Day 5 Philippines

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Day 5

Another early morning, we needed to leave by 7.20am to get to the ferry, so breakfast was wolfed down before we caught a tricycle to the port.

A tax of 20 pesos was paid each, something that was not on any sites I had researched and I began to understand that this was the norm in the Philippines. You would book and pay for a tour, your booking agent often didn't tell you, the websites often didn't tell that there was a surcharge, service charge or environmental fee or some strange tax or 3. Be prepared. Make sure that you have pesos. No one takes credit card so cash is the only way you are going to pay for something. If you do find a place that takes credit card they can charge a surcharge too.

The ferry ride was just under 4 hours and a smooth ride with comfy seats and air conditioning. I read, looked at some of the videos we had taken and the time passed quickly.

We were mobbed by people wanting to give us a ride in their tricycle after disembarking and Kym and I had a giggle later on that we should have said 'No Autographs', it was like the paparazzi. Our driver told us 200 peso but I haggled for 150. Bartering is allowed here too.

We had to call for our boat to take us to our next accomdation destination which was a secluded resort on an island close by.

It took 15 minutes and we were warmly welcomed with a tropical fruit drink, and a 4% surcharge on the credit card. I was slightly annoyed as we had previously discussed payment and there was no mention of this surcharge.

We were shown to our room, a cute small hut on tree branches that had water flowing under it and from the window it overlooked the ocean and a mountainous island in front of us. It was small but the aircondioner worked well and the bed was comfy enough. The toilet didn't flush and we needed to get reception to fix it.

The resort had a bar, which opened at 8pm. A smaller bar that made up the restaurant couldn't mix drinks, only shots and beer and soda. There were two infinity pools, one fresh water (chlorinated) and one salt water. Clear kayaks lined a makeshift beach.

There was a long jetty with a open air room which we ate lunch in. A standard 5% surcharge (or 10% if they brought it to your room or anywhere else that wasn't the restaurant.) The restaurant had no aircondioner, just evaporative water coolers which did nothing in the humidity. You were kind of stuck for food as there was nowhere else to go on the island unless you took a boat back into town.

Lunch was definitely not what we ordered or at the very least a half attempt. Maybe it was because we ordered western style foods.. it was okay, I guess.

Taking the clear kayaks out we thought that this would be so cool, but the water was brackish and the only marine life we saw (outside the kayak) was a couple of large jellyfish (apparently you can snorkel here but we weren't keen after seeing the jellies). It was a bit underwhelming.

Next we thought we would relax in the pool. Trying the salt water pool first, we spent quite a while in there, a bit of mermaiding, a bit of ukulele playing, posing for photos and selfies with the backdrop and even some swimming, and we felt that we are actually relaxing for the first time after go go go. We tried the fresh pool after and the view of the ocean from the pool was serene.

Showered and dry the heavens opened to a downpour that lasted over 4 hours. Not that we minded, we were in the wet season. What we did mind was the outside tiles of the resort were not tiles that should be used around wet surfaces and became extremely slippery. Scarily slippery and we had to be extra careful walking anywhere.

Dinner was pizza and fries followed by going upstairs to the bar for a Pina Colada (had to, it was raining..and we did get caught in it...and now you have that song stuck in your head..) to watch an acoustic set; 3 young boys who performed a range of easy listening songs, the lead singer had a beautiful voice, it was just a shame there was only 6 of us who were there enjoying it.

End of Day 5

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Photos

In the tricyle
This one only had one seat at the front (well 2 small people could fit)

View of our resort from the boat
Ours is the corner bungalow on the far right

Clear kayaking
Got to play a clear uke in a clear kayak...

Another spectacular sunset
All bathed in pink