The Mystic Island Siquijor

The mystic island "Isla de Fuego" the Island of Fire, Siquijor a place where people are hesitant to go to because for most filipinos, this place is mysterious , a place of witchcraft and the unknowns.

When I decided to have a trip to this island I have been reminded to be aware not to eat anywhere or be careful whom to talk to and all sort. They don't know what they are missing because the place probably be enchanted, because you will be enchanted with the beauty of this place, the pristine beaches and a lot of beautiful natures to visit like Caves, Springs and a lot more.

This view will welcome you as soon as you get off in the port. What a beautiful sight, it's all worth a travel.

A welcome place to stay in San Juan, the Islandia Beach Resort.

     You will be welcome with the helpful      

       staffs and personal welcome note.

 

We left our hotel in the morning to visit the tourists spots of Siquijor, we cruised in the scooter and headed to Lazi the town of Siquijor nearby where we stayed in San Juan. 

Our first stop was the Ancient old tree or "Balete Tree", this tree was 400 years old tree.

There's lot of tourist chilling under this tree while having a fish foot spa on the natural stream where you can just soak your foot and be tickled with the different sizes of fish.

Next stop is San Isidro Labrador Church and Convent, one of the country’s oldest and largest spiritual structures.

And for about 10 minutes drive from the convent that you should never miss visiting, you can reach the beautiful falls Cambugahay Falls it features shallow multi-tiered waterfalls, perfect for an afternoon dip. 

It is so refreshing to dip in the water after the long walk on the steps going down to reach this place but it's worth to walk.

You can actually drive and stroll the island  for the whole day but since it's summer my husband and I couldn't cope cruising on the scooter on the blazingly hot weather we couldn't cope the heat so we just managed to stop by and take photos of some places.

           Enjoy the view of nature

Chill on the hammock and enjoy the view.

       And enjoy the view of the sunset.

Don't miss to check Chekesh Bar, they serve beautiful meals at a fair price.

We order their special of the day, and it was so delicious that I can eat more of it.

Grilled Mahi-Mahi in red wine sauce served with garlic potato wedges and green salad. 

     A mixed fruit juice that is refreshing 

  A sumptuous meal you will never forget.

Since we arrived night time on the place, it seems like we spent 3 days and 2 nights but the reality we only spent 2 nights and almost 2 days on the Island. And it was not enough time for us. But

I will surely come back to this beautiful Island and definitely spend more days to be able to visit all the tourist spot that I have missed.

Road Trip to Dumaguete-Siquijor

After a stressful week of processing paperworks for our house my husband and I spontaneously decided to take a stress reliever trip for a few days to Siquijor via Bacolod.

To get to Siquijor from Iloilo we need to take a fast craft ferry to Bacolod, it will take you an hour to get there. There are three fast craft ferry to take you to Bacolod via Weesam Express https://www.weesam.ph/rates-promo/, Ocean Jet http://www.oceanjet.net/fare-and-schedule/bacolod-iloilo and Supercat http://www.supercat.com.ph/Fares/fares.asp. 

You can get promo ticket if you will buy return ticket but we don't know how long we will stay in Dumaguete and Siquijor so we just took one way ticket. 

Iloilo has a new port terminal which I find really better and it's about time that they built a decent terminal for a growing city like Iloilo. It looks good and for a minimal terminal fee you can sit and relax while waiting for boarding, they also have canteen to buy refreshments and snacks.

After waiting in a terminal it's time for us to board and enjoy an hour ride to Bacolod.

Our trip schedule was 10:20am and we arrived in Bacolod at 11:30am we are so excited to go to Dumaguete and hoping to catch a ferry straight to Siquijor if we arrive in Dumaguete in time, so as soon as we arrived Bacolod we took a tricycle to Ceres Terminal South bound and it cost us Php80 which I found really expensive, the government of Bacolod should regulate passengers rates for their transportation because to get to the terminal will only takes 5 minutes but the fares are expensive. 

To get to Dumaguete take the Ceres bus Dumaguete via Mabinay which will cost you Php360 and it will take 5-6 hours trip to get to Bacolod, we never have time to take our lunch so we just bought refreshment and bread to take on our trip.

We arrived in Dumaguete about 6:30pm so we missed the ferry to Siquijor we don't have a choice but to stay overnight in Dumaguete.

Early next morning we woke up early and headed to the terminal port to buy a ticket and hopefully to catch an early trip to Siquijor but unfortunately we didn't realize that there is a festival in one of the town of Siquijor in Larena and the terminal was jam packed and have a long que of people buying ticket and it was a nightmare. Lesson need to learn is to check things like this before traveling.

We weren't able to get the Ocean Jet ferry but we managed to buy a ticket for the last trip for the Orline. For me the experience for the Orline shipping is not what I expected since there was lots of passengers I think the ship was overloaded and kind of scary since it was an old ship but thankfully we arrived in Siquijor safe. 

It was night time when we arrived and we headed straight to our hotel and it was nice that they welcomed you with their personal touch, though they misspelled my last name it was still acceptable hahaha I don't know if they heard me right or wrong.

Overall we had an amazing first time road trip experience, I will write a separate blog for our Siquijor tour experience.