August 17, 2017

Clean and Green Kayangan Lake

It used to be an almost deserted cove when we first docked here 15 years ago. This time around our boat jostled for space with almost two dozen other motorized outriggers in a now-busy parking lot. The same boats practically blocked the view of the cove at ground level – a mild disappointment. The docking […]
August 10, 2017August 16, 2017

Travel Back to Salagdoong Beach

We had been traveling on Siquijor’s main roadway, passing magnificent views of the mangrove-lined beaches and marine sanctuaries at Enrique Villanueva town along the way. Now, as our trike made its way to the town of Maria, the highway began veering inland, away from the coast. Not too long afterwards we found ourselves driving through […]
June 29, 2017July 27, 2017

Malalison: A Sandbar and a Simple Life

By the time we headed out on a boat for Malalison Island, we were well aware of and looking forward to hiking its beautiful rolling hills. But the first sight that greeted us as our boat inched closer to the island was a beautiful, curving sandbar and surrounding crystalline turquoise waters. We also knew about […]
June 21, 2017July 29, 2017

Malalison Island: Over the Hills and Far Away

The sun had barely awakened from its slumber when we began to set off for the rolling hills on the western side of the island. It was almost the start of the rainy season – it would actually rain almost every late afternoon – but the oppressive heat during much of the day forced us […]
June 12, 2017July 29, 2017

Logbon Island: Bayanihan and a Fishing Community

Many of our island-hopping trips in the last few years involved forays into deserted islands or beaches in protected marine sanctuaries with hardly a village or settlement in sight. Our recent island-hopping trip in Romblon Island, however, was different. The first two islands – Cobrador and Alad Islands – all had communities located just behind […]
June 10, 2017July 29, 2017

Cobrador and Alad Islands: Hopping Around Romblon

It was one of those things we had dreaded on a long trip and it happened on the morning we were set to go on an island-hopping tour at Romblon Island. Leo felt a stabbing pain on his lower back on our way out of the Parc Bay Mansion. Fortunately though it wasn’t as bad […]
May 20, 2017July 29, 2017

A Beach Named Bonbon

We first set foot on this white sand beach at the end of our island-hopping tour, on our second day in Romblon. We had spent an inordinate amount of time at our third island destination leaving us only several minutes to explore beautiful Bonbon Beach before we had to return to Romblon town. Our boat […]
May 16, 2017July 29, 2017

Tiamban: Beach Bumming Paradise

We hadn’t planned going to this beach this early, having just arrived at Romblon town at 6 AM. Our initial plan was to catch up on sleep in the morning, then head for Talipasak Beach in the afternoon. We would then visit three other beaches including Tiamban Beach, on the following day. But a sudden […]