Happy Monday, dreamer and Hivers!
Hope everybody had a restful weekend.
Today I am going to take you on an island hopping tour to one of the amazing destinations in the Philippines, Iloilo!
Iloilo is located in Western Visayas and is home to Gigantes Islands, a tourist destination that is gaining popularity especially for people who want to skip the more known Boracay, Palawan, Cebu, among others (just like me ;).
Currently, there is no direct flights to the Municipality of Carles, where the islands are part of. So, we had to fly to either Roxas airport or Iloilo airport. Land travel takes 4 hours from Iloilo airport and 2 hours from Roxas airport. Of course, we chose the latter.
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The first day was spent for traveling only (and waiting because the flight was delayed).
The following day, we rent a tricycle from Solina Beach Resort, where we were staying, to Carles Port, the jump off point of the Island hopping tour.
The boat ride takes about 1 hour, depending on weather conditions. They have public boats that serve as transportation of locals to and from the islands. There are also private ones for tours. The boat has maximum capacity of 30 pax.
As per the tour guides introduction, back in the days, gigantic human bones were found inside one of the caves of the island where it gets the name "Islas de Gigantes".
Halfway through and we can see the giant already.
Islas de Gigantes is composed of 10 islands but the tour that we took is limited to 5 islands only plus a saltwater lagoon if the nature permits.
Turns out that was the first stop of our tour. The islet is called Pulupandan. We hopped off from the boat and had our first photo op.
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Our tour guides were making a living out of fishing until the islands slowly became popular to tourists. They attended seminar with the Local Government Unit and became tourist guides instead - and photographers, too!
Our next stop is probably the most photographed island in all of Gigantes. I heard that it is also called the "selfie island."
During summer, the beach is full of boats but since it is the rainy season, we were able to have the whole place for ourselves.
The other islands are visible from the top, just like Cabugao Grande. We did not go there though.
Third stop is Antonia Beach Resort. Is a privately owned island that is part of the Gigantes tour. They accommodate tourists who wants to spend the night there. Another interesting thing about this beach, they sell scallops for 2 pesos each! It used to be only 1 peso each before pandemic but still 2 pesos is really cheap! (Conversion 1 USD = 50+ pesos).
Is also has a rock formation that resembles a tail of a crocodile from afar, we can't pass the opportunity to take a photo from the top.
Back-to-back beaches, that was what Cabugao Gamay and Antonia Beach resort offer. I mean, literally! You look at the beach on side, turn 180 degrees and you see another beach.
Onto our next stop, Bantigue sandbar. It took us really fast to get here from Antonia Beach. However, as soon as we got there, it started raining really hard. Most of the passengers did not bother to hop off the boat, including me.
Bantigui sandbar is also visible from Cabugao Gamay.
We went shortly after to Gigantes Sur, one of the major islands and home to some 8,000 locals according to our guide. Everyone is excited to eat the lunch which is part of the tour package.
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Before we hopped off the boat, the captain explained the presence of these rocks that served as natural breakwater for the island. These were brought by a strong typhoon "Yolanda" with international name "Typhoon Haiyan" which struck the Visayan regions back in 2013. It was dreadful event in the lives of Filipinos being one of the strongest and highest number of fatalaties during a natural disaster. The destruction it caused to Gigantes Sur is still visible through the abandoned infrastructures near the shore.
So, we moved on to one of our anticipated stop since we are all hungry from the tour, late lunch!
| My tummy is happy! I don't get to eat this much seafood everyday. It was a lot! Especially the scallops, we barely finished eveything. We also ordered fresh buko. They also sell desserts. |  |
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It stopped raining as soon as we started eating lunch. It could have been better if it didn't rain while we were at the sandbar but trips are like that. A lot of things happen and then it goes well in the end. Perhaps it's nature's way of telling us to come back when the weather is nicer.
Despite the weather, I really enjoyed this trip especially because it's not crowded with tourist and we really had time to appreciate the scenery around us.
Is the trip worthwhile? Definitely! I am glad to have discovered this paradise.
Thank you for making it up to this point. Hope you enjoyed our tour and hope to see you in the next one. :)
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