THE BEAUTIFUL ISLANDS OF THE VISAYAS, PHILIPPINES
While traveling from South of Cebu back to Cebu city, you always just get amazed passing by the beautiful combination of colors brought about by nature itself. How grand, how beautiful. It is such a wonderful feeling to watch the beautiful ocean and the peace it brings as you just stare in awe of its beauty. Here are a few shots on the way
When we come home to Danao City for vacations, events and gatherings, we do not miss spending time and staying at one our favorite silent place to be. We stay a few days as we all love just being by the water. The kids too enjoy this place due to its unique location and it is also quite a good place to swim to see large fishes while snorkeling. Whenever we stay at Cocopalms, we always book the room that is to the very right, the last room next to the ocean, facing the swimming pool. We like the service a lot, they have a Bar by the pool where you can get your mixed drinks and order Filipino food too. Having studied in Silliman University, Apo Island has always been a famous site to go even during university days. It has been known for Sea Turtles and beautiful corals. We definitely had a whole lot of time swimming with a lot of them in the beautiful ocean. For more details on the trip, Drop me a message and I will help hook you up! Travel options : 1. Flight to Cebu Philippines, then a domestic flight to Dumaguete. Once in Dumaguete, travel towards Zamboangita to get to the boat that takes you to Apo Island. 2. Flight to Cebu Philippines, then take a trip towards the South of Cebu and cross towards the Negros Island by boat to get to Sibulan, Negros Oriental, then towards Dumaguete and a bus towards Dauin or depending where your resort is. The hotel resort we stayed at was KAVs Resort which is in Zamboangita. The advantage of this trip will be side trips at different places in the Southern part of Cebu, like Oslob and Sumilon Island before heading to Negros. I found this beautiful resort called KAVS and it is situated in a more secluded area in Dauin. They have a nice pool with a cozy restaurant and bar, They have family rooms too in case you travel with kids. They got hot showers in a cute little tub and most of all, you can also book diving trips, snorkelling or Island hopping trips to Apo island thru the reception. We booked it at 1500 as far as I can remember per person for the boat ride plus the gear and the swimming at Apo Island. It was scheduled the day after we arrived. The Cocopalms Resort in Danao City, Cebu. Whenever we come home and visit our hometown, we always make it a point we stay for relaxation. This place is not very crowded, quite serene and private that is why we prefer the location. If you decide to play Golf, it just a few minutes away from the resort. You can always request for transpo to take you there. The view is amazing, you can check out their rates when you get there or you can also book time ahead before getting there. If you do not have golf clubs with you, no worries, you can also rent it from them and spend a great afternoon with the beautiful greens.
It is always a great time spent as you stay at Cocopalms, they have their Facebook page you can visit, https://www.facebook.com/danaococopalmsresort/ Enjoy and have a great time! This isn't the first time we travelled to Moalboal for a snorkelling and swimming trip. We did this in August together, yet my husband was too burnt from the Oslob trip that he could not swim anymore when we reached in Moalboal. We decided not to do a drive as he wants to experience traveling with all different means of transportation from one location to another. We decided to commute and go our way thru public transportation. We took Ceres bus to Moalboal, from the North Bus Terminal. There are trips there going to the South on schedule. We took the aircon bus and paid around 130 Pesos which is about 4 Singapore dollars. The trip is supposed to last around 3 hours but then due to traffic, it was a good 5 hours travel and arrived night time. It was still a comfortable ride. No bathroom stops though so you make sure you use the bathroom/toilet first before you get on the bus. When the bus reaches Carcar, there will be a few vendors who will get on the bus and sell you delicacies which you can buy at a reasonable price - like "Ampao" or Rice Crispies & some "Chicharon" or Pork Rinds. We decided to stay at the Sea Turtle Resort by Looc Saavedra area, made the booking thru BOOKING.COM since I am a Genius member, after having booked with them so many times. We picked a private resort, very secluded and very peaceful as we love places that are not crowded and serene. When we arrived, our room has been given to another due to our late arrival, which ended up more like a blessing, as we got upgraded to a much bigger room. The lady who manages the resort and we presume owns it, named Nenita, welcome us at the resort. We a nice apple drink as a welcome drink at their resto. She then guided us to our