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Published: February 15th 2013
Mystery, magic, and magnificent beaches are amongst the highlights of this incredible island, and as like everywhere we have been so far in the Philippines, as soon as we arrived we knew that we would love it here. Siquijor (pronounced Si-Kee-Hor) is situated between the larger islands of Negros and Bohol, and known for its natural healers and old black magic traditions with Filipino people (some of whom are even afraid to step foot on this island), although locals are sceptical about the uses of such ‘herbal’ remedies, but we loved it for its picture postcard beaches, friendly people and chilled out vibe.
It was quite a journey to get here, and as we were late arriving and had not expected to come to Siquijor today, we had nowhere booked, so we quickly phoned a local guesthouse near the port who luckily had a room available for the night and we got a tricycle, the Filipino version of a Thai tuk-tuk, straight there with a nice guy called Neolito.
Just before this on the ferry over we had a funny moment – on Oceanjet ferries they have a tv and show films or short programmes on every journey. On
this occasion they were showing Celine Dion in Concert from about 1999, which was fine, but the ferry was quite rocky as the sea was rough, so when she started belting out the Titanic song it wasn’t exactly comforting - we just looked at each other and laughed though, it was pretty ironic...luckily we made it to dry land safely!
Anyway, the guesthouse (Villa Marmarine) was lovely from what we could see and right on a stretch of beach, so we went to bed with the sound of waves crashing just metres away. This was not before Scott couldn't find the key to the padlock on his bag, and after a futile search we both knew it was lost - so before we could go to bed, he had to find an instrument to get the padlock off the bag, which turned out to be a rusty old saw! He then spent 45 minutes hacking the saw through the metal padlock before it finally came off and he could get his bag open, so we finally got to bed around 1am. Up early the next morning we had breakfast on the terrace overlooking the gorgeous white sand before catching
up on a bit of internet stuff and getting ready to move to a different area of the island. We arranged for Neolito to pick us up and this worked out really well as he not only drove us to San Juan, the area we had decided to stay in, but drove us round looking for accommodation for 45 minutes, for no extra charge. He even recommended us a place to stay when we couldn‘t find anywhere, and it actually turned out to be great, so great in fact that we didn’t want to leave! The Sylvia guesthouse had lovely, spacious clean rooms set around pretty gardens and a fabulous restaurant where we would end up eating most of our meals as the food was so good and portions were huge. Most importantly it was quite cheap compared to some other places we saw in the area and the girls working there were so friendly. Again, the Filipino people are ridiculously nice and always smiling here like everywhere else we have been here so far, we just love them. In San Juan there are just a handful of places to stay and they are all spread out along the beach
and have their own restaurants, some are more expensive than others, so you end up eating where you are staying which is why it’s important that the food is good – as we loved it at our place we didn’t move one single night! We were really lucky to find this place as it wasn’t mentioned online and would definitely recommend it to anyone coming here.
The beach just opposite was simply stunning – bright white sand, turquoise waters and only shared with maybe 2-3 other people. This island is so quiet and we probably only spoke to half a dozen people in 5 days! But this suited us just fine – it was amazing to feel like we had stumbled across our very own deserted paradise. Scott went snorkelling when we arrived just a bit further up the beach as he had heard there were some turtles not too far out. I started to wade out too but parts of the seabed were covered in weedy grass and there were also some spiky sea urchins, but it was almost too shallow to swim properly, so I got a bit scared and went back to dry land while Scott
carried on. He would end up being gone for an hour and not seeing very much at all, then facing a hard swim back against the current and even when it got shallow he couldn’t stand due to the sea urchins! So I didn’t miss too much and thankfully our bit of beach and water was nice and clear. Our normal routine went something like this most days – get up early, have breakfast, walk 5 minutes to the beach, sunbathe and read all day with breaks now and then to cool off in the sea, swing in a hammock or grab a cold drink, watch the beautiful sunset, go back to our guesthouse, shower, have a delicious dinner, play cards/use the internet if it was working/watch a film, bed by 11pm! This only changed when we decided to walk into the ‘town’ which consisted of a few small family run shacks, a bar and a dive shop and was 3km away to get some lunch – we got a local tricycle back after as we couldn’t face the walk in the heat.
