Discovering Romblon

I have known Romblon to have nice white sandy beaches but never really had the chance to visit it. The only nearest place in Romblon that I could think of and attempt of visiting was the Carabao Island which you can visit coming from Boracay.  When my husband and I recently decided to have a vacation, the immediate place we could think of was Boracay, one of our favorite destination that we won't get tired of visiting.  But upon checking the flights, it was quite expensive already since our planned trip was less than a month away.  Going through the destinations of Cebu Pacific, I found Tablas and wondered where it was.  Googled it and viola! It was in Romblon.

Based from initial research, Romblon is part of MIMAROPA region.  It is composed of three major islands: Tablas, Sibuyan, and Romblon, and 17 small islands. These islands are all surrounded by deep waters.  With this, you can just imagine the various beaches encircling the islands.  And by the way, Romblon is also know as the Marble Capital of the Philippines.

Romblon map, image from Google

Of the three major islands, only Tablas has an airport located in Tugdan municipality. I think only Cebu Pacific has direct flights to Tugdan Airport.  One can also get to other major islands of Romblon and Sibuyan via ferry boat (2Go shipping lines travels directly to Romblon from Batangas port; From Tablas, there's a ferry boat in San Agustin that travels to Sibuyan Island).  Each island has its own beautiful beaches to boast for.  There's Aglicay and Binucot Beach in Tablas, Crest de Gallo islet in Sibuyan, and Bonbon beach in Romblon.  There are also some waterfalls in Sibuyan Island that is also a tourist attraction.  We chose Tablas since this is the only one with direct flight from Manila.  We'd love to visit Sibuyan but due to time constraints, we decided to just stay and hopefully explore Tablas Island.

There were a number of beaches in Tablas aside from Binucot (located in Ferrol municipality) and Aglicay (located in Alcantara municipality).  There are also other beaches in municipalities of Sante Fe, Ferrol, Odiongan, Calatrava, San Andres and San Agustin.  Aside from the beach there are also tourist attractions in Looc (Looc Bay Marine Sanctuary), Tinagong Dagat in Calatrava, Mainit Falls in Odiongan,

Beach view from Binucot Beach Resort

Aglicay Beach, image from Travelbook

Beaches in Tablas are quite far from the airport.  You will need to ride a tricycle or book a transfer to take you to your chosen beach.  We chose Binucot beach as it is quite nearer to the airport (about 45 minutes).  In my next blog, will post a review on Binucot Beach Resort.

Travelbook.ph shoulders the 12% VAT on your hotel bookings!

Travelbook.ph, the leading online travel agency (OTA) in the Philippines, launches a very generous offer that everyone will surely love!


Starting July 18, 2017, all hotel bookings made through Travelbook.ph will be free of VAT as it will be subsidized by the OTA to all participating customers.


“We understand that all people in the Philippines are really burdened with high VAT as it is present in almost all commodities that they need. We feel that we can help more. That’s why we’ve come up with this campaign: We will shoulder the VAT cost for every booking made with us,” according to Takumi Nakazawa, General Manager of Travelbook.ph.

As customers proceed with their hotel bookings with TravelBook.ph, the VAT will be automatically paid by the company and will be deducted from the total cost. Furthermore, discounts from promos and insider deals may be added on top of 12% discount. Customers may enjoy this offer by booking with any of the 3,300 affiliated hotels and resorts of TravelBook.ph nationwide.

This offer from Travelbook.ph also aims to help travelers have stress-free and budget-friendly transactions when planning their trips.

“This is our way to let people know that we care. We want to appease their burden and give them the best deals and opportunities to travel,” Mr. Nakazawa continues.

VAT-free means more money for your trip! Book now with Travelbook.ph to get the best pocket-friendly deals on hotels and resorts in the Philippines! Avail of our Pay-at-Hotel No Credit Card Needed payment option for easier and convenient booking!

This campaign will run for a limited time only. Campaign period may end without prior notice.

Review: Mangrove Resort Hotel Subic

Located at the Baloy Beach of Subic Bay, Magrove Resort Hotel is one of the nice hotels along the area.  Checking the reviews at TripAdvisor, I recommended this hotel to my family for our family weekend getaway as the reviews were fairly acceptable (3.5 out of 5 stars).  And this hotel is also ranked #2 in the hotels in Olongapo category.

The room rates were quite expensive when you book at their website.  But if you booked through email or phone, they will give you a discounted price on their rooms.  You can also check TravelBook.ph to book your stay here as they are also offering best deals and rewards points to members as well as book now and pay upon check in (no credit card needed) scheme.

We are a family of 11 adults and 3 kids.  Their biggest room can only occupy a maximum of 4 persons (adult) so we decided to book 4 rooms and requested all rooms to be located in the same floor so that we could somehow be near to each other.  We booked 2 deluxe twin, 1 superior room and 1 deluxe room.  Fortunately, these available rooms at the time we booked (about 2 weeks before our travel date) were all located in the 4th floor.

