Ferry from Philippines to Maylasia

In 2013 I took the ferry from Zamboanga, Philippines, to Sadakan, Malaysia. I hadn't planned to take that trip, I was living in CDO at the time and got annoyed at the cost of a Philippine visa. Rather than pay the almost 250 Canadian dollars Immigration was demanding for one month, I went on a visa run, taking my gf along for the trip.

First the bus to Zamboanga, 1800 peso and everyone telling me not to go there. It was a 12 hour trip overnight through uninteresting country. Arriving in the early morning, we found everything closed except a bakery near the bus station. Along with our packs and a big bag of warm buns, we found a trike that would take us downtown, for a rather high price. Trikes in Zamboanga are like trikes in Thailand - they will charge whatever they think you can pay. But there were no taxies. 

Eventually we got to the Zamboanga port and after a lot of effort involving seemly everybody there, I had a ticket. There was some bad moments when a few men decided to start making vile sexual comments to my gf, leaving her in tears, so she left the port early and headed back to CDO. 

At 2 pm , I joined the lineups to get into the processing building. (warehouse) They were the usual 3 or 4 security points to get past and then over 6 hours to clear customs. At 9 pm they opened the doors and let us out to board our vessel. At midnight, the boat finally sailed. 

What was supposed to be a 12 hour trip actually took 24 hours. But they had bottled beer and fried chicken for sale , and a bunk to lie on, so no problem.  Entertainment was provided in the form of a 12 inch TV and an assortment of ancient Philippine movies played at full, tinny, volume. Toilets, surprisingly, were usable although sometimes foggy with tobacco smoke. The sea was clear green until we neared Malaysia where it turned a muddy brown color.

Around midnight the next day we arrived at port and cleared the efficient Sadakan customs in about an hour. On that occasion there was a holiday coming up so the next return boat was delayed until one week later.

One should keep in mind that schedules and sailing dates are more of a ideal than a reality.