Still in need of sleep and good caffeine, I arrived at the new airport terminal 3 at 3:45am. Armed with my new Canon EOS 1000D and pack light baggage (as if…I swear I loaded about 10 kilos of beach wardrobe over my back on that trip) I got in and found my about-to-get-married couple/friends, Ina and Jun with sleepy look on their faces sitting on the waiting lounge. Just after few seconds, the last member of the Cebu crew arrived, Pin.
We decided to check in one bag for our liquid needs, lotion, night cream (of course, we cant survive without ‘em), tanning lotion, skin toner, our very own shampoo (just to be sure, you’ll never know what kind of shampoo they freebie on a middle class resorts and our facial wash (we’re women, we have double standards to live up to) After checking in and after we passed all the brouhaha in the airport, we took few minutes to take pictures.
Even it was our first time in the newly built NAIA Terminal 3, we were able to find our gate exit and was in time for boarding.
Pin, Maui and Ina
We arrived in Cebu at exactly 6:00am, the morning sunshine was almost there, the morning air was just perfect and we were still hoping to find a coffee vending machine. We got out and a police man approached the 4 sleepy looking travelers, asked us where we need to go. He was kind enough to direct us to a cab parked outside the airport and told manong driver to take us to North Bus Terminal and to use meter for our ride (every airport should have that kind of security) The ride wasn’t that long (or maybe because we were early and the traffic was still good)
We arrived at the terminal with one bus leaving. We approached the drivers who were standing and reading newspaper in front of their busses. They informed us there’s no aircon bus traveling to Hagnaya port that day, we just have to ride the non-aircon...we looked at each other and knew that our adventure starts there.
Bus terminal to Hagnaya port
the bus that almost gave me a heart attack...they drive like a suicidal man out there!
The bus was still empty, we bought food and sat near the bus door. Pin and I, while Jun and Ina sat behind us, had our little breakfast inside while waiting for it to leave. After few more minutes, the bus left and we were in for a ride.
It was a grueling 4 hour ride, the bumps, the heart stopping driving around the corner of the cliff, and not to mention the dust. In that 4 hour ride…we knew, we're too far away from the city.
Hagnaya Port
We arrived in Hagnaya around 10am. We were told that there’s no fastcraft traveling to Sta. Fe for some time now. They only have Super Shuttle Ferries that travels for an hour and 15 mins. while the fastcraft only takes 30 to 45 mins. We almost felt that our trip was not going well the way we planned it when the porter told us that it was a free ride. They were celebrating a thanksgiving thing for the previous typhoon that hit Cebu but fortunately there were no casualties. We were okay with that, but we felt our stomach grumbling for food.
Pin and I saw barbeque street food, I couldn’t resist the smell, I just have something to eat.
We took our seats on the side near the railing of the ferry, it was a nice spot. After taking pictures, Ina fell asleep and so did Pin. Jun and I had our own iPod to thank for the one hour boat ride.
Sta. Fe Port
Finally in Sta. Fe! For this trip, we got our tips from the website wowbantayan.com, on that site, we were warned about the porters, although travelers, we are still Filipinos and we thought we could handle it. As soon as the ferry docked we heard voices of men calling as they ran towards the passengers, we thought the ferry was on fire! We figured them out as the porters when they stood inches away from us. We looked at each other and looked back at them waiting what they’re going to do as we hold onto to our dear backpacks. We told them politely that we could carry our bags and went our way to the exit.
Kota Beach Resort
As recommended in the website, Kota Beach was beautiful. They have coconut trees and plants around the resort.
Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we took our backpacks in the restaurant and ordered our most anticipated lunch! The first decent meal of the day and it was almost 1pm.
The price was reasonable for the meal was good for 4. Except for the huge flies docking on our food, drinks and everywhere else, the lunch was pretty great (or maybe we were just starving to death)
After lunch, room was ready and it was nice, we were 4 adults and with the size of our room, 2 more can actually stay with us. The bathroom was small but clean, the water was so-so, the shower wasn’t working well but with the room price, we can be patient about it (we rented the Superior cottage aircon for P1,700 a night)
our room
We settled in, changed and in just few minutes we were officially vacationers.
We took our spots on the beach chair few meters away from the water. The month was November and the resort was almost empty, it was like owning our very own vacation house. It was pretty quiet and we could only see maybe 2 or 3 tourist near our area. We took a walk to see what’s around near our place. There was nothing actually, very far from the image of Boracay. No shops, no ferris wheel, no bars or clubs, no peacock people (you know, the type of people who walks like “oh look at me, look at me and my so gay abs! that goes to both sexes and you can find them in Boracay) Bantayan Island, is a pretty quiet island, the people are friendly, and most of the locals are actually European. They visited, they fell in love and they stayed.
We went back to our resort and I felt thirsty. The crew ordered fresh Buko fruit (straight from the tree around us). The feeling was just too beachy.
