After our amazing experience watching the whalesharks in Oslob, we decided to go island hopping. The Sumilon Island which is privately owned is reachable 10 minutes by boat from Oslob. It has two beaches , the other one accessible to the public is the Sandbar and on the other side is the exclusive Bluewater Sumilon Island Resort. The total area of the island is 24 hectares and the coral reef or marine life is very well protected by the government. If you want to visit the beach of Bluewater Resort without booking a room, you would have to pay at least 2500 Php/around 50 USD as entrance fee. The Infinity pool is exclusive to hotel guests only. While there, you can enjoy the white sand, do scuba diving or snorkeling or when you are lucky you can also see whalesharks… they are harmless big fishes that come to Oslob for shrimp-feeding.
Once we have showered to remove the smell of the shrimps in our skin and hair, we made ourselves ready for the boat ride. The smell is also one reason why we have worn neoprene-like swimwear. My cousins brought along ready made cooked food from home and we decided we will eat lunch on the island once we get there. Friends said we had to bring own food since the small food stands were costly in and around the Oslob area.
And so the guy named Tony who was guiding us at Oslob arranged the boat , he said he knew the boat organizers and we were supposed to be given discounted tickets because he was intervening for us… So the five of us paid a total of 1k Php/20 USD and we got each of our boat ticket that also served as our entrance to the Sandbar. The colored ticket signaled which boat we were assigned to that brought us to and from the island.
The boat ride to the island had been around 10 minutes and as we were heading towards the sandbar, one of the boat guys said that the sandbar changes its size and shape and even location according to the season. If it´s low tide, the Sandbar is so visible and you can so enjoy it…. truly amazing! A lot of photos and images I´ve seen on internet really showed that the guy said the truth.
When we arrived, there were island personnel as well as lifeguards checking our tickets. The sandbar was nice, but there had been a lot of tourists who came in by the boats. I was like "OMG, the sandbar was too small to accommodate the crowd coming in from Oslob!"
The sandbar has white sands, but part of the beach was a bit rough due to the broken corals and seashells probably swept by the waves to the shore. They clean them though but when you go deeper, one could still feel the corals. I´ve have gathered some small broken corals and brought them home as souvenirs.
The upper part of the sandbar is reachable thru stairs made of rocks. There were sitting areas and tables , so we definitely enjoyed the blue water while we had lunch. We explored a bit of the designated area on our side but didn´t go further because it was prohibited and exclusive only for the paying hotel guests. At any rate, even if we had the chance, we lack the time because we still had a three-hour car ride going back to Cebu City. All in all we stayed around 3 hours but the hopping was worth it. I think I will come back but would like to book for the hotel and enjoy a wider beach area and the infinity pool as well.
@mersReferences:
Granada Beachhouse.PH
Bluewater Sumilon Island Resort
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