Sign In
Travel Blog Posts
Dalupiri Island, Samar
Published: March 28th 2013Asia » Philippines » Samar » Calbayog » Dalupiri Island
March 28th 2013
A tough day of travelling from Gubat. Tried to catch a Jeepney going back to Sorsogon, but impossible as too many people going home for Holy Week. As soon as a Jeepney arrived it filled up with 20 passengers in a few seconds! So we headed South on an empty Jeepney to Bulusan, which passed through some great scenery. Then another Jeepney to Irosin then another to Matnog for the ferry to Samar. Ferry trip was crazy, wuth hundreds of passengers on board. Arriving in Samar we stayed overnight just outside the Port of Allen in a place called Paradise Inn then up early next day at 5:30am and Jeepney to small town of Victoria and caught a banca to the Island of Dalupiri. All the effort was worth it, as lovely little Island with lots ... read more
March 23rd 2013
From Tabaco we took a 90 minute Jeepney to Legaspi, and stayed at the Rex Hotel. Raining heavily in Legaspi so we decided to move on to Sorsogon City. Found the Donna Mercedes Lodge right in the City centre, but nice quiet place surrounded by many eateries with some Karaoke in the evenings, which we visited and drank many SMBs! From Sorsogon City we took a 30 minute Jeepney to the small town of Gubat and checked into one of strangest places to stay yet. The Gubat St Anthony Co-operative, huge AC room with balcony overlooking Mount Bulusan. From Gubat its just a short tricycle ride to Rizal beach, about 6kms long, which we walked end to end, very hot but very nice.... read more
March 20th 2013
From Virac we took a 4 hour ferry to the mainland Port Town of Tabaco, and the first thing that greeted us was a big sign saying Tabaco is a Tobacco free town! Bit ironic. Found nice place to stay, the Maevin Inn right in the Town Centre, 600 peso for a big AC room and easily found a motorbike to hire from one of the locals. Rode South to the beaches of Bacacay and Santo Domingo then went in search of Mount Mayon. Even though Mayon is a huge Volcano, standing at over 2000 metres, it wasnt that easy to get pictures of it as its often completly shrouded in clouds. Our best views were when we rode up to the Skyline Hotel halfway up the Volcano on the Northern side. Tabaco turned out to ... read more
March 16th 2013
A 90 minute motorcycle ride from Virac down the coastal plain then over some very scenic hilltowns and we arrive in Puraran, home of the world renowned surf break, the Majestics. When you approach Puraran you get some fleeting glimpses of the beach and the waves as you pass along the hills above, but its not until you get right down onto the beach that all is revealed. Its a wonderfully wild crescent of golden sand hemmed in on 3 sides by hills and open to the full force of the waves rolling in off the Pacific. We found a great nipa and bamboo cottage perched right above the beach at Pururan Surf Resort (formely Puting Baybay) for 500 peso a night. Theres not a whole lot to do at Puraran except relax, swim, surf and ... read more
March 12th 2013
Flew from Cebu at 3 am in the morning to Manila and only just made the connecting flight at 5:30 am to Virac as Terminal 3 was crazy busy ! But glad we did! Arrived in Virac at 6am and took a tricycle to Rakdell Inn and found an OK if smallish room for 450 peso. First thing I noticed flying into Catanduanes is how hilly it is, but also its almost entirely covered with native rainforest, hardly any areas which have been cleared. Virac is a small sized Port Town with a very nice town beach which stretches for about 5km. Catanduanes isnt highly populated and so far we have seen almost no other foreigners here. Very easy to hire a motorbike here, in fact the motorbikes find you. Spent a day riding to Bato ... read more
April 6th 2012
Took some effort getting to Siargao. First an overnight 10 hour ferry from Cebu City to Surigao. Then a slow 4 hour ferry from Surigao to the port town of Dapa on Siargao. Then everything changes! We took a motorbike taxi the 18 km from Dapa to General Luna and the counrtyside is just stunning! I dont remember seeing one single concrete building, just nipa and bamboo houses. Underdeveloped is the first word that comes to mind. Then we arrive in General Luna and go for a walk. No proper roads, just dirt roads, just nipa and bamboo houses, and just over the road an awesome beach and beautiful Islands just offshore. Untouristed, undeveloped, natural. Then theres the weather! It changes here from sunshine to tropical downpour in a matter of seconds. But the big attraction ... read more
March 24th 2012
Getting from Tablas Island to Romblon Island proved a bigger task than expected. Only a few buses run each day from Odiongan Town to San Augustin, the departure point for the banca to Romblon. So we went to the Jeepney terminal in Odiongan and got on an empty bus bound for San Augustin. After a one hour wait, whilst all sorts of repairs were done to the small bus we departed. As expected the bus was loaded to breaking point with passengers and all sorts of cargo and music was blaring from the stereo loud enough to make your ears bleed!. The old bus trundled along the coastal road, which although very scenic, was also very rough! The bus kept stopping for more passengers until it was standing room only inside, the roof was full and ... read more
March 22nd 2012
From Puerto Galera we caught a banca back to Batangas and checked for ferrys bound for Romblon. Unfortunately there were none! Only option was a RORO ferry that evening to Tablas. We boarded the dilapidated rusting RORO ferry and it left at 5pm. Actually the trip was quite good. Each passenger was assigned a bunk in an open deck area and you could sleep, if it wasnt for the Cockerels crowing all the time! We arrived at Poctoy Port on Tablas at 3am, 10 hours later! Luckily just next to the port was a nice little hotel and we stayed there. Next day we organised a motorbike ride into Odiongan Town and checked into the Shelbourne Hotel. Great place with big fan rooms for 400 peso and wifi. We asked the very friendly hotel staff about ... read more
March 21st 2012
From Boac on Marinduque we caught the ferry back to Lucena and then jumped on a bus to Manila and asked to be dropped off somewhere convenient to catch the bus to Batangas. The driver dropped us at Santa Tomas and we stayed there in a short time roadside hotel which was actually pretty good. Up early at 6am next morning we caught the bus to Batangas. Unfortunately we arrived at Batangas Port early on a Saturday morning along with hundreds of people weekending from Manila! Was total chaos in the Port Depature area. Every time a boat departing was announced on the tanoy 200 people rushed the only door available and nobody got anywhere! Had to literally fight our way to the front and force ourselves through the door! By the time we had managed ... read more
March 14th 2012
Getting to Marinduque was not as easy as we expected, seeing as its very close to Manila. From Dau in Pampanga we took a bus to Pasay in Manila. We asked some local tricycle drivers and they said they could take us to the JAM Liner Terminal nearby. So we agreed a price and set off in the tricycle, but instead of using the main roads the driver headed off down the back alleys of Pasay and soon we were stuck in total gridlock! We decided to leave the tricycle there and tried a Jeepney instead, same result! Total gridlock in traffic. So we just walked it! Much better. Then we rode the bus to Lucena and then a tricycle the the port of Dalahican, arriving at about 5pm only to discover the next ferry was ... read more
Tot: 0.142s; Tpl: 0.008s; cc: 11; qc: 71; dbt: 0.0461s; 1; s:apollo w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 2; ; mem: 6.4mb
© 2013 TravelBlog.org & Bloggers