A day at the Virgin Island

07.10.2011 - One of the common activities when going to Bantayan is a day-trip to the Virgin Island (not to be mistaken as the one in Bohol or the one in Batangas). This one is located a few km off the Coast of Bantayan Island. To get there, one can hire an outrigger boat. You can inquire any of the locals in Sta. Fe so this should not be a problem.

Virgin Island

On our second day, we woke up early (well a bit later than the call time) and got ourselves ready for the island trip.

Uno must have been bored waiting for us that he buried Bumble Bee in the sand. Haha.

The day before, Ate Thess and Jego arranged for the boat and food. We all agreed to have the boatmen buy our food from the market to be cooked at the island. Total charge: Food (2500) + Boat (1500) = 4000.

Group picture before boarding the boat.

The size of the boat is just enough for our group.

We made a short stop over at a nearby island to pick up 2 kilos of squid – freshly caught. Yum! and after about 20 minutes, we can already see the beautiful island. The color of the water turns from deep blue into crystal clear turquoise as we get near the island. Now I'm getting egzayted.

And the boat finally docked at the island. Bow.

 

Group shot again!

Virgin Island's powdery white sand (Sarap sana magfrisbee kung di sana naiwan sa resort. tsk)

The island has an entrance fee of 500 pesos for the first 5 persons and 50 for each additional person in the group. There are also cottages which can be rented for 100 pesos. If you want to borrow utensils, there is also a fee of 100 pesos. Hay ang daming fees!

100 peso huts.

There’s also a sari-sari store where you can buy snacks and drinks that are a bit pricey which is understandable (ikaw ang magbangka ng goods sige nga). 500ml bottled water costs 30 pesos.

Photoshoot muna while the manongs prepare our food. (excuse our kaepalan)

And then lunch was served!

We feasted on crabs,

liempo,

squid,

 

shrimp!

Ate Thess also made some ensaladang talong. Yipee!

Kanya-kanyang pwesto after lunch! Jego, Dude, Dell and I opted to stay at the benches under the coconut trees while the others swam at the beach.

view under the tree

Time to go...

We did snorkel a bit before returning to our resort. We paid 50 each rental fee for the snorkeling gear. According to some, there's an area near the Virgin Island which is perfect for snorkeling. But what we have experienced is the opposite. 

Worn-out life vests, sharp corals, few fish = FAIL.

Anyhoo, we still arrived back happily at the resort and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging at the beach.

Follow up story on my next post.