I noticed that there were a lot of seashells around so I decided to collect some to take it home with me, together with my sand (my only collection, sands I got from islands I’ve been to and put them in a nice bottle and labeled them, the sand beach are now sitting pretty in our living room table with my son’s greenback turtle)
It was almost 6pm when we decided to go for our first dinner and yes, we were so looking forward to it. One of the great things you travel with adventurous people is that they always look forward to new food and explore it. They won’t hesitate, they won’t think about waistline or cholesterol. They will just dig in.
A couple of blocks away from our resort, we saw restaurants. There were two restaurants facing each other, D’Jungle which according to the website offers cheap buffet on weekends only, and the other was a Portuguese restaurant. We went for the latter, tomorrow night we planned to go cheap buffet. Restaurants there are not first class like in the cities, these are just small places but spacious enough for few tourist who come and visit the island. The owner was of course, a Portuguese, he came to our table to greet us, asked us about our orders. The menu was fusion, we were expecting Portuguese food…there were maybe 2 or 3, the rest was Tom Yung soup (Thailand), samosas (India) and there were even a couple of sandwiches and pasta. We ordered a little bit of Thai and Filipino, for drinks…the couple ordered San Miguel Draft beer, a beer mug of draft for myself and Pin stayed healthy…mango juice.
My verdict: Tom Yung soup was just full of curry not even spicy enough, not recommended. Kilawin tanigue (raw fish in vinegar and lots of spices!) it was so-so (the best kilawin I had in my life was in Davao), and the pork barbeque was just okay too.
We walked back to our resort, it was only 9:00 but the streets were already quiet. We stayed by our nipa hut veranda and enjoyed the night. The cold breeze by the beach was cold and the coconut leaves sounded like rain because of the wind.
Times like that…romantic.
2nd day
On the morning of our second day, all four of us were up by 6am. I went out and took a picture of it, it was beautiful. Another thing I love about this group, they don’t stay in bed, they’re up as early as anyone, it's like everyone's excited about the whole trip.
We were hungry (again) for coffee and good breakfast by the beach. I ordered danggit (salted small fish originally from Cebu) my choice of egg (2 scrambled egg…2 not one, its part of the meal), and garlic fried rice. The coffee was instant coffee…although I was expecting more than that…brewed coffee or kapeng barako, meal also includes juice and coffee. Ina tried the Continental breakfast, toast bread, jam/butter, with juice and coffee. Pin and Jun ordered same as mine, but Pin tried the corned beef instead of salted fish while Jun had Cebu longganisa.
The meal was great, except again for the extra sociable flies.
It was our schedule to visit the nearby island called Virgin island. Locals recommended it for snorkeling telling us it’s the best spot. We’re all geared up, even brought with us our own snorkel, mask and got extra goggles.
The roundtrip banca ride was P3,000, of course it depends on the size of the banca you’re renting, but with a budget trip like that, we thought, we’ll be okay and the price was pretty much bargain too.
After breakfast, we saw the banca…a very small banca. For a moment, I thought I’d ask them if they want to upgrade. But they all looked fine, besides, I am swimmer…well I havent tried swimming in the middle of the sea. Fingers crossed and praying, we got in to our small banca. Jun and Ina in front while Pin and I sat behind them, the captain manong was at the end of the banca.
But before we left, a set of dark clouds came into us with quick shower, we all ran back to a cottage near us. The rain shower lasted for about 10 minutes and alas! The sun came to us.
They told us it was going to be 15 minutes, we were okay with that, but we didn’t know that it would be the most scary 15 minutes for all of us. I only found out that they were also thinking of backing out when they saw the small banca later that day. The waves were smashing against us and just maybe after 5 minutes in the ride, all of us were already soaked.
I was a swimmer for 7 years and still swimming from time to time, but at that moment, I was praying so hard, we were all holding on to our dear lives (but in between we would exchange laughs and smiles trying to play cool while we re-enact a scene from the movie The Perfect Storm).
After praying for some time…I finally saw the island, the white sand and the coconut trees. I began to really smile. We got in and the water was just so clear! We could already see the fishes even when were still in our banca.
We paid P200 for the chair and table under a hut, there was also a small hammock (or as we call it duyan in tagalog) right beside our hut. It was perfect although the sun was coming in and out of us that day. The snorkeling part in Virgin Island was just amazing, better than Boracay, the reefs was just there and every kind of fish were swimming around your legs, your hands, it was so close you could actually touch them if you’re fast enough. We took a walk from north to south of the beach shore. The island was indeed a Virgin Island and I hope it stays that way. The beauty of it will be ruined if they place hotels and malls, the place itself is breathtaking.
We left the island after lunch, we were hungry and again, nervous about the 15 minutes ride back to our resort, but manong told us, the waves are now okay, so expect a smooth sailing. It was still a bumpy ride, but not as much as first one, so we gave manong a tip for bringing us back safely and paid him for the ride.
We decided to go to Sta. Fe market, which was about 30-45 minutes tricycle ride from our resort. We were told if we want to buy salted fish, the market was the right place to buy it. And I think all of our families had one thing on their mind, for us to buy them Danggit and other salted fish from the island.
We got there starving, we asked the tricycle driver to bring us to any seafood restaurant. He brought us at the back of the market, it was like street food style with tables and chair and yes…the extra sociable huge flies.
