Siquijor – Enchanting Island (Getting there)
It was a last minute decision. I have long wanted to go to Hinatuan's enchanted river, instead, last minute, booked a trip to Siquijor -- the enchanted island of fire, of healers and sorcerers.
Getting to Siquijor – Change of Plans I A Day in Dumaguete I Dumaguete to Siquijor I Flora’s Diver Resort
Gazillion crabs
“Well it’s all booked!”
“To Davao!”
“No to Dumaguete.”
“What? I thought we’re going to Hinatuan?”
“Change my mind.”
“Do you have the itinerary planned?”
“Not really.”
“Do you know where we’re going?”
“Hmmm… kinda.”
“well aren’t we going on a tour?”
“Nope.”
“Do we need to book ferries in advance?”
“Not really.”
“Are you sure?”
“100%”
I first came to the island four years ago. Things may have changed, but I was confident to just “parachute artist” this trip to Siquijor. I already knew what the highlights would be, I’m just hoping this time around, I’ll experience and see something I haven’t before. That said, Siquijor is just so beautiful you can’t go wrong — even without an itinerary.
Getting to Siquijor
“All we have to do is just get to Dumaguete port, take a ferry and work it out from there”, I reassured The Cowboy.
It was a hell of a long trip though, coming from Baguio City.
We left Baguio around 8:30PM. Arrived Pasay around 2AM. Our flight wasn’t till 8:30AM. The shuttle to the airport was right there at the Victory terminal. It was pretty easy hop off, hop on. It was a long wait though before it got filled up and the shuttle left for the airport, almost an hour after. It was almost 3:30AM by the time we got to the airport. I didn’t expect the long line outside getting into the terminal (T1). Luckily we had time to kill. By the time we got in, there was no line at all for the self-check in and we were able to drop off our check-in bags immediately as early as 4am. Flight with PAL was on time. Arrived at Dumaguete around 10AM with no hassles at all.
Change of Plans – Typhoon Agaton Hits
The one thing tourist promotions overlook about travel in the Phillippines is typhoons. They can hit anytime and they happen a lot.
I canceled our first night in Siquijor last minute because of Signal #1 Agaton. All sea travel was canceled. I booked AirBnB for just the first night in Dumaguete, a beautiful house next to rice fields five minutes from the airport. It was a good thing we didn’t go to Davao or Hinatuan. That area was hit hard.
Sunrise over the rice fields
A Day in Dumaguete
Any parachute artist would take advantage of change of plans. I immediately looked at what you could do for a day in Dumaguete: swimming and snorkeling at Apo Island or kayaking at Balinsayao Twin Lakes, evening soak at the Red Rock Hot Springs in Valencia.
We stumbled upon Jay, a tricyle driver. I negotiated with him to tour us around. (Luckily he speaks Tagalog fluently, not just Bisaya, the local dialect — which I translate here in English).
“Would you take us around for 500PhP to Balinsayao Twin Lakes and the the Hot springs?”
“Ma’am, that would be 700PhP.”
“What about 600PhP”
“No Ma’am, lugi po.” (I won’t make money).
“Ok, is there anything else you would recommend?”
“Actually I recommend Mt. Apo, but it’s going the other direction. It’s one of the best places to go to here in Dumaguete.”
After much haggling, we didn’t do any of that. The Cowboy was getting restless and cranky. And both our coughs, a “souvenir” from my niece from Baguio, were just worsening. We were feeling a bit rough and not really in tip-top condition for adventuring.
We ended up going around buying ourselves provision for trip to Siquijor: fruits, water, snacks, sunscreen, etc. Jay recommended a good seafood restaurant by the sea, Lab-as. We had the best crab ever, cooked with water spinach and gata (coconut milk). The grilled tuna steak looked very much like a steak! Never seen such thick slab of tuna. It was tender, fresh and delicious! Such a yummy feast for a lunch. That alone redeemed our unintended stay in Dumaguete. (We were disappointed when we went back on our last day, the service was pretty bad and the crab wasn’t as good).
Jay had been pretty good to us. Instead of the meager Php150 he asked for, we instead gave him PhP300. We asked him to pick us up for the port the next day.
Jay picked us up at 6:30AM. We wanted to catch the 8AM ferry and aimed to be there an hour before to get tickets. They don’t issue tickets any earlier than that. No advanced bookings. Jay recommended Aleson instead of Montenegro lines. When we got to the terminal, there was a line for the Aleson 8:30AM ferry but none for the 8AM Montenegro line. Aleson turned out to be a good choice. It was comfortable, especially at the Aircon’d area. It only cost P120, non Aircon is P100.
Got to Siquijor around 10 AM. The water was as beautiful as when I last saw it: clean, clear, emerald blue green color. The tide was lower than last time. Tourist vans and tricycle drivers swarmed at the exit offering their rides.The Cowboy haggled with the tricycle drivers and I overheard him negotiating for P200 to our accommodation at Larena.
Meantime I chanced upon Noynoy who drives a shuttle/mini-jeepney. He offered P300. I took it. It was much better, the tricycle was a bad idea for such a long ride – took around 20-30 minutes to Flora’s dive resort in Larena where we’re staying.
The Cowboy was impressed. The roads were good. The place was clean. There was none of the traffic and fumes he hated back in Dumaguete. In Siquijor, you can breathe deeply!
Flora’s was rustic, non-touristy off the beaten path by the sea. The cottages sat on a downward gentle sloping hill towards the beach, and the property were carpeted with well-maintained bermuda grass. The sand by the beach was white and very fine! It was breezy, and understandably, aircon was not needed for the cottages.
Neal, the AirBnB host I booked the cottage with, greeted us and offered us freshly plucked coconut to drink while waiting for our place to be ready. We canceled our supposed tour for the day because I wasn’t feeling well. I actually lost my voice from too much coughing – and it hurt to cough.
We just chilled at the property. It was so nice and refreshing!
Had dinner at the café-bar of Flora’s. The other guests we’ve seen so far were all foreigners.
