Passenger Tales

My friends and I went to Bantayan in July last year to celebrate Emily’s birthday. Yes, another friend’s birthday It was a first trip for me. Bantayan is an island off the north coast of the Cebu mainland. It’s around two hours bus ride to the town of San Remigio plus another hour or so by boat. I was almost convinced by my aunt to forego the trip because July is a rainy season and she was worried about me taking a boat trip. Good thing I did not listen because the ride was uneventful and I would have missed seeing such a wonderful place. It was off-peak season that’s why the place was barely alive with tourists. Something I found enjoyable since I’m not fond of crowded places.

When we arrived at Bantayan pier someone from the resort in Sta. Fe, Bantayan where we were going to stay fetched us. We had a cabin near the beach front. It was quite spacious. Outside was a verandah with some chairs, a table and a rocking chair. Inside the airconditioned room were two beds- a single bed and a double bed, a dresser, a cabinet, and comfort room. It was all very nice but a bit expensive, considering that it was off season and the place was not very commercialized. But on second thoughts, considering the size of the cabin..

We were dying of hunger so that when we arrived went we straight to the restaurant to order lunch. It turned out that we had to suffer our hunger longer because the service was as slow as their rural lifestyle while their prices were Manila-like expensive. The staff were nice enough but still needed one or two Customer Service Seminars. If anyone from DAP is reading this, maybe you can consider submitting a proposal to the resort owner to conduct the seminar. hehehe.

After we had settled in, we went straight to the beach for pictorials and a dip. The beach front was littered with nature’s debris, coconut husks and leaves and seaweeds. It was only on our second day, that I saw resort personnel cleaning up the debris. As we walked along the sand bar we met a fisherman who was folding his net and he showed us some jellyfishes and an asuhos, Judcee’s favorite fish, that got stranded in the sand.

We went exploring in the late afternoon. We decided that we were going to eat dinner outside the resort. We took a tricycle that took us around. We visited their small church then he dropped us off in one of the resorts and from their we started walking along the beach. Along the way we passed a restaurant which I thought was named Hard Rock Cafe but my friend said that it was Hard Kock and not Hard Rock. I was quite disbelieving but lo and behold when we passed by again after dinner, my friend was right.

We came upon an Italian and seafood restaurant called White Sand and run by a half-German, half-French man named Robert. He’s been in Bantayan for quite some time already. He is one of the many foreigners who went to Bantayan and fell in love with the place and settled there permanently. Robert told us that his pizza was something we haven’t tasted before. So we ordered the pizza and some pasta. We also saw drawings of a child in the sand. Beautiful childish drawings. He/she must be an offspring of a fisherfolk.

After our walk, we went back to the restaurant. Pasta was served before the pizza. If they served the pizza first, I don’t think I would have room for it after eating the pizza. The pizza was heavenly. Very cheezy and thick. Commercial pizza parlors in the country can’t begin to compare. One slice is enough to wipe away your hunger. And it was very affordable at just P350. We were so full already that we had the remaining 3 slices of pizza packed for take out. Strawberry shake was the drink of choice. I enjoyed mine very much. We decided to walk off the very delicious dinner back to our resort.

We left the next morning. I was thinking that we’ll be stranded in the island because when I woke up it was raining hard and the sky was very leaden. When I looked at the sea, you can’t see the outline of the mainland due to the heavy rain. Good thing by midmorning the rain stopped. The resort’s service brought us to the pier. But before that, Carlo, my friend’s boyfriend, asked the driver to drop by Hard Kock Cafe to buy a souvenir shirt. hehehe. What was strange in Bantayan was that you had to pay terminal fee twice. I’m not sure if one was for municipal fee then other for the pier itself. Anyway, the payments were just minimal. The boat ride back was speedier because we rode a fast craft.

I would have enjoyed staying a day or two longer. Unfortunately, my flight was the next day and my budget was almost depleted. Here are more pictures of the beach.