The lunch was horrible, we ate 45 days (or more) barbequed chicken, a different type of squid and rice.
After the not-so-nice lunch, we hurried inside the market since the sky was getting dark, and we’re not equipped for that.
We happily bought kilos and kilos of salted fish until we can’t carry them anymore.
Back in the resort, it was raining, we went to one of the cottages near the shore and enjoyed the afternoon…it was gloomy but it never killed our beach mode…after all that night was the buffet night at D’Jungle.
As per the locals advised, we went there early. The place was still empty but we were excited for the cheap rate, we started as early as 6:00pm.
There was Italian, Filipino, American, Chinese and seafood on the buffet. For P295 per person its inclusive of bottomless iced tea. Not bad, right?
The food was so-so, the only thumbs up was the grilled seafood, back ribs and barbeque, the rest were just the usual filipino food (that I can even cook at home...naks!) but of course, if I go back again, I will do the cheap buffet at D’Jungle.
you gotta burn those calories by camwhoring in our room veranda
That morning by the beach, the weather was perfect, I stayed under the sun until I can feel the heat on my skin.
BAKING with Ina
We were on time to catch the ferry back to Hagnayan port. We arrived to Hagnaya with the same scene as what happened with the porters at Sta. Fe. This time, totally ignored. A rented van was available to take us back to the city. The ride was shorter this time…or I guess because we were more comfortable with our sitting position, we got to take a short nap and the van was air conditioned.
Cebu City
We stayed at NS Royal Pensione Inn in Juan Osmena. The rooms were small but clean enough to stay for a night.
For dinner, we took the van driver’s advice to try Triple A restaurant, he said, its cheap and the food is good. As soon as we settled in, we hopped in to another cab to have dinner.
Triple A was not again a first class restaurant. It’s open air, chairs and tables are monoblock but the waiters were uniformed and we were well served so kudos to them! We ordered fresh seafood for cooking. We got seashells for soup (halaan) and tanigue for kilawin. We also got chopsuey (vegetable mixed) and grilled pork spareribs. For drinks we tried their iced tea shake, and man oh man!i so LOOOOVE the iced tea ! I will definitely go back there even for just the iced tea. The meal was delicious! It was so good we couldn’t believe our bill was only about P700…for 4 hungry adults, that was really cheap!
the super refresing, not to mention..cheap iced tea (the best for me...)
That night, Pin, Ina and I were trying to note our expenses, Jun was alone on the other room. The three of us were sitting on the bed, it was raining so hard we could hear thunder and we thought we were lucky enough that we're already in the city. Ina was telling us that their room looked weird as the bed was facing the door, she was in the middle of talking about how the scary saying goes when the lights went off! Imagine 3 girls, screaming all together at the same time! Ina and Pin jumped on each other to be close...while I was left alone. And yes! I freaked out! After maybe 5 seconds, the lights were back...and it was one of the highlights of our trip. Getting scared out of our wits!
The next day, the crew got up early to have breakfast on the Inn’s restaurant. Breakfast was part of the room rate, it was nothing special, it was the usual, fried rice, eggs, your choice either egg, sausage, danggit, ham or meatloaf.
We were ready to hit the road after, first stop was the oldest and famous Sto. Nino de Basilica church. It was Sunday so there was a lot of people, we got inside and it was huge! But so full of people, we said our little prayers and got out since we were wearing shorts and sando. Outside the church was the museum, we got in for P10.00 each. We saw old church things that were used in the old days, scriptures, Sto.Nino statues, Sto. Nino clothes, old rosaries, old priests gowns and more. Camera was not allowed inside so I wasn’t able to take a picture.
Basilica de Sto. Niño church (oldest church in Cebu)
At the side of the church was our next historical stop, Magellan’s cross. The original cross was covered by a replica. It was just inside a gazebo type. We took pictures and we went off to our next stop, The Fort San Pedro, where the Spaniards stayed during the war. The place was just similar to Fort Santiago or Intramuros, so for us it was very normal, but for foreigners it’s an attraction. 
Shopping!!!
After that, we were so hungry and tired, but there’s still one more Cebu City attraction, the Taoist Temple. My parents reminded to see the place since they once visited it when they were just newly weds. The place was a bit far from everything else, it was at the top of the hill. We got there almost 12 noon, the heat was just too much, it was obvious on some of my pictures, I had heatbitchystroke.
After we explored the temple, we were ready to go for lunch, but first we need to check out from the Inn. We finalized our bill and left our bags in the concierge. Triple A lunch was also great. It was just delicious and cheap so I very much recommend it to anyone who visits the city.
After lunch we hurried to the nearest pasalubong store, we got the local goods and went back to our Inn to get our bags and off to the airport.
It was still early when we checked in, but we’re just exhausted and ready to go home. I miss my kid so much, I couldn’t wait to see him.
The Cebu trip was tiring, but it was pleasurable too, the beach and the food was something I’d like to do again.
info about bantayan island: http://wowbantayan.com/wowhome/
