My parents are both from Negros Occidental and my childhood are filled with memories of all the times spent in Bacolod. It's a very beautiful province with very nice people, not that I'm biased of course. But true enough, this is a landscape that has a lot of potential though not fully maximized yet when it comes to their tourism industry. Slowly,but surely, getting up there with the rest of the major players.
I wanted to share the beauty of the Visayas region to my friends who are not from here so last year, we made a trip to Bohol and Cebu and they were very happy with the experience. Wanting more, we wanted to go to Negros Oriental to visit Dumaguete City (another place that I have so many fond memories of) then try to stay overnight at the houses on stilts in Manjuyod, in the middle of the ocean.That was our fervent wish at that time, however, since no seat sale came in going to Dumaguete, we just opted for a back-up plan. Since my friends have been to Bohol and Cebu only, I suggested to go to Bacolod then we can go to Iloilo then Guimaras because these islands are very near each other. That's 3 spots in 1 throw. Why not. It's a good idea and they liked it. So from that, the itinerary was built up and we gotta have the energy to keep up. I put in a lot of destinations in our 4D/3N trip. =)
From Manila, we were bound to arrive at the Silay Airport by 530am. The plan was to drop first our stuff at the Tamera Plaza Inn. We coordinated with them to have a hotel vehicle to pick us up at the airport because upon calculating, we saved a little by doing this instead of riding the shuttle service from the airport going to the city. And plus, we would be much much comfortable.
Tamera Plaza Inn was very accomodating. They let us have an early check-in at 630am without paying for anything extra. It's a decent hotel, a bed and breakfast place. For me, as long as the service is great, them I'm happy and that's what they give to their guests. Not that their rooms are shabby, they're spacious actually and like what I've said earlier, decent.
After a quick check-in, we left in a hurry as the van from Royal Sun Travel and Tours was there already to bring us to our 1st destination for the day which is the Jomabo Island. It's a private island and resort that I wanted to book because I always see its picture on our Magic Sing and on a whim, I decided to google it then found out how I can book it.
The travel going to Escalante City coming from Bacolod City was like around 2.5 to 3hrs and half of the trip was spent dwindling down in a bit of rough roads, but since we were tired because our flight was very early, we slept all throughout that experience. From Escalante, we headed off to the small port where our boat awaits.
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| Rough! But tolerable, a slong as you're tired. LOL |
Here's now the whole Jomabo Island experience in photos. Check it out.
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| The boat all to ourselves. The ride took us 20-30minutes going to Jomabo Island |
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| There it is! |
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| Just like in the Magic Sing =) |
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| Great to see the sandbar before high tide. After an hour or so, this was gone already. |
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| Touchdown! |
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| The feeling was so satisfying! I mean, I just used to see it while singing and now, we are here. Happiness! |
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| The path going to the villas but for us, we're just headed to the tables. We just stayed here for a few hours just to experience the place and of course, the crystal-clear water |
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| For our lunch, we just bought some home-cooked meal at the port area and that's it. But who cares, we can get a full meal when we get back to the city |
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| There it is..oh-so-calm waters |
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| Our favorite pastime, just lying at the shallow end and chill. A bit farther away you can go snorkeling and see some sea creatures. I'm happy just staying here. |
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| Life's a beach! |
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| Of course, we have to be conscious of the UV rays so as crazy as it looks and sounds, we got hold of our umbrellas and brought it in the water and relaxed =) |
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| I want to have an island such as this. Wishful thinking =) |
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| Next time, maybe we can stay at one of those villas at the back |
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| On our way back already and start again our butt-aching journey to Bacolod City |
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| The clouds were dark at this time and the water is green and looks eerily beautiful and calm |
Overall take on the island, it was a nice experience.It is a place where you can really relax, no strenuous things to do. If you are not happy with doing nothing much, then this may not be the place for you. But if you're after a little quiet time, this is the place. But I was informed that on weekends, this place gets a lot of visitors. We did not find that out as we went here on a Thursday.
Just give it a try. That will be one island less off the list. =)
For more posts on this trip, check these out:
