It’s under heavy rain that we leave Port Barton, after a very relaxing stay.
We knew that rain fall in the Philippines could be pretty intense, but we didn’t expect this. After raining most of the night and all morning, the swimming pool they are building got half full. Absolutely amazing.
Long journey to reach Siquijor
From Port Barton we take a minibus to go to Puerto Princesa, capital of the province of Palawan. From here we have a flight next morning to take us to Cebu, gateway to the Visayas islands. From here we will start with Siquijor island before ending our trip in the Philippines on Bohol island.
It is a one hour flight from Puerto Princesa to Cebu.
In Cebu we take a cab to go to the harbor where we catch a ferry to Tagbilaran on the island of Bohol. The harbor is only 8 miles away from the airport but it takes us an hour and a half to get there because of the awful traffic. Cebu is the 3rd largest city in the country and apparently they have the same traffic management than in Manila. According to the taxi driver the traffic is bad because it is Friday, and the only days when it’s OK are Tuesday and Wednesday…
We manage to get an early afternoon boat to Tagbilaran, for a 2 hour ride.
We are tired of all these transports today when we arrive in Tagbilaran. We only spend a single night here before taking another boat to Siquijor tomorrow. We plan on a short round trip to Siquijor before visiting Bohol last.
Siquijor, witches island
Siquijor is known for being the enchanted island of the Philippines, it is described as the witches island by the Filipinos. In the past, voodoo was used on the island and some Filipinos even refuse to set foot on the island by superstition. We will reassure you right away, we haven’t seen any of this during our stay.
This island is also a lot let less visited than the archipelago of Palawan, and flat out ignored by many westerners, either by lack of time or interest. We have to say that in terms of beaches and corals the island isn’t as beautiful as Palawan. Here we will see a lot more Filipino tourists than the other places we have been to.
We get ready for yet another transport to get to Siquijor. While we wait for the boat, Matt watches the NBA playoffs on TV. The Filipinos are huge basketball fans and Matt is super happy to be able to follow the playoffs live everywhere we go.
The ride to Siquijor last and hour and a half.
We arrive on the island late in the morning, and first thing we do when we arrive is rent a motorbike for the 48 hours we will spend here. Indeed, the island is pretty small so the best way to go around is by motorbike.
We go to our hotel in San Juan, an hour motorbike ride from the harbor. We ride through a few tiny villages, and here the pace is a lot slower than in Cebu. And thankfully a lot less traffic !
Our hotel is full of charm and we even have our own little patio.
Paliton Beach
We decide to spend the afternoon at the beach. Following the advice of several travel blogs, we go to Paliton beach, apparently the most beautiful beach on Siquijor.
To be honest we don’t understand why people love this beach so much. The beach was dirty, there was almost no place to sit because it was high tide, and there were tons of Filipinos hanging out, eating and drinking on the beach. It is the week-end so they came in mass. It is the first time that we are this many on a beach compared to Coron, El Nido or Port Barton. For once we are not sure it is better to be surrounded by locals and not tourists. Indeed the Filipinos here seem to like very loud music, and eating and drinking all day long. Unfortunately they don’t seem to care as much as we do about pollution and keeping the beach clean because they leave all their empties behind them. Not our best afternoon at the beach…
But we still spent a nice afternoon, we were able to find a somewhat quiet spot in the shade of coconut trees.
We read about people who were all alone on this beach. So obviously they didn’t come on a week-end or during the holidays like us.
We get back to our hotel in the evening and go have diner in an italien restaurant where we will have our best pizza in months !
Cambugahay water falls
The next day we decide to go visit the Cambugahay water falls.
Considered as the most beautiful water falls of the island thanks to its clear water and different levels, they are very popular. So we decide to go super early around 7:30 am.
Once again we had read on blogs that people generally arrived around 10 am so we hoped to be alone for a little while. But that was without taking into account that we are on a weekend, in the middle of the holidays, and the Filipinos wake up very very early.
So when we arrive, there aren’t that many people but the place is far from being empty. The music is already blasting and somebody even took out a microphone. Remember what we told you about the Filipinos liking loud music… I guess we’ll have to come back to enjoy the place in peace and quiet.
Luckily the people tend to stay on the upper falls (near all the food stands), we stay towards the bottom falls to be a little alone.
The falls are incredible. The water clear blue.
We can go for a swim and even jump in thanks to a Tarzan swing. Matt will jump in a few times.
We will stay here 2 hours enjoying the nice cold water. And leave when we see all the groups pouring in, so we don’t regret at all coming in this early.
We get back on our motorbikes and drive to Salagdoong beach, on the other side of the island.
On the way we pass through a nice forest.
Salagdoong Beach
When we arrive the place is still pretty quiet, but we know it won’t last and it will be super crowded in just a few hours.
In the meantime we decide to take advantage of this clear blue water.
We prefer this one than Paliton despite it being smaller and with restaurants along the beach.
The color of the water is surreal, there is even a 32 ft high diving platform for the courageous. From here the view is even more beautiful.
Matt being a little more courageous than Maider, he goes to jump a couple of times.
We spend a large part of the morning here between swimming and sun bathing before heading back towards San Juan.
Balete Tree
On the way we stop at the Balete Tree, the enchanted tree of Siquijor.
400 hundred years old, this is the oldest tree of the island. Apparently this tree is enchanted and many rituals were performed here.
Its other particularity is the pool at its foot filled with fish.
These are like the ones you can find in the fish massages shops. These feed on the dead skin. We had never tried this and the feeling is super weird !
Maider doesn’t really like the feeling, and can’t stand with her feet in the water more than a couple seconds. But it was a fun experience.
Tubod Marine Sanctuary
We get back on the motorbike and stop in Tubod Marine Sanctuary, recommended by our friends Tristan and Charlotte.
For just $1, it is possible to swim above the corals and do some snorkeling. The corals are super pretty and there are tons of beautiful fishes.
Moreover the beach here is super calm, there is almost nobody. And we have to admit it feels great after Paliton and Salagdoong.
Most incredible sunset in the Philippines
After a nice shower at the hotel, we end the day on the beach right by our hotel for happy hour. We heard that the Coral Cay Resort had a great happy hour deal and that is true, the pitcher of Rum and Coke for just $1.50. How could we resist that ?
Especially since we are in an incredible setting. Here the beach is amazing with all these palm trees.
Tonight we admire the most beautiful sunset we have see during our stay in the Philippines.
The colors are incredible.
They change so quickly. It is as if we were watching an ever changing painting in the sky.
Simply an other unreal moment during our trip.
Lugnason water falls
For our last morning in Siquijor we go see the Lugnason falls next to our hotel.
Very early morning once again, but at least this time we should be alone. Indeed, today is election day, and on the way we see huge lines of people waiting to vote.
To get to the fall, we have to walk a little bit through the jungle. It is weird to see palm trees in the middle of the jungle.
When we arrive at the falls, there is just another couple of tourists who is about to leave. This fall is nothing like the Cambugahay ones. Especially at this time of year because there isn’t much water. But at least it is quiet and we spend some time just the two of us.
Our ferry back to Tagbilaran is scheduled for 12:30 pm. So it is on the island of Bohol that we will end our trip in the Philippines. There we will meet with one of Maider’s friends, where we rented an apartment for 4 nights.
Our short stay in Siquijor was really enjoyable, but not our favorite place in the Philippines. Maybe if we hadn’t been there on a weekend our feeling would be different. We enjoy being alone and with all these Filipinos it was hard to find such places. But the island is still very nice to send a few days. Now time to go back to Bohol for our very last days in the country.