Cebu - Day 1

To celebrate our 3rd anniversary, I booked a flight to Cebu last April 2010 and thanks to Jepay who I was talking to that night, I got 2 round trip tickets for just P2,100. Oh the joy of seat sales. :)

I planned the itinerary right after to know how much money we're gonna need to save every month. Thanks to my sissies in GirlTalk, I already had an overview of what to do, what to see and where to go but I was torn between going to Bantayan Island and Moalboal. I preferred the latter because I wanted to see Kawasan Falls as well but learned that Moalboal caters to divers more and not beach bums like me. I researched about Bantayan Island and found mostly raves and beautiful pictures of the island. I was also convinced since two of my good friends already went there and the sunset snapshots of their trip mostly justified it. So with high expectations, I included Bantayan Island on the trip.

Going to the airport on that chilly Sunday morning was a breeze as our cab made its way along the traffic - free C5 road. A lot of thoughts were running through my head like seeing Janet again, the long trip from Cebu to Bantayan and the feeling of the fine sand on my toes.

sunny morning

Our fight left on time and we arrived safely at Cebu Mactan International Airport. We took a cab to the North Terminal where we rode a bus to Hagnaya for P70 each. Tip: make sure you seat at the right side of the bus so you can enjoy the view of the sea, mountains and fields over fields of corn and sugarcane. The long and bumpy ride lasted for 4 hours. My legs were numb as we walked our way to the ferry terminal where you have to pay P10 each for the terminal fee. The ferry we took was already full so we sat on the second deck where there was a TV playing Fast and the Furious 2 with no audio on. 

second class deck

It was our first time to ride a boat that big let alone be inside it and we payed P150 each. It was a little claustrophobic for us since we can't see anything and later knew that we were already sailing. The feeling was okay at first. But when I saw the windows in front of us getting wet, it hit me that we are getting big waves. Nausea followed. Next thing I knew, my face is stuffed in a plastic bag and vomiting my guts out. We didn't had any food on the entire trip that's why the feeling is very weakening. As I glanced over my shoulder, I saw the boss getting pale and sweating buckets. Needless to say, he vomited too. The lady before us cautiously tied her plastic bag and glanced at me with teary eyes. We all lost our excitement about the trip and the boss just encouraged me by saying : "this island better be worth it". The next 30 minutes seemed endless. Imagine how happy my heart was when I heard scrambling footsteps from the upper deck telling me that we already docked. With weak knees, I took a big breath and snatched my bags and made my way upstairs with the boss following me. 

Janet, who was already at the island for 2 weeks picked us up at the pier and boy I was glad to finally see someone I know after the long travel. A pedicab took us to our resort and had lunch at Cou Cou Resort where Janet was staying.

taken from Janet's camera - sea sick :(

with our driver, Toto

Budyong Beach Resort is just beside Kota Beach. The front desk officer greeted us with a warm smile and after giving her the deposit slip of our down payment she gave us the keys to our room. We booked a fan room for P500 a night. The room was just right for 2 persons albeit old and with a rusty electric fan, we got our money's worth. 

 

reception area

restaurant

our room

water not included

gloomy weather at Bantayan Island

A lot of foreigners were staying at the resort when we arrived. We haven't tried eating in their restaurant as there are a lot of places to go and try. All in all, the resort was clean and very quiet. I can recommend them for their good service but they seriously need to renovate their rooms because of the dingy feel.

After a cold shower, we took a nap and rested. We woke up at around 8pm and apologized to Janet because she was waiting for us for dinner. (Sorry sweetie!) We had pizza and beer at Marisquera O' Portuguese which was one of the known pizza places in the small town according to Trip na Trip (Tv show). We tried their version of super supreme pizza for P415 for 8 slices that took about 30 minutes to make. Yes, 30 minutes. To add more to my disappointment, the pizza tasted like baked cheese on top of bread.

blurry pizza picture because of starvation

still sleepy

The staff was happy, warm and inviting. The only flaw was the food took a very long time to cook even if we were the only ones waiting. For dessert, we went to the next door bar/ice cream parlor called Le Petit Bonheur. Because of its decorations, it's obvious that it still had the Valentines day hangover.

The little cabanas have soft sofas and pillows making you feel like you are in your own backyard. There's free WiFi and the bar offers a variety of cocktails too. We ordered chocolate ice cream with almonds and bananas but they gave us this:

chocolate ice cream with marshmallows, koko krunch, m&m's, whipped cream and wafer stick

I don't know if they didn't understood our order or if they were just too generous to give us more than what we asked for. We ended up not finishing the ice cream because it was just too sweet with all the stuff it has. An order costs P95 and you add P10 for toppings.

We called it a night at 10pm to rest again and ready ourselves for our island hopping the next day. Bantayan Island is not what I expected it to be. Well, to each his own. :)