after our island hopping we took a short nap and by 2PM we're out, glen our guide is waiting for us to tour us at the island and bring us to the bantayan public market.
we rented a motorbike (scooter type) with glen as our driver to explore bantayan island. motor rental is Php 250 and we paid for a 1liter gas sold at the street which is prefilled in a coke bottle which was Php 42 at the time. and we just gave Php 150 to glen for touring us
our first destiantion is the bantayan public market i cant remember which driver told us when we were in cebu city that if we wanted to buy danggit and we're going to bantayan island anyways, it's better to buy danngit at bantayan island because danggit is cheaper at bantayan island.
and true enough we were able to buy danggit for only Php 350 per kilo, comparing it to the Php 600+ per kilo in manila, it is a very good deal, also glen helped us haggle with the vendor and it was easier since they converse in cebuano, as y'all know we dont speak nor understand cebuano.
bantayan public market is a typical market you can see in the provinces
they have all sorts of dried fish, and weird looking bagoong? in tanduay bottles
they have lots of these dried fish which i forgot what they call, this one is pre-packed for 3 for Php 100
we also passed by bantayan townhall
actually the city of bantayan is pretty easy to explore, the church, plaza, townhall, and fire station are within the same vicinity
the big and old bantayan church or Saints Peter and Paul Church. "Bantayan was the first parish to be established in Cebu by the Augustinians. It was founded on June 11, 1580 as the Convento dela Asuncion de Nuestra Señora. It was one of the few parishes to be a part of the Archdiocese of Mexico (with the Archdiocese of Manila separating only in 1595)"
as you can see the church is big. "The geographical location of the island bring forth the trade between neighboring islands. It was at this point, Bantayan serves as transfer point of missionaries for the neighboring islands of Panay, Negros, Leyte, and Masbate. Forty or more friars are stationed alternately to the island for orientation and language studies before being permanently assigned to their respective areas. It is also the reason why a very big church with its huge convent was erected."
it is also a point of interest that it is only at bantayan island where catholics are excused to eat meat during the lenten season. story goes that when the spanish friars we're building this huge church they have commisioned every able islander to help build the the church fast, since all the fishermen are working as carpenters for the church, and lenten season is fast approaching the friars wrote to the vatican and explained that they do not have food since fishermen are working to finish the church and that they only have chicken and pigs, so then vatican gave approval that they can eat meat during holy week but it is a special case and for bantayan island only and that should be a secret :)
and i have to mention that bantayn island have
ukay ukay stores as well!!! actually even a tcebu city i found lots of ukay ukay stores, but most of these stores just have a bunch of piled ukay ukay clothes on tables and its up to you to do the halukay :), no ididnt check out their ukay ukay because it was too hot
and i saw lots of old houses, spanish era houses like this one... there are more old elaborate houses at bantayan island.
still smiling even under the strong sun, hahaha adik talga sa pictures kahit andar motor picture taking pa rin LOl
next stop is at ogtong cave which is inside ogtong beach resort. we had to pay Php 100 for entrance
they have a pool and a well manicured garden, its just that the place is to resorty for my taste and their beach front is too short, besides i've heard it is more expensive to stay here
che posing at ogtong cave
my turn to pose LOL
ogtong cave is big and small, it would have been relaxing to swim in this fresh water if we brought our swimsuits but well too late
so we just waddles and took photos inside the cave, too bad we werent really able to rech the other end or else we'll get wet, well actually che got wet LOL
this is ogtong resort's beach front, thought it's nioce that there's a couple coming back from kayaking that added color to the photo. i think ogtong resort is the only resort in bantayan that offers kayak rental and jetski, though im not really sure about it
after being the sun we decided to go home with our danggit loot and tons of pictures and bought lechon manok at sta. fe market
we also bought puso, cebu's special rice, they packed their rice suman style like in the photo and call it puso which is Php 2.50 each
after eating and relaxing a bit we went back to the beach and spend our last night at bantayan island drinking at the beach. i was really having a hard time when we were packing our things already because we had to wake up real early to catch catch the ferry's first trip which is at 5AM the next day. waaaa bitin
we were on schedule, and the ferry left at 5AM, we reached hagnaya port at past 6Am and true enough thre are buses waiting at the pier for passengers, who left immediately and by 630AM we we're already on our way to cebu city... we we're actually early arrived at 9Am at cebu and had to kill time at the airport while waiting for our 12noon flight, and as always we got delayed with cebu pacific and stayed on air for about 30minutes i think and arrived in manila past 2pm, an hour delayed. as soon as i hit the bed i slept tired and dreaming of bantayan island
sigh goodbye bantayan island... welcome summer
***my other bantayan island, cebu pictures and posts:
after our island hopping we took a short nap and by 2PM we're out, glen our guide is waiting for us to tour us at the island and bring us to the bantayan public market.
