Cebu: Bantayan Island Biking Experience

Date: June 16-17, 2018

One of the things I love during summer (though sometimes hate how summer feels here in Cebu – you’re like being barbequed and all you wish all day is to pour on the coldest water) is you always have the reason to splurge yourself to the beach. Living in a tropical country, it’s hard to miss beach holidays. It’s like everyone jumps to any form of water anywhere in the Philippines!

Bantayan Island is a one famous island and Santa Fe has the famous beaches. To reach this paradise, it’ll take an estimate of 5 hours travel by bus and an hour travel on boat. A quite long one but seeing the white shores while the boat is docking will erase whatever stress you have while getting there.

This trip was just a short one. An impulse of going to somewhere new, white and clear water had pulled myself and few friends to plan and pack for a one day holiday. And it was so worth the rush.

Let’s go biking!

If you want to experience the island, it’s preferable to go around by motorcycle or bicycle. Since, it was ages since the last time I took on the pedal, I courageously chose to be on a bike.

Look how many we are! We could have our own bike club.

We rented bikes for 150 php each for 24 hours. It was a sweating experience but worth the ride. We got to feel the island’s fresh air and ride our way to the scenic views and local foods.

This old and rusty bike has been my good friend, even for a while. I took a solo picture of him to give him some spotlight on helping me with my journey.

Ogtong Cave

A one famous cave with freshwater that you can swim in. Aside from the clear freshwater, natural limestone rocks are surrounding the cave. To enjoy the resort and the cave for a day it costs 200 PHP. The resort is big and has swimming pools. You get to enjoy the cave, pool and sea with the day entrance. And they offer rooms for longer stays.

I couldn’t hold myself, I need to insert this happy pic of mine in this post. Sorry for those who are squeamish. 🙂

German Ruins and Cliff Diving Site

Because of the big rocks, waves in this area are very scary. Big strong waves gonna knock you out if you intent to dive on the waters. I’m not afraid but I’m no swimmer so let’s talk about the ruin standing near the site. By the way, the water looked really good so If you have the strongest heart, plung in and be safe. 🙂

This ruin is part of the history of the island. And I’m honored to be sitting in one of it’s heart-shaped window. You’ll find a lot of shapes like this around the structure. You just don’t see Bantayan as having these white sand beach resorts, they also have old, historical structures that are still standing on this time.

Of course, I didn’t miss to enjoy the night life here in the island. We went to La Playa to enjoy jamming sessions with few drinks. And we got there through our beloved bikes. The road was a bit dark, but we found a way to light each other through our mobile phones. And at some chances, scare each other just like in horror-suspense movies which was so funny. We were laughing all the way to our place for that unique experience.