Camotes is composed of 3 major islands in the north-east part of Cebu. “Four islands comprise the Camotes group: Pacijan (San Francisco town), Poro (Poro and Tudela towns), Ponson (Pilar town) and Tulang (an island barangay of San Francisco).” For more details about Camotes, go to http://www.camotesresorts.com.ph/.
I have mixed feelings for Camotes. I like it for being simple, for having kept its provincial appeal, for the very clear waters, interesting beaches and variety of terrain. However, the main problem I saw was the lack of infrastructure (electricity, telecoms, public tanspo) within the island. I guess that’s part of the charm. I just wished that our trip was more comfortable. But all in all, I had a great time in Camotes. View my Camotes photos. View my other Cebu photos: Bantayan and Malapascua
Camotes essential: sturdy booties
Day 1
Taxi to port – P150 (for 2 pax)
Ocean Jet fast craft boat from Cebu Pier 1 to Poro Port – P250/pax (032-2557560), bought roundtrip tickets in advance
Habal-habal from Poro Port to Santiago Bay Resort – P150/pax (032-4203385)
Santiago Bay Resort – P500/rm/day
Dinner at Santiago Bay resort – P350/2pax
Day 2
Breakfast – P200/2pax
Whole day habal-habal rental (inc driver) – P500/day/2 pax
Whole day gas expense (resort-Danao-Mangodlong-resort) – P200/trip/2pax
Lake Danao: Green Lake/Blue Lake registration – P15/pax
Lunch at Mangodlong Rock resort– P400/3pax (same telnum as Santiago Bay resort)
Dinner at Santiago Bay resort – P400/2 pax
Day 3
Habal-habal from Santiago Bay resort to Poro port – P150/pax
Boat from Poro port to Cebu city Pier 1 – P250/pax
Day 1
> Pre-departure preps. From Hagnaya, we arrived in the North Terminal at around 2pm. Bucky felt that worried that we wouldn’t have enough time to unload our stuff, have lunch and buy some supplies. So when the first cab came in, we immediately hailed it. Problem was we hailed it at the NO LOADING zone, hence, a police man stopped the cab. Good thing that Bucky had his IBP card, presented it to the police, and made an excuse that he was in hurry to go to a meeting. The cop bought it and we were free to go.
When we arrived at Bucky’s house, we unloaded dirty clothes, pasalubongs from Bantayan, bought groceries & medicine, and withdrew additional money. I was finally able to unload half of my luggage. After our errands, we took a cab that would take us to the port. There was heavy traffic when on our way to the port, good thing that we left early. The port pre-departure area was surprisingly clean and comfy. There were even restaurants inside. Taxi = P150/trip
> Trip from Cebu to Poro port, Camotes. We took the Ocean Jet fast craft boat from Pier 1 to Poro port. There was only one trip per day, which was at 530pm. We had to decide between the time of arrival against length of travel time. Since we didn’t have the luxury of time, we decided to get the 2-hour trip via the fast craft. I found out in the internet that there were other slower boats which take around 4 hours. Since our departure date was Nov2, meaning, there would be a lot of people trying to get a ticket on the departure date, so we bought our round-trip tickets even before we left for Malapascua. Ocean Jet ticket = P250/pax.
Bucky was harboring a headache while we were waiting for departure in one of the restaurants. It may have been caused by fatigue or heat or both. I was feeling tired myself. We had been traveling for more than 8 hours already without a decent siesta. We both took Bonamine, which made Bucky sleep during the whole 2-hour trip. I wasn’t able to sleep though. The seats were very cramped and we had to cram our luggage in our seats with us. It was a little scary traveling during the night because I couldn’t see any land or any indication that we were actually going somewhere. I was also not sure how long the travel time was so I didn’t know how long the agony would be.
> Trip from Poro port to Santiago Bay Resort. It was 730pm, I think, when we arrived in Poro port. And to my great disappointment and surprise, there weren’t any public vehicles, as in multi-cab or jeeps, going to the resorts. There were only small habal-habals (scooter/motorbike) that was supposed to fit 3 passengers plus luggage. I didn’t arrange for a van to pick us up because it was very expensive (P1,000.00/trip) and I assumed that there would be at least jeepneys waiting for arriving passengers. Well, it turned out that I was wrong. Having no choice but to ride the habal-habal, we took the 1st driver who approached us and immediately discussed the price. It was agreed to be P150/trip/pax. I still couldn’t believe that 3 people (driver, me, bucky), two of whom were fairly large (meaning me & Bucky), plus our luggage (2 backpacks, 1 shoe bag, 1 tote bag) could fit on the scooter seat. The ride was pretty uncomfortable for me as I was squashed between the driver (who had a nasty BO, which I didn’t notice when we were still haggling for the price) and Bucky, plus our luggage. After I got the hang of just hanging between them, I began to notice how much of a probinsya Camotes was. For miles, I could only see crop (corn, I think), several distant houses with no light, and darkness. From Poro port and the main barangay to Santiago Bay resort, there wasn’t a single street light. For most of the trip, the light only came from the moon. And the wind was very cold and it was a clear night. The trip was a new experience, a little uncomfortable, but strangely … romantic. Habal-habal = P150/pax, maximum of 2 passengers (excluding the driver).
