Sibuyan, 12 hours in Tablas & a surprise visit to Boracay
- mollyben98
- Apr 16, 2018
- 5 min read
This was an interesting day! It started with a 5:30am alarm and a trike to the port to catch an early pump boat across to Caticlan. Upon arrival we purchased pump boat tickets to Tablas (P150 pp + P100 terminal fee) and went to 7/11 to grab some sort of breakfast - oat biscuits with yoghurts - then waited until 8:45 to board the boat.
On the 2.5 hour trip over to Tablas we met an amazing Filippino woman and her family, who were heading to Romblon for a two week holiday. Her name was Linda and she was so kind - I don’t think we would have made it to Sibuyan without them! During the first trip, and throughout the day in fact, they very kindly shared their food with us as we had not prepared for the length of the journey.
The boat arrived at Looc port (pronounced Lo’oc) where we found out, through this lovely family, that we had to get a Jeepney (public bus) to the other end of the island to get catch the next boat from San Agustin port. We got into Looc at just gone 12 and the boat was due to leave San Agustin at 1 so we were on a seriously tight schedule. Linda (our new Filippino grandmother) got a trike with us to the Jeep station and then made sure we got the right Jeep to the ferry port - they were going the same way too. As this was a public bus we stopped off about 50 times picking up and dropping off locals so arrived an hour or so after the last boat of the day had left. We had some lunch with our adopted family then negotiated with some locals about hiring private boats for our trips. Linda and her family offered to share a boat with them to Romblon and put us up in their resort for a night so that we could get the cheaper pump boat in the morning and save some money. As incredibly kind as that was we decided to hire a private boat and go straight to Sibuyan, which they managed to haggle down to P2500 for us. We set off on our rickety fishing boat at 3pm and arrived on the shores of Sibuyan at 5.30pm, us and our bags pretty much drenched from the occasional crashing wave. Nevertheless we had made it and were on the home stretch to Sanctuary Garden Resort, our home for the next three days. We payed a local tricycle P80 to take us to the resort where we emptied and dried out our bags before dinner and bed.
TIP - if you plan to visit Tablas, Romblon or Sibuyan get cash out before you set off as there are very few, if any, ATMs across these 3 islands.
The next day we hired a manual motorbike from the resort (P500) and drove for about two hours to Dagub-dub falls which we’d seen recommended on various websites. We had a minor scrape on the off road journey, but nothing a bit of water and antibacterial gel couldn’t fix. We never would have found the falls were it not for the ever-helpful locals. When we finally arrived nearby we parked up and two young boys took us to the falls. Another three children joined us once we got into the water and we stayed for about an hour or so swimming and jumping off the rocks with the kids. We gave the two lads that directed us P100 to say thanks. The drive back was less eventful and we grabbed a quick lunch at the resort (if you ever stay at Sanctuary Garden Resort don’t order the tuna sandwich, it’s essentially a mayo and lettuce triple).
After a little rest we drove into the nearest town to pick up some snacks for tomorrow’s adventure to Cresta de Gallo Islet (no food or drinking facilities on the island), then walked up to the viewpoint to watch the sunset before a few games of pool (3-3 at this point) and dinner at the resort. We also ordered lunch for the next day, ready for our 7am departure. The next day was yet another crazy/infuriating one. We were told by the women at the resort to get to the port before 7.30am to get the jeepney to San Fernando, in order to get a boat to Cresta de Gallo, however when we got to the port the local people kindly informed us that the bus had left at 7am, NOT 7.30am therefore we had already missed it. We ended up getting a trike back to the resort then had to order a different trike to take us on a 2 hour off road (almost to the point of painful!) journey past Cajidiocan to get the boat to Cresta de Gallo Islet. Much to our annoyance both our trike and the boat were late to pick us up meaning we would have little time on the island. We finally got there at 1pm and had three hours on the beautiful islet (we were the only people there) before heading back on the first leg of our choppy journey home. Another two hours in the trike in the dark on the way home but we’d have to say it was all worth it. We would however highly recommend getting a Jeepney there if possible as the trike was extremely uncomfortable on the dirt tracks!
Dinner was at the resort again and we had another early night as we were up at 7 to catch the Starhorse ferry back to Tablas (P250). We were told the Starhorse was much quicker than the Montenegro Lines ferry so opted for that one. It was a quick and painless journey to our surprise (as all the others had gone so badly!) and we ended up watching Alice Through the Looking Glass and Deadpool on the ferry TV. Back at San Agustin port we got the public Jeepney back to Looc for what we thought would be the next couple of nights. The Philippines transport authorities had other ideas! We were due to fly from Caticlan on the Sunday at 1pm, two days away, and were told we could get a boat on Sunday morning. However, upon arrival to our accommodation in Looc it turned out that we couldn’t and the only available, and reliable, boat to Caticlan was at 5am the next morning (Saturday). With that in mind we went for dinner with the owner of the resort and her daughter at a great little chicken restaurant, then had an early night as we had to be up at 3.30am to get to the boat on time. We arrived in Caticlan from the 5am boat at around 7.30am and then had a decision to make - our plan to Cebu wasn’t until 1pm the next day, so we either stay in Caticlan (where’s there’s absolutely nothing to do) or we head over to Boracay for a day in the sun. As you can imagine, we chose to spend a night in Boracay as we’d enjoyed it so much the first time we went. We knew Daisy and Harvey were also there now, so we thought it might be nice to surprise them. We hoped back on a small pump boat for the 10 minute journey. The boat’s engine actually cut out as soon as we set off, so we had to be towed by another boat - talk about bad luck right! Once in Boracay, we got a trike to station 1 and wandered around looking for a hostel for the night - we ended up at a place called Dormitels.ph for P900. We showered, got changed and headed out to surprise Harvey & Daisy by the beach.
After a bit of messaging we managed to figure out they were at our favourite breakfast spot from before (Juice Station). Their faces were an absolute picture as we walked into the cafe unannounced. We spent the day on the beach, saw two beautiful weddings taking place then went for dinner at Smoke resto again, before drinks on the beach front. Overall a great decision to spend the day on the beach with friends!
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