we rented a motorbike (scooter type) with glen as our driver to explore bantayan island. motor rental is Php 250 and we paid for a 1liter gas sold at the street which is prefilled in a coke bottle which was Php 42 at the time. and we just gave Php 150 to glen for touring us
our first destiantion is the bantayan public market i cant remember which driver told us when we were in cebu city that if we wanted to buy danggit and we're going to bantayan island anyways, it's better to buy danngit at bantayan island because danggit is cheaper at bantayan island.
and true enough we were able to buy danggit for only Php 350 per kilo, comparing it to the Php 600+ per kilo in manila, it is a very good deal, also glen helped us haggle with the vendor and it was easier since they converse in cebuano, as y'all know we dont speak nor understand cebuano.
bantayan public market is a typical market you can see in the provinces
they have all sorts of dried fish, and weird looking bagoong? in tanduay bottles
they have lots of these dried fish which i forgot what they call, this one is pre-packed for 3 for Php 100
we also passed by bantayan townhall
actually the city of bantayan is pretty easy to explore, the church, plaza, townhall, and fire station are within the same vicinity
the big and old bantayan church or Saints Peter and Paul Church. "Bantayan was the first parish to be established in Cebu by the Augustinians. It was founded on June 11, 1580 as the Convento dela Asuncion de Nuestra Señora. It was one of the few parishes to be a part of the Archdiocese of Mexico (with the Archdiocese of Manila separating only in 1595)"
as you can see the church is big. "The geographical location of the island bring forth the trade between neighboring islands. It was at this point, Bantayan serves as transfer point of missionaries for the neighboring islands of Panay, Negros, Leyte, and Masbate. Forty or more friars are stationed alternately to the island for orientation and language studies before being permanently assigned to their respective areas. It is also the reason why a very big church with its huge convent was erected."
it is also a point of interest that it is only at bantayan island where catholics are excused to eat meat during the lenten season. story goes that when the spanish friars we're building this huge church they have commisioned every able islander to help build the the church fast, since all the fishermen are working as carpenters for the church, and lenten season is fast approaching the friars wrote to the vatican and explained that they do not have food since fishermen are working to finish the church and that they only have chicken and pigs, so then vatican gave approval that they can eat meat during holy week but it is a special case and for bantayan island only and that should be a secret :)
and i have to mention that bantayn island have ukay ukay stores as well!!! actually even a tcebu city i found lots of ukay ukay stores, but most of these stores just have a bunch of piled ukay ukay clothes on tables and its up to you to do the halukay :), no ididnt check out their ukay ukay because it was too hot
and i saw lots of old houses, spanish era houses like this one... there are more old elaborate houses at bantayan island.