> At Santiago Bay resort. We arrived at Santiago Bay resort at around 8pm. The trip took about 30 minutes. As I had expected, there was a brown-out so there wasn’t any light. From the road where we got off, I could already see the white-sand profile of Santiago Bay, even in the darkness. We were greeted by an old gwardya and were led to the candle-lit restaurant cum reception lobby. To my great surprise, our reservation, which I made even before I left for Cebu, was not communicated to the resort staff. I only reserved for a standard room for 2 pax, all of which were occupied according to the resident senior staff. I told her that I made a reservation to a certain someone thru their telnum (see above). She had the right sense to offer a bigger room for the same price. Otherwise, I would’ve given a bitch fit, considering that I was really tired, hungry, and dirty. We dumped our stuff in the room and went down the stairs leading to the beach. It was beautiful and serene in a strange way, having only the moon as our source of light. Even though it was dark, we could see that the water was clean and clear. I went into the shin-high water, tempting myself to take a dip. If not for exhaustion and fear of swimming alone (Bucky was about to fall over), I would’ve done exactly just that. I had been wanting to go night-swimming but never got the chance to in Malapascua and Bantayan. Having nothing else to do and beginning to feel really tired and hungry, we went back to the restaurant for dinner.
I was surprised to see that the prices in the menu only ranged from P70-100 per ulam which were already good for 2 people per order. Both of us wanted a heavy and hot soup, but they didn’t have any stock so we ended up ordering 2 ulam of whatever they had and rice. They didn’t have any stock of drinks, as well, except for water. The food was worse than the food in Kota Beach resort. Purya-gaba. But having no other choice, given that we didn’t know if there were other resorts nearby, there was a brown-out, and we were both very tired, we finished half of what we ordered and went back to our room and washed up. Before we slept, the electricity thankfully came back. So we didn’t have to suffer the stuffiness and mosquitoes. Bucky slept at around 9pm, he was very drowsy from taking Bonamine. I had to list our expenses for the day so I slept an hour later.
Oh, there’s also no SMART signal in the resort. GLOBE signal is strong, however. At least, there’s at least one. The place isn’t totally isolated from the rest of the world.
Day 2
> 1st Sunrise in Santiago Bay. We started our first official day early. It was just around 530am when we got up and changed into our swimming gear. It was a little cloudy when we woke up so the pictures weren’t as good as I expected. Though the effect of white sunlight bursting out of the dark clouds was eerie but strangely serene and beautiful. Like God was going to appear in the sky anytime.
We explored the resort and found a several viewing decks. The place felt very peaceful and quiet. After about 30 minutes, we went back to the restaurant for breakfast, which was thankfully better than dinner.
> Swimming, exploring Santiago Bay. After breakfast, we hurriedly went down the stairs leading to the beach/bay. The tide was high, the water was clean and surprisingly warm. The beach was dotted with so many dead big, purple jellyfish. The sight was a first for me. Bucky kept on saying kadiri! yuck! but was always trying to get near them to take pictures. Jellyfish must be pretty stupid creatures.
We explored the part of the beach under the rock/cliff where the resort was built. There were small pool areas which the resort must have made minor improvements on. After taking pictures under the cliff, we waded into the larger part of the beach. There was a cove just beyond the cliff of the resort which Bucky wanted to swim to, but it looked very far and we’d have to cross stretches of grassy shore (which I couldn’t stand) so we put it off until the tide receded.
> Green Lake & Blue Lake Parks at Lake Danao. At around 9am, the habal-habal driver, whom we contracted the night before, arrived to take us around the island. Since we only allotted half-day for the trip, we decided to go only to Lake Danao and Mangodlong Rock resort, which were also managed by the same owner of Santiago Bay resort. The first leg of our habal-habal trip was not as uncomfortable as the previous night. I guess I got used to being squashed between men on a very small scooter. The trip took from Santiago Bay resort to Lake Danao took about 40 minutes. The resort was at the Pacijan island, while Lake Danao was a little farther north of Poro port in Poro island. So the trip was longer. We passed by the same road we passed the other night.