room and let us in. To our surprise and to my husbands' amazement, we saw the bed & there was a scorpion laying there! He got really excited, at first thinking it was some kind of a prank or just part of the bed cover design, but when we went closer, it was definitely a live scorpion. I won't give all the gory details how the owner got rid of it, Eric pleaded to keep it alive and release it in the wild, but then again, it might be dangerous for others too. In the end, we pretended we did not know how its life came to an end. Moving on to happier stories, it was nice relaxing night after having showered, we tried the hammock by our porch then went to the restaurant for late night dinner. That evening, we contacted a driver for the next day's island hopping. We negotiated to rent a whole boat for 2000 Pesos, which is around 65SGD to take us around the islands, to take us to the dive site to find Sea Turtles, to swim with the Sardines and to freedive around Pescador Island. Deal was done. We slept and woke up early next morning. We hired a driver who will drive us for the whole day to take us to the location of the boat. We went to Panagsama beach to meet the boat men. I snapped a few photos while we were waiting for the boat. Our first destination for the island hopping would be the Pescador Island. It is an island fish sanctuary with beautiful corals. We stayed there for about an hour to swim around and see beautiful fishes. After Pescador Island, we then went to dive for the well known SARDINES Dive where you will be free diving with thousands and thousands of sardines. I hesitated at first to do that because I have seen a lot of videos related to Sardines and Thresher sharks feeding on them. I have done this island hop a few times in the past but then again, every experience is different so I still went ahead and do it, especially this time I'm taking my Husband around with me. He enjoyed it so much. Last but not least, the boat crew brought us to the spot for sea Turtle Diving and to enjoy the beautiful corals. This time, I stayed on the boat while my Husband went on for his quest to find a Sea Turte.
The Whaleshark ExperiencePlanned a trip to Sumilon Island and to complete the goal of swimming with the whale sharks. I have been to Oslob in the past for a trip to see the nice beaches but at that time, swimming with the whale sharks was not a thing that most people go for to experience. This time, with all the hype about seeing them and swimming with them, I wanted to see them myself. The option to commute to Oslob is quite easy. We didn't bring a car to drive to the Southern part of Cebu, we both would like to experience traveling with all the means of transportation there is available. I have been to Oslob a few times with friends and family, but since this time, it will be my husbands' first time to go to this part of Cebu, I prefer for him to experience the best of traveling, getting to know the culture and meeting the locals. We went for a full body massage before we hopped on a bus for the this trip. We took a 1am bus, I was not sure why we did that! Hahhaahah! But yes, we did, because we wanted to make sure we catch the sunrise. I wanted to arrive ahead of the fishermen who set their boats for the first Whale Shark feeding for the day. We got to Oslob at 3am. Slept from 1am till we arrived. That is just how I am when it comes to trips, I don't sleep much but I get a whole lot of energy, Eric is still trying to get a hang of how it works now. El Salvador, Sabang Danao City Cebu. Second to home, ELSALVADOR is a favorite place we go to whenever me and my family comes home for vacations. Elsalvador has been known for their great hotel service in Danao as well as a lot of other activities at the venue. I grew up knowing the couple Elsa and Salvador Barrameda as my parents have them in most parties and events we have. After college, I have spent quite some time during summer teacher Swimming classes for kids in ELSALVADOR. It was then I got to meet Auntie Marissa who has two little babies; Tweety and Chow-Chow. She was about 2-3 years old and we spent a lot of hours learning swimming basics in their pool. Tweety then was such a cutie little girl who could barely make up sentences, but she was the most eager to learn. I remember her as the little girl who keeps telling me, "Teacher Honey, I know how to play comfuuuuuuter!" She meant the computer. Spending time with them was very fun! Of course the goal is to get them to love swimming, I used to buy candies and chocolates, balloons and toys, I let it float all around the swimming pool so both kids can swim and collect stuff at the same time. Memorable at his always been, I have made this special bond of love and respect for their whole family. Now that we have our kids, we always take them to ELSALVADOR to swim, to relax, to enjoy and have fun. There are plenty of events that they have worked with us over the years, as they do have catering services for your home events and parties managed by Marissa. Everytime we have a party at home, anniversaries, birthdays, events, they had always been our provider. 