One day we also rented a motorbike to get around the island and see some more
of what Siquijor has to offer, and had a fantastic day. The kind lady at The Bruce guesthouse (sister property of The Sylvia) organised it for us and the bike was dropped off to us in the morning which was really convenient. We have rented bikes in quite a few places on our travels so far as it’s a great way of getting around and we love the freedom it gives us, and this day was no different. The roads here are very good as well and there are hardly any cars here so it makes driving fairly easy. First we went to see the Century Old Balete Tree which was about 15 minutes away from San Juan – it was quite impressive as it was so huge. Then we went on for a longer drive passing some spectacular scenery towards the town of Lazi, another little place with some local shops and dusty streets, but it had a lovely old wooden and stone church and a large convent opposite which were both nice. We are loving how undeveloped the island is and how few tourists there are here! After we went to the Camhugay Falls, a set of pretty
waterfalls down some steep steps with different pools, all very blue and very clear. We wanted to jump in as we were so hot and they looked very refreshing but didn’t want to leave our bag as there were quite a few local teenage boys just hanging around and we had heard that bag theft here is common, so made do with just looking at the falls for a while and watching some very young kids who fearlessly jumped in from the top! Also I didn’t feel comfortable stripping off to my bikini with all these young boys around just staring, although I’m sure they were harmless but still. After climbing back up what seemed like endless stairs, we were pretty hungry so headed on a long ride round to the East side of the island to Sangdoong Beach, said to be one of the nicest beaches here. It was nice but a bit odd as there was some construction going on, the place felt strangely deserted and there was a couple of random waterslides into the sea?! Plus the sea was clear but the sand was very stony so we just had a bit of lunch in the restaurant
before moving on to Larena town. Again the scenery on the drive was amazing, everything was so green and lush, and people would just wave at us along the way or shout hello and smile. We reached Larena and used the ATM (the only one on the island which accepts foreign bank cards) before heading back round to San Juan after a long but brilliant day on the bike – we both had sore bums that night! We had intended to get the bike again another day to ride up into the mountains and visit some local healers but the beach was just too lovely to leave and although we haven’t been doing much we were tired and just wanted to relax.
We also got out a kayak (free for guests) one morning and paddled leisurely in the sun across the still waters which was really nice. We got out quite a way and tied the kayak to a buoy near Palitan Wall, a recommended snorkel spot where fishing is prohibited, so we could jump out and snorkel. The snorkelling was amazing – the coral was so alive and we saw many different types of colourful fish in the
clear waters which we hadn’t seen before, we were really impressed. The ride back was tougher as we were going against the current and our arms were aching when we got back to the beach but it was a fun morning. We sunbathed the rest of the afternoon and just felt so content here we didn’t want to leave - if time was no issue, we would have happliy stayed here for weeks, it literally felt like paradise to us and will stay special in our minds for a long long time. The last few days have been amazing and we wish we had got a 2 month visa for the Philippines so we could spend longer in this incredible country, but on this occasion we only have 3 weeks so we have to make the most of our time and before we knew it we had to move on from Siquijor. But we are coming back to the Philippines a bit later in our trip so may be back, as we still have over 6,997 islands to discover…
S&V's Travel Info & Tips: General Info: Approx 65 Peso's to £1. Transportation: We took an expensive Ocean Jet ferry to Siquijor Town on Siquijor via Dumaguete (2.5hrs) which cost 820 Peso's each - there were others which went 3 times a week to Larena Town on Siquijor and cost a fraction of this but they weren't going when we needed to leave. From Siquijor town a tricycle to San Juan costs around 100-200 Peso's. Around San Juan you can walk or take a local tricycle for 10 Peso's pp for short journeys. Bike hire is common and we paid 300 Peso's per day for our bike.
Food: We ate almost all of our meals at our guesthouse as the food was just so good! Meals at all resorts in San Juan are a bit more expensive than elsewhere - ours was one of the cheapest places to eat with meals costing around 200 Peso's pp. We also ate lunch once at Castaway's Cafe in town which was good. Accomodation: We cannot reccomend The Sylvia guesthouse enough - it was just great, and rooms were only 600 Peso's a night, the cheapest we saw in the area and very nice and clean. Lovely staff, delicious food, and opposite the beach where you can use the swimming pool and free kayaks from their sister property (The Bruce). It was very quiet so if you want to meet people JJ's backpackers just down the road may be better for you.
Other observations: x) For the first time in the Philippines we came across kids asking for money - not begging as such, but when we passed them on our bike they would hold their hands out and shout 'money money!' at us. xx) You can visit nearby Apo Island to dive and/or snorkel on a day trip from the exclusive Coco Grove resort in San Juan, but it's expensive so you are better arranging this in Dumaguete (see next blog).
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Vince n Suz
Slackpackers
Sunset bliss....
Some unreal sunset photos here guys, nice blog. How good is siquijor, brings back some good memories. Nice to know there is a good backpacker option on the island as opposed to the expensive but luxurious coco grove. Can't wait to get back there next year.