kota beach - bantayan island

the view from hagnaya port to kota beach.

when we reached the port's main entrance, mang dodong from Kota Beach is already waiting for us and ushered us to the van, aside from us there are about 6 koreans already inside the van and our designated seat is in the front. mang dodong was actually friendly and he already asked us what we plan to do at bantayan island.

we said we wanted to go on island hopping and explore bantayan island and he immediately offered us a discounted boat rental that we can use for island hopping for only Php 800 which already include rental of snorkeling gear. we immediately accepted his offer and since we want to start early and catch the sunrise we agreed for a 6AM time, and he assured us that by 6AM our boatman will be waiting for us outside our cottage and he will wake us up, kinda like a wake up call, by knocking at our cottage door at 530AM. everything is set for our island hopping trip. and since we mentioned we also wanted to explore the island he said there are bicycles for rent for Php 150 each for the whole day already, so we can pedal our way around the island, we are excited since it's been a while since we rode a bike but we didnt confirm when are we going to rent the bikes since we only have like 2 days at the island and we already have island hopping scheduled.
we actually squealed with delight when we saw our cottage, which will be our home for 2 days :) aint this cottage so cute :) we reserved this non-aircon cottage which is Php 1,079 per day not bad diba? the cottage is simple and very basic pero presko, simple yet functional... the only downside is they dont have hot shower in their cottages and rooms. hirap pa naman ako maligo nd di mainit ang tubig, sigh lola na talaga ako LOL.

they dont have tv or ref in the cottages but who need those when you are in a beach paradise :) ours is a non-aircon room but you can see in the photo that there is an aircon unit, it is functional but we are good people we didnt used it, we just used the fan provided by them :)

nice eh? the most expensive cottage they offer is Php 2,000 per day which is beach front but basically the cottages are all the same, its just that with the 2k your cottage is at beach front but we dont really need to pay that since our cottage is less than a minute walk from the beach and we can still see the beach from our veranda, as seen in this photo.
the nice beach chairs, dang i forgot to take a photo of myself in chillax mode here LOL
and Kota Beach's famous sand bar :)
after testing the water and taking some photos we ordered a late lunch at Kota Beach's restaurant, we are already famished since we only ate donuts and some chorizos so we had a very late lunch which is delicious
and we also had chicken barbeque and soda to complete our meal, its so nice to have lunch looking over the sea
anyways after lunch, we just settled and head off to the beach
very beautiful, gusto ko maging sirena pag laki ko
syempre pikytur taking muna :)
pektyur pektyur pa :)
picking shells at the beach
twilight
sunset at bantayan island
we weren't so lucky to view the magnificent sunset at bantayn island but this is enough for us, as long as we're at the beach, chillax and enjoy :)
uyyy ume-emote hehehehe. anyways after swimming, glenn- another staff from kota beach approach us at our cottage and offered his services
Glen's padyak services, ano naman inisip nyo agad! he said if we want to dine out and he recommended Marisqueira o Portuguese restaurant which he said have a buffet with bottomless iced tea for only Php 245. we said okay since we do not really know the area yet and he also asked us if we want to go on island hopping the next day but we informed him that we already had an agreement with mang dodong, then he offered us his serivces again this time he said he'll buy us our brunch for our island hopping and he'll give it to our boatman for cooking at the island. so we gave him Php 500 to buy us some fish and liempo
sulit ang Php 245 sa portuguese restaurant sa amin, as in we ate a lot! espceially crabs yummy :) you can even choose from their fresh fish, pork chop, liempo, or squid to be grilled, for free, also included in the 245... sobrang mura diba! and we really enjoyed their bottomless iced tea, buffet na free drinks pa san ka pa :) oh btw they only have this special buffet every saturday night
after dinner we were thinking of going to a bar but then again decided to just buy sanmig light at a store and have our drink fix there, shet lola na talga kami LOL. well anyways it was fun drinking at our cottage' veranda with music coming from my iPhone, tamang kwentuhan lang :)

we also agreed with glen that instead of us renting a bike, we'll just rent a motorcycle which he'll drive and he'll be our guide as well at the bantayan island. so all is set for our next days itenerary....

Kota Beach fast facts, its not just we stayed at Kota Beach but i think this is the best resort to stay when you're at Bantayan Island! Kota beach is just across Budyong resort and on the other side there is Marlins beach resort, when you go out of Kota Beach there are lots of padyak waiting and offering to take you wherever you want for how mnuch you want to pay them but then again i'd suggest you just walk, since Kota Beach is practically near evrything, near a school, near Sta./ Fe market, near the restaurants and grocery stores, so better walk besides bantayan Island is a safe place, the people are friendly and nice.

***my other bantayan island, cebu pictures and posts:

• trip to cebu
• going to bantayan island
• kota beach - bantayan island
• virgin island
• exploring bantayan island