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What's up travelmaniacs and Steemitians! Here I am again for another one of my beautiful travel stories, especially the unplanned! This time, I'm going to share to the TravelFeed community about my unplanned escapade to the Camotes Island.
After our crypto university event at the Cebu Technological University, both of my then-colleagues, Veronica and Sonny (I'm with them during our Hong Kong trip), flew back to Manila to host another corporate event. As for me, I want to do something before going back home to Bacolod.
As I've stayed at Le Village Hostel, I cannot sleep again. I was browsing on my phone about another possible destination that I haven't visited yet. I was thinking between Camotes Islands and Malapascua Island. After an hour of deciding, I settled with Camotes. I use Booking.com to book myself to Aladin Hotel for an overnight price of P981 or almost $20.00.
I packed my bags for an early check out around 1:00 A.M. and proceed to the North Cebu bus terminal via Grab Car. From the terminal to Danao port, the estimated travel time would be 1.5 to 2 hours (depends on traffic) and I only spent around P50 or $1.00 for the non-aircon bus. The bus left the terminal around 2:00 A.M.
I arrived before 4:00 A.M. at the Danao Port and eating my early breakfast at a nearby Jollibee restaurant (good thing that it's a 24-hour fast food chain). I fall in line to buy a Jomalia shipping ferry ticket to Camotes Island.
The price of the tickets from Danao Port to Consuelo Port in Camotes are as follows:
Regular passengers: P220 ($4.32) for open air/P250 ($4.91) for airconditioned room
Student passengers: P176 ($3.45) for open air/P200 ($3.92) for airconditioned room
Senior citizen/PWD (person with disability) passengers: P157 ($3.08) for open air/P179 ($3.51) for airconditioned room
Minor passengers: P110 ($2.16) for open air/P125 ($2.45) for airconditioned room.
Jomalia Shipping entertains advanced online booking. It must be done two days before your scheduled trip.
When you buy an aircon class ferry ticket, you will be given a seat number. Non-aircon passengers aren't allowed to stay inside the aircon class room. I bought an aircon class room, so that I could sleep comfortably for the duration of the trip.I booked my first trip which is 5:30 A.M. (there are 6 trips everyday from and to Camotes Island). The travel duration is approximately 2 hours.
After touching down on the Consuelo Port in Camotes, I hired a habal-habal motorcycle driver to fetch me to Aladin Hotel Resort and take me to a whole day tour for just P700 or $14.00. However, my check-in schedule was still 2 P.M., so I asked the hotel concierge to secure my luggage at their storage room, while bringing along my backpack with important stuff.
My first stop was the Tulang Diot Island. It's said to be one of the most beautiful islands in Camotes. For a pump boat fare including environmental fee, I paid around P100 or $2.00. It'll take only less than 10 minutes to get to the Tulang Diot island.
If there's Tulang Dako (big), which is part of the main island of Camotes, there's Tulang Diot (small) as well. It may be small, but you can't just simply underestimate the beauty of it. The island itself has no hotels or restaurants, but there are sari-sari stores. If I were you, it's better to bring your own food and drinks when you want to stay longer or overnight.
If you want to stay overnight, you need to bring your own tent and pay a fee of P150 ($3.00). The cottages can be rented for at least P500 ($10.00). I ate some quick snacks in one of the sari-sari stores before heading back to the main island for the next tourist attraction.
The next stop that I have is no other than Timubo Cave. It's one of the few caves that I've visited in Camotes Islands, and one of the best ever. I need to go down the stairs and hike a bit inside with dim lights. The entrance fee to the Timubo Cave is only P15 ($0.29).
As I keep hiking, I've seen some tourists who swam inside the cave. They seem to have fun until I joined the fray. The water's not really deep, it's just above my breast. When they're all gone, I decided to left behind to do some vlogging of myself jumping and swimming inside the Timubo Cave, I stayed there for around 30 minutes before heading off to Lake Danao Park.
For only an entrance fee of P10 ($0.20) for adults (P5 or $0.10 for children), you can explore inside the famous Lake Danao Park. Tourists like me can enjoy exploring, fishing, boating and so on. Plus, they have a restaurant and that's where I eat lunch and enjoy the moment.
***And I've met a beautiful young lady from Cebu named Ross Ann, whom I befriended with her mom. ***
I offered to take pictures of them, including her jump shots. I remember that I need her to jump many times because the phone that they're taking isn't really good in "timing". I took this shot in my iPhone instead, and told her to add me on Facebook so that I can send her jump shot picture.
