Camotes Island

When youre a first time traveller to Camotes Island, the only affirmation you get that it exists is when you get to the baggage claim area of Mactan Airport. There's a big picture of it hanging on the wall in front of the carousel, together with Cebu's other beach attractions. After that, not too many people know about it. Unless you ask them how to get to Pier1 where the Oceanjet terminal is. It services fastcrafts to Dumaguete, Iloilo, Dapitan, Bohol, and Poro, the gateway to the island. Even the oceanjet website doesnt list the trip to Poro which I find peculiar.

Together with my buddy Jr, we embarked on this quest of discovering another unspoiled, white sand paradise. The journey took about 2hours. When we reached the seaside town of Poro, the pier is swarming with motorcycles for hire. Their numbers actually surpassed the number of passengers the ferry carried. That made it difficult to choose which drivers to pick and how to negotiate the fare. We chose two fellows after we grabbed a snack and when the mob has dissipated. We hopped on the bike and headed for Santiago Garden resort.

The trip took 45 minutes, traversing dirtroads, seaside hills, dried farmland, mangrove forests. Having an inquisitive mind of a 2 year old, I ask zillions of questions when im visiting a place for the 1st time. The question that popped out of my head, and being consistent with a 2 yr old brain, was a no brainer, "Dong, madami ba camote dito sa isla?", to which my energetic accomodating habal habal driver humbly replied, "wala man". Ok, enough questions for 1 day. When we reached the resort, it looked exactly the way it was pictured in its website, perched on a hill, overlooking the sea. The water was so clear youd think youre swimming in a really big swimming pool. When the tide was low, the water receded as far back as 500 meters from the shore. The corals arent that plenty, but still, marine life is present. Its becoming customary for me to see seasnakes wherever i go, which in this trip measured 3+feet long.

The sand is powdery white, but there were areas where it was admixed with black sand. We brought our swimming gear with us, which allowed us to really explore the sea until our lungs couldnt handle the dead space in our snorkels. Even when there was a downpour, we felt the warm current beneath the waves. We truly enjoyed the water because nobody else was swimming. The foreign tourists staying at the resort were pretty much contented reading their books under a shade, or taking a dip in early morning or late afternoon. In the afternoon, we frequented a hilltop gazebo overlooking the entire landscape.

At dawn, the locals, kids and adults, hit the beach in packs to collect crabs, sea urchins and other invertebrates, which they sell the next day. If it werent for an emergency call i got from my mother, we would have stayed a couple more days. Camotes island is a beautiful place. In my opinion, the island isnt getting enough attention and appreciation it deserves.