still smiling even under the strong sun, hahaha adik talga sa pictures kahit andar motor picture taking pa rin LOl
next stop is at ogtong cave which is inside ogtong beach resort. we had to pay Php 100 for entrance
they have a pool and a well manicured garden, its just that the place is to resorty for my taste and their beach front is too short, besides i've heard it is more expensive to stay here
che posing at ogtong cave
my turn to pose LOL
ogtong cave is big and small, it would have been relaxing to swim in this fresh water if we brought our swimsuits but well too late
so we just waddles and took photos inside the cave, too bad we werent really able to rech the other end or else we'll get wet, well actually che got wet LOL
this is ogtong resort's beach front, thought it's nioce that there's a couple coming back from kayaking that added color to the photo. i think ogtong resort is the only resort in bantayan that offers kayak rental and jetski, though im not really sure about it
after being the sun we decided to go home with our danggit loot and tons of pictures and bought lechon manok at sta. fe market
we also bought puso, cebu's special rice, they packed their rice suman style like in the photo and call it puso which is Php 2.50 each
after eating and relaxing a bit we went back to the beach and spend our last night at bantayan island drinking at the beach. i was really having a hard time when we were packing our things already because we had to wake up real early to catch catch the ferry's first trip which is at 5AM the next day. waaaa bitin
we were on schedule, and the ferry left at 5AM, we reached hagnaya port at past 6Am and true enough thre are buses waiting at the pier for passengers, who left immediately and by 630AM we we're already on our way to cebu city... we we're actually early arrived at 9Am at cebu and had to kill time at the airport while waiting for our 12noon flight, and as always we got delayed with cebu pacific and stayed on air for about 30minutes i think and arrived in manila past 2pm, an hour delayed. as soon as i hit the bed i slept tired and dreaming of bantayan island
i've always said that i love sunsets but sunrise are special too, since i dont often see sunrise... this is the sunrise view at kota beach's famous landmark
so how do you distinguish sunsets from sunrises? all i know is that i am to greet this beautiful sun a good morning
iour boatman was ontime, actually before 6AM they were already in front of our cottage, so after glen gave us the fresh fish, liempo, rice and other things we'll need for our brunch to our captain who is also our cook :) we set off to virgin island.
this is our boat, wasnt able to take much photo while we were traveling from bantayan island to this beautiful virgin island because the current is strong and i cant take out my camera for fear it'll get wet, haven't put it in dicapac before we left.
virgin island.... and it is beautiful, the water here is clearer and its just simply beautiful. i'm not really sure why they call this island virgin, some say that this is how boracay looked before it became its comercialization, or maybe its because there isnt really much establishment here, just a few houses of the caretakers of the island, yep this island is privately owned but i saw a delapidated sign that the island is being sold, so if you have money go and check out this beautiful island, i would buy it - no second thoughts - if only i have the money :)
it's about 30minute boat ride from bantaya island to virgin island and since we let before 7am we were at virgin island very early and there is no one at the island yet except for its few residents maybe about 10 people, it felt like we owned the island :)
i was so intrigued with these huge pots, imagination running wild and weaving stories in my head, they could have kept these pots to bury the bodies of their guests LOL i know morbid. but these huge pots are really cute.
virgin island being a privately owned property, we had to pay an entrance fee of Php 300 but its toatally worth it because they have provided make shift cottages for their visitors, with table and chairs for eating, and they have nice hammocks too. also they have provided a make shift kitchen as well using charcoal as fuel and that is where our captain cooked our delicious food.
our fresh and delicious meal, ang sarap magluto ng kapitan namin ha at gumawa ng sawsawan! we bought sparkle at one of the houses there that has a mini sari sari store, most prolly for the visitors of the island
"wag mong i-uwi ang undin!" a stern warning from my good friend when i told her about these cute eggs i found while swimming, LOL but these eggs are cute, well actually they are just eggshells and so easy to break argh, only 2 small eggs survived and reached manila! i dont know if these are starfish eggs or if starfish do lay eggs but there is an unmistakable starfish imprint in these eggs, you know what these are?
later on we decided to move to another island - hilantagaan island which is a marine sanctuary for snorkeling activities, we had to pay Php 100 per head
ngiii scary!!! LOL
this is my first time to try shooting underwater since i just bought a dicapac for my camera for this trip but i was kind of disappointed to see the corals here, they are badly damaged by dynamites and when we we're snorkeling there we only see few fishes
i cant help but compare it to how rich and alive the corals at bohol, but also thankful that they already did the right thing by putting this area protected and already a marine sanctuary. or maybe we werent just so lucky of the place we picked doesnt have the best view...we didnt stayed long because it was too difficult trying to snorkel in the middle of the sea if you dont know how to swim and had to fight a strong current, kapit tuko kaya ako sa katig ng boat hahahaha and also we're already tired.
tired? shet lola na nga kami! LOL but really we felt out of breath because we are still feeling sick, we actually take bioflu after our meal at the island and always drink our vitamin C just to fight our sickness, shet me tb ata kami, nilalagnat kasi kami pag gabi hehehehe. 