100% guaranteed, their service has been the best. Not just because we know them, but because their waiters and waitresses who serve during the events had been the most respectful bunch of people you get to meet. Very polite, courteous, friendly and always putting best effort in everything you would need for catering. That is what KUSINA ELSA is known for, BEST QUALITY CATERING SERVICE. Speaking of food, my other favorite thing to do at ELSALVADOR would be hanging out for breakfast, lunch or dinners. Whenever I would like to see my friends and spend time just chilling over food and good talk, this is the spot right there. They have a wide variety of food options, we love their breakfast options. We always love that perfect place where we sit by the beach front, beautiful view of the ocean and getting the morning sunlight. Aah! Perfect! Fresh fruit juices, nicely done morning tea, awesome Filipino or continental breakfast meals, such a wonderful place to be. ELSALVADOR, COCO restaurant has always been the first thing that comes to mind too when I would like to gather around my friends and high school classmates so we can have lunches or dinners together. The venue is child friendly and of course it's ambiance, it's welcoming spirit would make you like to stay, sit down and relax. I usually have my gatherings and special events at the restaurant or you can also rent their conference rooms, whichever suits your needs. Catering can be done at the beach front too for garden weddings and celebrations. So if you would like to either check in at the hotel, swim for the day, relax at the beach area, enjoy their sumptuous meals, get a good massage and spa or just have some self time, family time.... This is a place in Danao should be one the first options in mind! Details about ELSALVADOR are provided in the links below. Enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/El-Salvador-Beach-Resort-Danao-City/350948498316603 The kids have always talked about wanting to do Horseback riding and the place we could think of for thatWe decided for a day trip to Papa Kits in Liloan as we have heard quite a few times about activities there that you can do as a faamily. There are a few adventure activities you and your kids could do together which is really fun. We spent an afternoon there to do all the activities we have lined up for the day. PapaKits in Liloan also boats a nice restaurant that serves very appetizing Seafood and Filipino food. We arrived at the resturant and started feasting on their awesome choices. We had to replenish the energy that we used up for the activities we did the whole day. We went to eat and had great food. Here are some ideas on what to do at PAPA KITS: Vacation time will always be Adventure time! This time around, we planned for a trip to Bantayan Island. I have visited Bantayan years ago and found it mesmerizing, this time around, I would like to take my whole family to see it with me. We travelled from Danao, my parents hometown, to Poblacion Danao City Cebu. This is going North of Cebu. We decided not to drive all the way to get to Hagnaya, we have decided to let the kids try road trip on a bus. Ceres buses were always available and they pass by Danao almost every 30 minutes. The challenging part though would be getting seats. We were lucky enough to get a seat. Hurray! Start of another adventure! Booked ahead a family room ahead, we picked Coucou Hotel and Restaurant thru Booking.com which is in Santa Fe, Bantayan Island. I spoke to the nice and friendly staff which advised that they will have a driver to pick us up at the ferry dock. We left Danao around 1pm and arrived at about 4pm in Hagnaya, San Remigio. From there, you will need to take a ferry to cross to the island of Bantayan. It is best as well to check the ferry schedules ahead just to make sure you don't reach there too late. The last ferry was scheduled at 5pm. As we arrived at the ferry port and the driver from the hotel was waiting there to pick us up. He drove us to the hotel which was just around 5minutes from the Ferry port. It was a nice site as we arrived at the Coucou hotel because the ambience was very welcoming. We settled in the hotel room, changed clothes and headed to have dinner. The place was child friendly, there was a pool table as well that the kids tried to play with. Food at the restaurant was okay, their drinks were awesome as we had varieties of Milk shakes. After dinner, we decided to walk around the area and go towards the beach area. Started walking to that direction but noticed that there weren't much light posts around, the area doesn't seem to be quite lit so we just decided to put the tour for the morning. Early to bed, early to rise. The next day was a day set for an adventure. Woke up early to find a nice breakfast place for us to chill and relax.
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