One of the downsides of Camotes Island is the mobile connectivity. Since we have problems in mobile data connection, she just write her Facebook name on a piece of paper for me to send friend request when I regained internet connection. And we did! Glad to be instant friends with them. After eating lunch, I went back to the habal-habal motorcycle driver for us to proceed to the Heaven Cave.
It may be the smallest cave I've ever visited in Camotes Island, but it can never be underestimated. The reason why it's called the Heaven Cave is because of it's amazing rock formations. There are two beautiful children who are my tour guides, and they did well. I only spent like 10 minutes into this cave before going out and head off to the next cave.
My next stop is the Paraiso Cave. The entrance fee is P50 or $1.00. As I went down to the cave, they have a bluish natural pool where I can swim. I did took a picture there, but the quality's not good because I didn't have a ring light back then. Despite there are lights in the cave, it's not enough for me to take quality pictures there. However, it's pretty cool to swim there in the cold bluish pool of Paraiso Cave. I spent there like 20 minutes before heading off to the Amazing Island Cave and Beach Resort.
Before entering the Amazing Island Cave, there's a beach resort nearby. The entrance fee so far is P60 or $1.20. It is required to wear a lifejacket if you don't know how to swim. What makes this cave so different than the others? It's because when you explore the cave, the water's so deep around 30 feet.
Instead of hiking through the end of the cave, you need to swim. I was not allowed to bring my stuff, so I had to leave it to the one in charge of the cave. Don't worry, my stuff was all safe and complete after getting out of the cave.
The path's so narrow so you can hold on to the cave's rocky walls to pass through. When I reached the end of the cave, there's a hole that I need to enter to access another part of it. To my surprise, I can touch the ground but with lots of rocks. It's better to wear aqua shoes for that.
Since I'm very tired for the day due to lack of sleep, I went back to my habal-habal motorcycle driver to head me back to Aladin Resort Hotel and paid his service fee of P700 or $14.00 for the day trip. However, he would offer me a free ride to the port on the next day.
After I checked in to my hotel room and before taking a nap, I manage to record this video showing you around the Aladin Resort Hotel.
To my surprise, the swimming pool's water is coming from the sea. Therefore, it's kinda salty when I swim in the pool. However, I liked staying in the jacuzzi and relax. The mobile and WiFi signal are very poor in the area (especially in my room). I can only access WiFi in their restaurant.
After a few hours rest, I ate my dinner in their restaurant and checking my social media activity. And also during that time, there were occasional power interruptions. When that happens, I often go out from my hotel room to sit somewhere and look at the beautiful stars.
When the power resumed, I took some time relaxing in their jacuzzi before going to bed for a full rest. I took a pic of myself while in the jacuzzi, but the quality's not good. So I have to wait for the next day to do that.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv2x72uD4kY/
I woke up around 7 A.M. and took an early swim and relaxing at the jacuzzi. After that, I showered myself and packed my stuff to get ready for my checkout time of 10 A.M. The good thing about booking in Aladin Resort Hotel is that they have complimentary breakfast for their guests. I have corned beef with sunny side up egg, two cucumbers and one cup of rice. I also served with orange juice and instant coffee.
Before leaving the Aladin Resort Hotel, I went to the back gate and enjoyed the view.
I called the habal-habal motorcycle to fetch me from the Aladin Resort Hotel to the Consuelo Port. I thanked him for yesterday's day tour, and we've exchanged numbers in case I'm coming back here again.
This time, I've booked the non-aircon class for P220 ($4.32) to head back to the Danao Port as the aircon class slots are already filled. It'll take me another two hours from Consuelo Port to Danao Port. After that, I went to the Mactan-Cebu International Airport to catch my flight back to Bacolod City.
At least I have shared to the TravelFeed community about my unplanned escapade to the Camotes Islands. If you haven't been here yet, I hope this would help you a bit regarding the prices, travel spots or so.
I haven't visited a lot yet in Camotes Islands like the Santiago White Beach, Buho Rock, Mangodlong Rock, and other caves. Thank you so much for your time to read my travel story for today, and I hope you've enjoyed it.
Did you liked my travel blog about Camotes Island? I would greatly appreciate if you could leave an upvote! Stay tuned for my next travel story!
Check out my previous travel stories here:
Nature outing with the fambam, relatives and friends somewhere in La Carlota
Wandering around Hong Kong for the first time
My solo getaway to the Boracay Island
Temple of Leah and Kerygma Conference with my sis and friends
My unplanned getaway to Kawasan Falls and Basdaku White Beach
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