We left home for another paradise home - our first island vacation.
Last Sunday was the most, exciting, a little challenging and dream come true weekend I and my family ever had. (We left on Sunday because Monday was a holiday) And as of this writing, I could still feel my feet jumping because of excitement.
After so many failed attempts to spend one of our weekends on an island, we finally found ourselves boarding a Shuttle Ferry bound for the famous beautiful island of Bantayan. And like all our wonderful experiences on the island, the travel/sailing part was as wonderful as exploring the corners of it as this was my baby's first time riding on a ship and my hubby's first time going to Bantayan Island.
To travel is better than to arrive.
We arrived at the port at 9:45 and had to wait for the 10:30 trip. My husband joined the queue at the ticketing booth to buy our tickets. He came back with his smile so wide. Excitement was written all over his face. We waited for about 30 minutes before we boarded the ship.
On the ship.
On our way to the ship, Xab my daughter was already shouting "Look Mama! It's a big boat! Yeaayy! It's a big boat! Some passengers were looking at us and were amused by my daughter's loud cheers and excitement. Haha!
She looked at me from time to time and smiled. I could see her eyes sparkling. Her loud cheers became louder and happier when the ship started to sail. While sailing she kept on singing the song "Row row row your boat" and I couldn't remember how many times she sang it! She's just so happy!
I was expecting her to sleep during the travel but instead, she was so active looking everywhere and pointing and naming at things she saw with so much delight. Because of this, I was imagining how joyous she could get by the time we arrived on the island. However, 15 minutes before our arrival, she started to get silent and gradually lost her energy.
We arrived and still, she was silent. Moments later and still she was silent. The new surroundings, the vehicles, and even the island itself no longer attract my daughter's attention. She's not in the mood at all!
Seasickness
There we realized, she got seasick.
We canceled the first place on our itinerary and decided to stay at the guest house for Xab to recover and feel better.
At first, she felt anxious in the guesthouse as everything was new and strange to her but later on she was able to adjust and slowly feels at home.
When we think she was okay we traveled via motorbike bound to the back part of the island, the town of Madridejos.
Visiting the oldest Ruin of the Island.
Bantayan Island is composed of 3 towns namely; Sta. Fe, Bantayan, and Madridejos. Madridejos is the farthest and so the first town that we visited. I so wanted to visit this part of the island because of the interesting Fort they have that comes with a beautiful fine white sand beachfront.
Hence my daughter was having seasickness during our travel, I was worried that she wouldn't like the place, but thanks God, she loved the place and started running around! Such a relief to finally see her active and energized again!
Looking at her, I realized that it's not easy to travel together with a toddler, that my self-happiness and excitement are not what matters anymore but my child's and my family's happiness and comfort in the place where we are traveling matter the most. Seeing them happy made me feel happy and contented in life.
After spending our time on the beachfront, we head back to Sta. Fe and get ready for dinner. We had a great time on our first day though we encountered a little challenge earlier. How we hope we can frequently have this relaxation and family bonding but not the seasickness, please. It feels great to have this once in while vacationing in paradise, a home away from home.
A lot of wonderful things happened on our island vacation which I will definitely be sharing in my future blogs.š
That's it for our weekend experience on a Sunday! Thank you so much for reading. Hope you enjoy it. I wish you all safe and well always.
Smile often and here's mine!
š¤
