BY JOYCE ANGELIQUE
Bantayan Island 2019 - Itinerary and Budget
Sta. Fe, Bantayan Island - The very famous island where Camp Sawi - a 2016 Filipino comedy-drama was filmed.
I went there with my boyfriend, cousin and her husband and baby. We had a little tour of the Camp Sawi famous spots. We had a 2day-1night trip.
A lot of people visit Bantayan Island for various reasons, it could be the "camp sawi inspired photos", "white beaches", or just to "relax".
Me? Us? All of it.
Now, you might be wondering if the 2D1N trip was enough.
Well, for us, it was one of the short but exciting weekend we ever had.
Would you like to experience it as well?
Here's our itinerary and the budget:
We rode a taxi in Pusok at 11:00pm and got to the North Bus Terminal at 11:30pm. We first bought some snacks for the "4-hour" trip.
When we got there, there was a lot of people going to Bantayan as well, however there were only 3 buses available.
Here is the schedule of the buses and ferry from Cebu to Bantayan Island and vice versa:
We were able to catch the 12:00MN trip. The trip from North Bus Terminal to Hagnaya Port was supposedly 4 hours and a half, however our bus driver seemed to be in a very hurry that we arrived in Hagnaya Port at 2:50AM, just almost 3 hours. I even heard the bus conductor scold the driver for driving very fast.
We were worried at first because we know we just missed the 2:30AM ferry trip and the next trip will be at 4:30AM. Luckily, there was a 3:00AM trip available.
I think the universe really wanted us to have a hassle free trip.
Our ferry left the wharf at 3:20AM. The internet said that Hagnaya Port to Sta. Fe is an hour trip, but it is not. We arrived at Sta. Fe at 4:45AM, and good lords we were 3 hours ahead of our "planned itinerary".
We then went to the tourism office and paid for the terminal fee amounting ₱5.00 and the environmental fee amounting ₱30.00.
From there, we grabbed a tricycle and went to MJ Square for breakfast.
We ate at Chef Panyang, they have a "-silogan" menu for only ₱59.00.
After breakfast, we walked to Budyong Beach Resort to leave our bags there because we couldn't check-in yet, unfortunately, when we got there, the front desk was still closed.
We contacted our guide, Kuya Saturn and he said that it's better if we leave our bags to his house and so that we could change clothes.
Our land tour started at 8:00AM and Kuya Saturn offered us 4 spots for ₱500.00 but we decided to give him ₱600.00 because he was really accommodating.
The 4 spots are as follows:
1. Omagieca Obo-ob Mangrove Garden
The place was actually nice, but I was a bit disappointed because of the low tide. I think it's best to visit there when it's high tide.
I wanted to take a drone shot but I thought it's not very worth it, so I just didn't.
2. Paradise Beach
This might be our favorite spot of all the places we visited. The sand is white and the water is cold. We arrived there at 9AM so it wasn't that crowded. This was a 10/10.
After our almost 2 or 3 hours stay at Paradise Beach, we went back to MJ Square to have lunch. We ate at Sti Smoke House, they ahave
3. The Ruins Cliff Diving Spot
We got there after lunch, around 12:45PM. The sun was at its hottest, I bet. I didn't really take any selfies at all. It was too darn hot, me and my cousin just took shade from the trees around. My boyfriend and my cousin's husband were the ones who really enjoyed the place. They jumped numerous times.
4. Ogtong Cave Resort
This resort was a so-so for us. They have a pool, beach with white sand; but a bit rocky tho, and the very famous ogtong cave. However, don't get your expectations high, the place was not worth the hype, really. We just went there to kill time because we still couldn't check in yet and just to take a shower.
Overall, the land tour was fun.
Finally, at 2PM we went to Budyong Beach Resort - we booked a one-night stay for 4 and the rate was ₱2,200 with aircon. The resort was nice however there service was not that good. We got there at 2:30PM but the room was still not available, they were still cleaning it. There were no towels ready, no slippers, no broom or mop. Our room was not the cleanest, but it was still fine because we just went there to sleep. Also, the good thing is that our resort is next to Kota Beach and we were able to access Kota Beach's sandbar for free.
After checking in, we took some nap and woke up around 5PM to catch the sunset, however this time, it was crowded and it was a bit cloudy, but there ain't no stopping us from taking pictures.
After a little pictorial, we then head out for dinner. We were lucky because there was a buffet at that night.
We ate at Big Jels Restaurant - unlimited food for only ₱195.00.
9:00PM was lights-out already because we were exhausted.
The next morning, our wake up call was at 5:30AM, we prepared our things for the island hopping. We first went outside to witness the sunrise and had a little pictorial that lasted for an hour. We then went back to Chef Panyang to take out breakfast - 59ers again. We initially started the island hopping tour at around 8AM. We had breakfast in the boat.
Island hopping boat rates are as follows:
A: A pump boat with four (4) to six(6) passengers capacity (₱1,000.00) for four (4) hours and ₱150.00 per succeeding hours;
B: A pump boat with seven (7) to twelve (12) passengers capacity (₱1,500.00) for four (4) hours and ₱200.00 per succeeding hours;
C: A pump boat with fourteen (14) to twenty (20) passengers capacity (₱2,500.00) for four (4) hours and ₱200.00 per succeeding hours.
You can visit 2 islands namely:
-
Hilantagaan Island
-
Virgin Island
It will depend on you which island you want to visit first.
Now, because we rented snorkels, our guide needed to borrow from someone he knows who lives in Hilantagaan Island. It was not crowded at all however it was not that "instagramable" because there was lots of boats parking.
We then went straight to Virgin Island.
Virgin Island
The entrance fee is ₱500.00 for the first two persons and ₱100.00 per succeeding person.
We got there around 8:30AM but it was already crowded. Nevertheless, the island is quite big so there's still a lot of areas where you could take pictures without being photo-bombed.
You also still have to pay for a pricey cottage ranging from 300.00 to 1200.00 (not quite sure) despite paying the entrance fee.
What we did is that we looked for vacant beach bed and put are bags there without paying anything.
There's also a part of the island where you can feed fishes.
The whole Virgin Island stay was awesome.
After staying there for a couple of hours, we decided to leave around 10:30AM so that we can still prepare before check-out time.
The staffs in Budyong Beach Resort were not really strict with the check-out time. No one came knocking on our doors. We were able to check-out at 12:45PM but they didn't really mind.
We walked back to MJ Square to grab lunch. After lunch we headed out to the terminal and there was a very long line. It was too darn hot, fortunately the terminal staffs lent everyone umbrellas.
The way back home didn't cause us any troubles at all. It was fine.
This was my experience in our 2D1N Bantayan Island trip.
It was short but fun.
Tiring but worth it.
It was one of the best spent weekend I ever had.
P.S.
I tried to cover everything that happened in our trip as it may help anyone in planning their own trip.
Should you have any questions, feel free to DM me in my social accounts linked below.
Thank you for reading!
I'm going to edit our vlog soon!
Please look forward to it!
With love,
Joyce