The Bantayan Trip Part I

Summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun.

Brian Wilson

What is your ideal summer? If you were given a chance to make your personal itinerary, how would you design it to be?

It's the last weekend of April 2015. My friend, Toni.and I decided to call it a summer break We agreed to go to Bantayan Island for 2 days and 1 night. Toni is from Baguio and it is her first time to visit my hometown, Cebu.

I was so excited to bring her to Bantayan Island as it is my favorite vacation place. We eagerly left the city at 3:00 a.m. From the North Bus terminal via Ceres bus to Hagnaya. The bus fare is between Php175.00 to Php200.00  (aircon or non-aircon). The trip took three hours to Hagnaya Port. The ferry that would take us to Sta. Fe is at 7:30 a.m., so we decided to have breakfast first since the ferry takes 45 mins to 1 hour sail to the island.

We stayed in a room for php1500.00 per night. It may not be at the resort we planned it to be as it was a long weekend holiday so the island was hover with travellers, families and friends. The place we rented though is situated just in front of the beach and the good thing about it is that we can just take a walk to the seashore to go to several beach resorts like Kota beach, Budyong, and a lot more.

 

On the first day, we enjoyed the whole day swimming, walking at the beach, on the sandbar while watching the sunset.We did not miss eating sea foods like garlic crabs, sizzling shrimps, grilled fish and banana split perfect for the heat of summer!  

We also did not let the opportunity slip island hoping in the virgin island across the island of Sta. Fe and we had fun the whole afternoon snorkelling. It was a conducive time for us to go under the sea to see the live corals, colourful surgeonfish and blue tripe snapper shoaling and schooling around .

We  didn't forget to spend lying at the black crystal sands while listening to our favourite reggae music to boost the mood of the beach. we talked and we laughed. It's undeniable that we had the time of our lives updating and keeping the track of our longtime friendship.

We also took time to spent drinking a glass of red wine at Amihan resort while we are still in our wet rush guards. Just having time slowing down with no time to catch up to or no deadlines to meet. Then, we called it a night.