It was a windy Sunday morning when we arrived on Olango Island. Olango is a small island of approximately 1,030 hectares (2,500 acres) total land area. It is surrounded by bodies of water, namely: Hilutungan Channel on the east and Olango Channel on the west. From Mactan Newtown, Lapu-lapu City it takes roughly a 30-minute boat ride to reach Olango but this may extend depending on the sea condition.
It was my first visit to the island with my boyfriend. Olango Island is known to be any biker's haven. On the boat ride, I noted a few bikers who were traveling with their bikes, excited to bike around the paved and uncrowded roads in Olango. One characteristic of the island that draws cyclists both professional and amateur every weekend. On the other hand, GB and I didn’t bring any bikes; we’ve heard that there were few bike rentals on the island that we can rent for as low as Php 25.00 per hour. If I remember it right, there’s also a per-day rental rate. If you’re planning to use the bike for an entire day, it’s best to pay the per day rate to save more.
Just when we were about to get our bikes, my boyfriend mentioned that he’s not sure if he still knows how to ride them. I thought he was just messing around with me. But when we started riding our bikes and I saw he had difficulty moving without having to use his feet to balance on both sides, I realized he was not joking at all. It was a lazy Sunday and we weren’t in a hurry; we had an entire day to visit two famous destinations in Olango. My boyfriend took his time figuring out how to balance his ride. I let him go first so I’ll be on this back watching out for other vehicles. I was worried when he was moving towards the center of the street and other vehicles would move past him. It took time but he didn’t give up and finally was able to ride with stability not the strongest wind could challenge. We continued biking around Olango that day. It had been a wonderful experience except for the time when we were on our way home. I’ll tell you more about it in my next post!