Carabao Island: first destination for this gypsy...Romblon

San Jose , Romblon
4.19.2010



My first ever beach trip for the year 2010 happened last month with relatives of 4 adults and 5 kids. My ever so generous cousin Ate Vienne paid for everything, airfare, resort and food for 4 days and 3 nights in the beautiful Carabao Island in Romblon, a 30 minute boat ride away from Puka Beach of the famous Boracay Island.



With all the chaos that happened in NAIA 3, we finally boarded our 72 sitter to Caticlan. The flight was on time and after more chaos arranging 5 kids on a sitting arrangement, we finally took off. We arrived in Caticlan hungry to start our vacation. As I was pulling luggage after luggage, I saw my cousin chitchatting with a tattooed tall white guy, then another tall guy appeared. Turns out they were the present management of the resort where we will stay. The tattooed guy was Martin, the other non-tattooed was Hilmut. Two men helped us with our bags and led us to 3 worn out…really worn out vans. Just after few minutes, we pulled over the ferry station and helped us through. The ride was 45 minutes, it was almost 5pm and the waves were strong, some got seasick, but was able to hold back while my Liv and Nico enjoyed the bumpy ride. Finally our banca got closed to an island, we got so excited to see that the place seems quiet and not commercialized as Bora. For another 3 minutes we walked to our resort…and were greeted by…a beautiful, quiet place called Ivy’s Vine Resort. Excited like a poodle on heat, we unpacked and changed into our vacation outfit. For the rest of that afternoon the kids enjoyed a quick dip while I breathe thick sea salt air.


Martin and Hilmut prepared our dinner that night and served us pork & beef curry, it was surprisingly delicious! They also served us vegetable salad with vinaigrette dressing. I loved it!



Warned by the Germans, the lights go off at 11pm and will be back by 4am. We thought, it’s cool, I mean, I’m sure its not that hot and we’ll probably sleep off the no-fan night. We were wrong.
Once the lights went off…I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead…tossing and turning, the kids woke up and couldn’t sleep. I got off the bed and walked out of the veranda with the emergency light. For few hours, we were up and fanning ourselves until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore…I had to go to bed.



I heard a clicking sound…I woke up and turned around, my cousin took a picture of me and my nieces on our very best sleeping moments. I stood up and the beautiful shoreline greeted me…aaahh! This is what I live for…after few minutes, the kids woke up one by one and the boys started to play around chasing crabs, while my cousins and I ran to the nearest place with coffee. The local bakery was only 5 minute walk away from our place. For 3 mornings, we spent few minutes there and were greeted by locals with smile on their faces, they would offer us a seat, a coffee, a bread, I would smile back at them feeling nice. It gave me some time to practice gratitude, the town locals were all very nice. By 8am the Germans together with their local chef, Cathy served us our hearty breakfast. The foods in the resort were all delicious, except for the pancit that we had (it was just a little bit salty) but the rest…I loved them all! Especially the vegetable salad that they always serve.



That day is for island hopping and for the kids to enjoy some snorkeling experience. We only went to Puka Beach, snorkeling area, then we settled to have lunch at one part of the island near Lorenzo resorts in Bora where again, another lovely lunch of seafood, before heading off to Boracay to buy some pasalubong at D’Mall. We set off to go back to our own hideaway mid afternoon, the kids were tired and between you and me…I remember my stomach cursing me.
As soon as we got back, I went straight to the shower room and took a refreshing bath to take out all the salt on my skin…and sand on my butt.


The next day, my cousin arranged for 5 motor bikes to take us to the other side of San Jose. As I hang on to our driver, I sandwiched my kid between my legs and sang him his favorite song. I usually do that when I feel that he’s starting to get nervous. We arrived on a beautiful beach in San Jose, where residents of Romblon quietly live in front of a long stretch of white sand and clear blue sea water. It was haven for me. There was no resort, they told us that they will just wait for us while we go for a swim. Although the waves were strong at that particular day, I fell in love with the place. After an hour of playing with the waves, we all went back to our resort and enjoyed a quiet afternoon.




The rest of our trip was enjoyable, it was a chaos though, I mean handling 5 kids was like managing a day care center. We got back to Manila just in time and I saw my dad waiting for us. I kissed my nieces and nephews goodbye and thanked my cousin and her best friend (whom we all love because she is uber nice!) for a wonderful summer getaway.
I recommend Carabao Island to anyone who would like a taste of Boracay for few hours and retired to a quiet place at night. Romblon is a place if you want to breathe and think and practice a lot of gratitude.




*since this was free trip (a treat from my cousin) I cannot give you a breakdown of our expenses. All I remember was the Cebu Pac airfare which was a bit high because we had a late booking.


For more info about Ivy’s resort, you can visit this site: http://cicetaiwan.com/

Panglao Island: Trip and Treat in Bohol

10.30-11.2 09

My parents dropped us off to NAIA terminal 2 around 6am on a Friday morning. They kissed their grandchild goodbye for a 4 day beach trip with me. He and I have been waiting for this getaway for sometime now. It’s going to be a long weekend for us, 4 days and 3 nights at a beach resort in Panglao Island. Enzo can’t wait to see a starfish again and I can’t wait to wear my new green swimsuit and tan away to the sound of waves.

PAL flight took off just in time and in just one hour, Enzo and I are already inside a white car with a driver from the resort chatting his way to get a tour package out from us। Unfortunately for him, it’s my 3rd time to visit the Bohol, and I’ve been to all the tourist spots।

As soon as we walked our way to our resort, I could already feel that familiar smell, that familiar feeling. The beach salty air becomes thick, and like the rim of a margarita, I can taste it on my own lips. But this trip is all motherly bonding. I can’t have alcohol nor dance naked (it’s not like, I can…but) the point is that, this is a trip for my kid to enjoy the beach.


