IT WAS past four in the morning when we arrived at Danao port for the 5:30 a.m. trip to Camotes Islands, a group of three islands located east of Cebu Island: Pacijan Island and Poro Island are joined by a mangrove forest, while Ponson Island lies northeast of Poro. Camotes still fall under the province of Cebu.
Despite being there earlier than an hour before departure, the queue of passengers and vehicles wanting to go to Camotes was already quite long. In fact, we never made it to the first trip and were instead accommodated in the 8:30 a.m. schedule. We never expected that so many people wanted to visit this place as well and it even piqued our curiosity why Camotes is that popular to these travelers.
Getting there
My travel buddies for this adventure were fellow travel blogger Jojo Vito, event specialist Mr. E, and tour expert now Cebu-based Maricar Dabao. The three of us from Bacolod took the 9:50 a.m. bus from Lopez Jaena via Salvador Benedicto to San Carlos, which crossed the strait to Toledo and proceeded to Cebu City. We arrived in Cebu before 7 p.m. to meet Maricar and spent the night there before we rode the next day to Danao where we would catch the Ro-ro barge. From Danao, we landed at Consuelo port in the town of San Francisco in Camotes Islands.
Home by the beach
Many accommodations were also fully booked. Good thing we were able to make reservations at the Masamayor’s Beach House and Resort (MBHR). It was like a house that was converted into an inn. Though it is quite small, the good thing about it is that the resort is just by the beach of Santiago Bay. We had our lunch, and breakfast the day after, right by the shore although we have the option to dine at their restaurant at the second level. The owners were very helpful to us during our stay.
Exploring the islands
Since we brought Maricar’s trip to Camotes, we asked the help of Mr. Masamayor’s friend, Alrie Bonjoc, to accompany us in a drive around their locality. Our first stop was the Paraiso Cave. The entrance is quite attractive with manicured gardens. I was quite surprised that we would be going down in order to enter the cave. The same is true with the two other caves we entered – Timubo and Bukilat. In terms of level of difficulty of entering the caves, I would say Bukilat is the easiest, Paraiso is quite easy (complete with a local staff to accompany you inside) and Timubo a bit challenging. All three have pools of water inside wherein visitors can take a dip. It has to be controlled though to preserve the caves in Camotes.
We also visited Lake Danao Park, where several activities await visitors. Guests can do horseback riding at the park or kayaking in the lake. Soon, they will also have ziplines and other adventure activities in the lake’s vicinity. Though it was dark, we dropped by Buho Rock just to see the place. At the San Francisco Baywalk, we dropped by the local market to buy some fruits, vegetables and seafood. The day after, we went to Mangodlong Rock Resort for lunch and some swimming. We also spent the afternoon at Santiago Bay Resort to take a look at their facilities and enjoy the views.
When we were not at sea or on the road, we were feasting on the local food. We had fresh seafood, as well as some locally made pizza, fruit shakes and other food offerings. One particular delicacy that I had for the first time and really loved was the salvaro, a thin, crispy large cracker made of cassava and sprinkled with molasses syrup. Just like salvaro, Camotes Islands delighted me the first time I encountered it. No wonder the queue at the port of those bound for Camotes was too long; because Camotes is paradise.
All photos are by this author. Claire Marie Algarme blogs at http://firsttimetravels.com. Follow her as @firsttimetravel on Twitter and Instagram and like her Facebook page First-time Travels.