Island Overdose

The weekend following the trip to the Island of Sumilon we went to the Island of Bantayan and as it was a public holiday on the Friday, we had a little more time to spare. This island is located diagonally opposite to Sumilon so instead of being located in the south-east, Bantayan is located to the north-west tip of Cebu. It's around the same distance/travel time from Toledo - which makes sense as Toledo is located centrally along the west coast of Cebu. Bantayan is much larger than Sumilon though, and has it's own towns, residents and several resorts to chose from.

The drive north was pretty much the same as driving south, still scenic and pretty enough to hold ones interest. There were the ususal rice paddies and some sugar cane plantation, which I hadn't seen on Cebu before. The road condition varied from mostly very good to rather dire in places but there is evidence that there is process of improvements and upgrading taking place.

I read that Bantayan is similar to how Boracay was 15 years ago before it became developed and commercialised. Currently there are none of the reknowed resort operators there and the ones that are available in Bantayan are locally owned. We had booked in advance into the Santa Fe Resort for one night and the Kota Beach the following night.

The Ferry to Bantayan Island

On arrival at the Hagnaya ferry terminal of you are mobbed by locals offering to carry your bag or to guide you to the ferry or to offer tours or show you where to park your car. You name it, they have thought of everything in an effort to earn a tip. I suppose this kind of thing is to be expected in such a poor country but really, it becomes awfully tiresome after while, especially when a refusal is met with downright rudeness bordering on belligerence. But worse than this was seemingly lack of courtesy and goood manners which really adds to the feeling that as a foreigner you are there only to be ruthlessly exploited.

The ferry ride from to the terminal at Santa Fe on Bantayan was uneventful but marred by an overly persistant tout who just went on and on and on about renting his boat for a tour. This guy wouldn't take no for an answer and his rates were an outragous price and a complete rip-off.

On arrving at the Santa Fe terminal it was more of the same but thankfully the resort had sent a jeepney to pick us up, but still there were enough people offering to carry my small, perfectly managable overnight bag the 10 yards from the ferry to the jeepney. The other problem with this mobbing is it makes you feel distinctly uneasy and you can't relax trying to keep your eye on your camera and wallet.

The Santa Fe resort is only a short hop from the ferry terminal and to be honest you could walk it in 10 minutes but wouldn't want to otherwise you'd be followed by a huge chattering entourage offering to carry your bag and all manner of other services.

At the Santa Fe Resort the hassling continued. Whilst there seems to be a rule to stop touts from entering the grounds, some still do whilst others just stand and stare from the hotel boundary or continually call from the gate and you enter and leave the hotel to the beach. This is really off-putting.

Santa Fe Beach

The beach chalets were fully booked so we took a hotel room. The room was small and poorly maintained. The shower water reeked of sewage when it was first turned on - truly a foul and nauseating stench, similar to that experienced on Sumilon. The restaurant was ok but by now my expectations aren't very high. The restaurant staff are predominantly surly and disinterested. If you leave a tip you won't receive an acknowledgement or a thank you.

There is a TV in the restaurant but the portly owner of the place pulls up a sofa chair and foot stool to within a few feet of the set, puts his feet up and sits there with the remote control (which he really doesn't need as he's so close to the set) watching it like he's in his own lounge, all the time barking orders at the restaurant staff. Perhaps this is why they are so sullen?

The beach is great and a picture postcard of what you'd imagine a tropical beach to be like but the sea is somewhat sterile with nothing to see but the waters are nice and warm.

We eventually succumbed to the touts who were offering a reasonable rate to visit Virgin Island for what we were told would be great snorkelling. Having been hassled to take the trip throughout the ferry ride to Batayan at a rip-off price of Php2500 an offer of Php500 seemed a good deal. However, when we supposedly arrived at "Virgin Island" there were no fish and no coral to be seen. After the event I learnt that we were taken to Cabulauan Island instead (there is no Virgin Island on any of the maps I could see and there is no internet available on Bantayan Island to research it) and to add insult to injury we paid the entrance fee of Php200 to enter Virgin Island, so we were royally ripped off. You may argue that tourists are fair game at being ripped off and we should have been better informed before we went but I don't go along with this. I accept that as a foreigner I may have to spend a bit more in order to support the local economy but this was downright fraudulent. This may benefit a few locals in the short term but it isn't exactly going to enamour the foreign tourists into coming to the island. Ripping off the tourists is the economic equivalent to the environmental impact of dynamite fishing, which seems to have been so popular in the Philippines: it benefits a very small minority in the short term but impacts the honest majority more severely in the long run.

Not the Virgin Island

We only stayed one night at the Santa Fe and on the recommendation of our driver we tried to book a night in their sister resort, the Ogtong Cave Resort. However, they seemingly only had one room available (after initially telling us they had other rooms available) and that it was Php18,000 a night - £240! I can't see that any place is worthy of that charge in Batayan but I suppose people do pay it. The check out time at the Santa Fe was ridiculously early at 10:00am. We already had a room at booked at the Kota Beach Resort so we figured that a couple of hours wasn't going to be so difficult to deal with.

We'd actually booked this resort a couple of weeks in advance but due to the early check-out requirements of the Santa Fe we turned up a little bit early, When we arrived at the Kota Beach we had high hopes but these were soon dashed. The receptionist had all the charm and charisma of funeral director and the good manners of a hormonal teenager and we were told that our room wouldn't be available until 2:00pm instead of 12:00 as the occupants were having a late check-out! Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Our Beach Hut (Almost in the Sea)

As a result we were going to go to the resort next door but it was full so we had to sit it out for 4 hours until the room was available rather than tramp around trying to find an alternative. In the event, the owner said he would discount the room from the usual Php2000 to Php1600 but reneged on this and actually charged us Php1700. The chalet we were given was right on the sea front, so close in fact that the waves crashed over the verandah at high tide but the room was awfully basic and in need of refurbishment. The bed was one of the most uncomfortable I'd ever slept in having one of those foam mattresses that you gradually sink into during the night so that you end up the same shape as banana and as I sleep on my side, this gives me horrendous backache.

Kota Beach

The restaurant was ok but again the staff were surly. The location was fantastic in terms of the beach but the sea was full of sea grass making swimming not entirely pleasant as it was slimy and would stick to your face.

Actually, on leaving Bantayan, what with the travelling and hassles, I was thinking that I'd be better off spending the weekend sitting around the pool at my accommodation in Toledo.