As this trip was travel agency prepared, I checked us in smoothly at Isis Bungalows and we went to our room, changed, with camera in hand, we went straight to the famous Thai restaurant in the resort. I ordered my first Thai food, Enzo had carbonara pasta and we both finished it up with mango shake. Most of their food ranges from Php200-350, some serving can be good for sharing, some are not. As soon as lunch was over, Enzo ran towards the beach shouting “wuhooooo!!!!” “wuhoooooo!!!!!” I was afraid he would take off his clothes like a crazy guy….i waited until he finally made his big splash....no butt showing. Good. When I checked that he’s fine, I went back to my beach chair with my book. For full 4 days we would be doing such as Enzo sings “no chores, no sleeping early, no school…I love it” But in our 3 nights there, he would usually retire by 7pm due to exhaustion from playing by the beach and swimming.

Our first evening, I was excited to try on their Tom Yung, Thai food. Isis Bungalows offers Thai food with their very own Thai chef, of course she looks like a Filipina, but you would know that she’s not when she starts talking, her accent is very different. Enzo ordered buttered chicken fillet, which he loved. Tom Yung was a success, it wasn’t too spicy though, as I forgot to request but all in all it was great.
We hang out on the beach chairs and took several shots of us fooling around. It was windy that night, Enzo and I decided to take a walk, but we didn’t go too far as I was feeling a little tired and fighting a cold that could ruin my vacation. We went back and settled in to our big bed, cuddle up, turned on our tv, turned the air condition up and went to sleep.

The next morning, up by 6am, my little boy was kicking and excited to be in the water again. We had our breakfast by the beach, I enjoyed the deluxe breakfast (bread, ham, sausage, bacon, butter & jam, coffee and fruit slices) while he tried their Filipino rice, dried fish (danggit), egg and mango juice. Of course, knowing my kid, he took my bacon and happily had his breakfast. That particular morning was windy, there were waves and it wasn’t the calm water beach we like. We took a walk after, we went to North side of the beach which is where the Alona Palm Beach Club is located. The sand bar is way, way, way better than in Isis. So for catching up the sun, to just lay down, enjoy a book, enjoy your music and relax, it’s the perfect spot. I love wide sand bar, it’s just beautiful. Enzo and I settled down, I let him play with the sand, while I watch our things and get back to reading Anthony. Before it hits 10, I told him we should get back for lunch and rest, he hates it of course. But he gathered his snorkeling gear and came to me while we walk back to our resort. We stopped by at Ooops Bar and treated ourselves with banana split. After lunch, we stayed under the coconut trees in front of our resort, I enjoyed having my new phone with me, as there was wi-fi around the resort, so that was a good thing. Enzo played his gameboy and I catch up with some friends online.

That afternoon, we went for a swim in front of Alona Palm Beach, less rocks, less seaweeds. We stayed for few hours and went back to Isis just in time for shower and dinner.
On our 3rd day, we were blessed with calm water and just baby waves. We could see fishes swimming around on shallow water. So after breakfast, Enzo and I immediately changed and bathe ourselves with sun block and pulled a beach chair and enjoyed our morning swim. That night, I decided to treat us for a nice dinner…enough of Thai food. We went for a walk through the small and big lined up restaurants and bars along Alona Beach, it was a mixture of Boracay and Puerto Galera scene. Dinner time, we had baked oysters, Enzo’s favorite chicken barbeque, baked potatoes, kilawin and sweet and sour pork. We didn’t stay outside for long, Enzo was dozing off already after we ate. That night, I scared the shit out of me while I lay in our bed watching horror movies.

Our last day, we woke up just the same and went for a stroll along the quiet bars of Alona Beach. The bars and restaurants were still closed, no tourists, the locals were up and were seated along the stretch of white sands, they greeted me with a smile and I politely smiled back. Enzo was trying to catch those little white crabs while I walked along and shoot every corner of the beach to make sure I take home with me the beautiful scene of our last morning on the island.
Finally we reached the far end of the beach, we walked back to our resort and on our way, I saw this local little girl, probably about 5 or 6 years old. She was running her way towards the water…naked. She was giggling and she had this expression on her face like it was her first time in the water, no clothes, no shoes, no problem. I took a couple of shots and I was a bit hesitant at first cause I might scare her away. She saw me clicking at her and she gave me a very innocent child smile, I smiled back at her…all this time Enzo was trying to ignore that his mom was taking shots of this naked little girl, he felt shy and covered his eyes most of the time.
For the whole morning, we enjoyed the beach one last time, had breakfast and lunch and packed our stuff and ready to go home. I could see from Enzo’s eyes that he is tired and he just wants to go home. We waited for more than 2 hours for the car to take us to the airport…over those hours we waited, Enzo was frustrated with just waiting there. When we got to the airport, the most unfortunate thing happened (well, at least for my kid), our flight that afternoon was cancelled due to mechanical problem of the aircraft. My 8 year old couldn’t started crying out of frustration. I calmed him down and got ourselves into the hardest part of our trip...lining up to be accomodated for the night. PAL took care of us and sent all the passengers for that flight to the nearest hotel that night, paid for our dinner and breakfast. When we got to hotel, Enzo, who cried his eyes out…was finally himself again…jumping from one bed to another and enjoying his cartoon network shows.

The next morning, everyone was up and early for the special flight. We boarded the plane and took off 7:30am from Tagbilaran and reached Manila an hour after. My mom was there waiting for her “apo”. They had my work clothes and I changed on the way to work.
My Panglao trip was such a relaxing time for me and Enzo…just a little bit of hassle in the end but it was nothing compared to what the island gave us, a vacation.

For more info about the resort: http://www.isisbungalows.com/