Our first stop was the Green Lake park. It was a little patch of manicured lawn and shrubs, plus semi-concrete lakeside viewing area. The sky turned overcast while we were at Lake Danao, giving the lake a greater sense of stillness and mystery, as though the lady of the lake has hushed everything up. Not even the wind was rustling the leaves. We took several pictures and then headed off to Blue Lake park, which was at another part of the lake that we reached after a 10-minute ride. Registration = P15/guest (driver not included).
Blue Lake park had better viewing decks and sitting areas/huts. There was a mini-dock floating at the edge of the lake. A utility person was cleaning the vicinity of the lake when we arrived. Another group also arrived just shortly after we did. After taking several pictures at the dock, we followed a path that led to a covered sitting area already occupied with guests. By this time, a slow drizzle passed of the lake so we were stuck in the sitting area for about 30 minutes. Bucky & I dozed off for a little while unintentionally. The drizzle made the whole lake look darker and more sinister. Our driver informed us that there was a mini-island at the middle of the lake and we could rent a bangka to get us there. I was also told that guests can do fishing in the lake and have the staff cook the catch. We decided against the other activities, both knowing that we couldn’t afford the time and the expense. We made our way back to the parking area and left for Mangodlong Rock resort.
> Lunch and swimming at Mangodlong Rock resort. Mangodlong resort is also in Pacijan island. So we went south again towards Santiago. The clouds finally let up and gave us sunshine. By the time we arrived Mangodlong, I was squinting from the brightness of the sun against the white sand beach. It was just sad that the resort built the restaurant on top of a very large part of the beach. There was lesser room for people to relax and sunbathe. We, together with the driver, had lunch at the ‘abominable’ restaurant, then hit the water. Lunch = P450/3pax.
The resort was surprisingly full of day-guests, like us. Most of them occupied the day cottages atop the big rocks just a few feet from the shore. We explored the rocks and took some great photos. Thanks to the now-cloudless sky, the pictures turned out great. There were a lot of jellyfish in Mangodlong also. And of course, Bucky took their pictures again, sans yuck! and kadiri!
At around 2pm, we showered then headed back to Santiago Bay.
> Exploring the un-named “cemetery” cove. The tide was so low that we were able to walk under the cliff/rock of the resort to get to the cove which Bucky wanted to go to earlier. Thank God for booties, we didn’t suffer any cuts from walking on the sharp stones. Upon approaching the shore of the un-named cove, we realized that it was a cemetery. It felt abandoned and dirty. There was another cove behind the cemetery cove but we didn’t explore it anymore, fearing that the tide would go up fast (and we’d have to swim back. Yikes!) and assuming that there was nothing to see. So after taking some pictures, we made our way back to the Santiago Bay beach. We passed by many starfish and corals on the shore.
Contrary to what I feared, the tide was still very low when we got back to the beach. The tide has receded so much that even the grassy part of the bay was only waist-high. And since I wasn’t very fond of sea grass, Bucky and I just sat down at the shin-high water and waited for the water to come in and the sun to set. Both in vain. The water didn’t come back and there was too much clouds so we didn’t have any Camotes sunset pictures. The thick white clouds and the almost-setting sun gave an “alien” feeling to the beach. If you’d just shut out the walking noisy Koreans nearby, it felt like being in another planet. Bucky got so bored waiting for the sunset that he started catching small crabs on the sand. He managed to catch one, which we took pictures of, and set it free. Dehydrated, exhausted, almost-sunburned and having given up on the sunset and the tide, we slowly made our way back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner.
> Dinner & masahe. We had another blah-dinner at the resort. But it didn’t really bother us anymore because we were so tired. After dinner, paying for the room, and playing a round of chiki-cha, we retired in our room and called the masahista. Bucky went first while I fixed our stuff. We were going to leave very early the next day to catch the 6am trip from Poro to Cebu. Bucky fell asleep more from exhaustion than from the masahe. When it was my turn, I also got very drowsy but not because of the masahe. I don’t think the masahista knew what she was doing. Masahe = P250/pax/1hour
Day 3
> Trip from Poro to Cebu. We woke up very early next day, around 4am. Having been unable to night-swim, I planned to swim at 4am. I went down to the beach, and to my dismay, the tide still hasn’t gone up. So I was resigned to do some final packing and waiting for the first burst of sunrise. When we left Santiago Bay at 5am, the sun hasn’t fully come up. By the third day, I had become an expert in riding the habal-habal. I wasn’t scared of bumps or sudden curves on the road. On our way to Poro, we passed through cliffs overlooking the bay. By this time, the sun had come up and the color it painted in the sky was beautiful. When we arrived in Poro port, the sun has fully come up and was bursting with yellow and orange hues in the sky. And this sight was directly in front of the port. I hurriedly took pictures before boarding the boat.
The boat trip back to the city was the beginning of the end of my great Cebu adventure. I was so thankful that a magnificent sunrise ended it. A sign of great things to come.
