to spend the time until then.

For lunch, we went to Gerry’s SM Cebu. The Sinigang na Baboy I ordered was an intensely sour soup filled with pork and vegetables. The sharp sourness that spread through my mouth from the first bite made a lasting impression.

After lunch, we visited Magellan’s Cross and Fort San Pedro. The atmosphere was different from Mactan Island, where we had spent the first half of the trip, and we walked through places that gave us a sense of Cebu’s history.

For an early dinner, we went to House of Lechon for the last lechon of the trip.

That brought our meals in Cebu to a close. We returned to the day-use hotel, picked up our luggage, and headed to the airport for the late-night flight.

Final Thoughts

With diving, I started out afraid of breathing underwater. Two days later, I was on a fun dive, watching schools of fish all around me. Getting my license was the biggest achievement of the trip.

At the same time, the unplanned moments are some of the ones I remember most clearly: the 5 servings at Jollibee and the iPhone I left in a Grab. When the phone came back, I really felt how lucky I was to have the help of the hotel staff and the driver.

I went diving, cooled off in malls whenever the heat got to be too much, and spent my nights with lechon and San Miguel. Right through the end, it was 6 days of eating, drinking, and staying on the move.