The hotel is a 4-storey building with restaurant, beach, pool and parking area.  Water activities are also available to them.  The pool was located in the 3rd floor.  The restaurant is located in the 1st floor and there is also a poolside bar in the 3rd floor.  The hotel's beach shoreline is quite short but guests can still relax and stay at their beach side loungers.  As expected, beach in Subic is not as white and powdery as Boracay but it seems clean although we were not able to swim at the beach.

Pool and Pool Bar Area

The pool in the 3rd floor has kiddie and adult pools.  The depth of the adult pool is at 4 feet maximum so some kids can still enjoy the adult pool.  The pool is not that big but enough to accommodate guests.  It also has loungers and bar area where you can take a sip on your chosen drink or have a snack with friends and family.

The food were ok and quite reasonable (about Php 250 and up per person). By the way, breakfast is not included in the room rate. We encountered a little problem during our dinner time.  After taking all our orders, the waitress came back and informed us that certain meats are no longer available at their kitchen.  It's quite misunderstanding from their kitchen and the waitress because she has to come back to us several times and informing us of the meats that were no longer available.  Well, it turned out that almost all of our orders were not available. Of course if you're hungry, you will get pissed. The service was also quite slow in their restaurants, both at the 1st floor and at the pool side.

My husband and I stayed in one of the deluxe twin room together with my sister and her family.  I noticed that all their rooms are big or at least the rooms that we booked.  It is also complete with towels (bath, pool, hand and floor towels), toiletries, bath robe, safety vault, cable tv, mini ref, small dining area with electric pot and instant coffee (at least in deluxe twin, didn't see in other rooms we booked).  All our rooms have king size bed so its really comfortable for all of us.  I just noticed though that the single bed in the other deluxe twin room is quite smaller than in our room.  And their aircon is cooler than us.  The magnetic key which functions also as key to open electricity does not turn off the electricity when removed.

*Photos of room below courtesy of google :)

Deluxe Twin

Deluxe Room

Superior Room

The bathrooms were clean with hot and cold shower. Flow of water is ample however, the following day, the water becomes scarce to the point there's not a single drop of water coming out of the shower even on the sink.  You have to wait up to an hour before you see a drop of water in the sink and not on the shower.  This is during late morning where people are about to check out. When we complained it to the front desk, the reason they gave us is that there are a lot of guests during that they. I think that's not an excuse.  They are a resort.  They should've have expected guests to be coming in at peak season. They also have a quite number of rooms. If all were occupied, does it mean there will be no more water at any time of the day? Some of the members of my family used the bathroom at the 1st floor to take a shower while some waited. The only good thing is that they allowed us for late check out because of problems with water.

Toilet

Shower area

Shower area

Sink, toilet with bidet

Toiletries

We almost had a great time in this resort (most especially its my 5 month old niece's first time to dip in the pool). The loungers and snack at the pool side can be relaxing. But the downside we experience on the water, food and food service we're kinda turn off. I'm not sure if I will want to go back here.  Maybe not on a peak season.  And I think I can still recommend this to friends but with a warning.

Willy's Beach Club Hotel: Revisited

We're back again in Boracay last July 2016 with my husband and we've decided to stay again in Willy's Beach Club Hotel.  I've posted in my previous blog about affordable beach front hotels in station 1 which become very useful to me since my husband and I always prefers to stay in station 1, beach front, near Willy's Rock.  From the list, we've already stayed in Blue Lilly Villa.  You can read my reviews of this hotel here. We were supposed to try Boracay Plaza Resort but my husband would like to stay again in Willy's Beach Club Hotel.

Willy's Beach Club Hotel is also quite an affordable hotel.  It's not listed in my affordable beach front hotels in station 1 as this post was more of affordable hotels below Php 3,000 per night price.  Depending on the season, you can book Willy's Beach Club Hotel for a little over Php 3,000 per night.  During my first visit in this hotel last 2013 (see my blog post about it here), the accommodation rates then was below Php 3,000 for a deluxe room on an off peak season.  Since our trip was July 2016, considered as an off peak season, we were able to still get an affordable room rate.  We booked the Super Deluxe Room that has a bath tub and location is nearer to the beach.  For 3 nights stay, the price we got was Php 9,531 through My Boracay Guide website.  I also used My Boracay Guide when we booked our first stay at Willy's Beach Club Hotel last 2013.  Our booking comes with free airport pick up for 2, which saves us about Php 800.  You can read my review on their free transport service here.

The Super Deluxe Room is quite smaller than the Deluxe Room we booked before.  The room we had is still located at the 2nd floor.  View from the veranda is facing the restaurant but view of the beach is nearer (right side view) than our previous room. Other differences are super deluxe room have bath tub, mini ref, facial tissue, and own veranda.  Having our own veranda is perfect since my husband smokes.  Our previous room also has veranda but it seemed shared to the other room perpendicular from us.

Super Deluxe Room

Mini Ref

Another view of the room with small vanity dresser

Veranda and view

Welcome fruits were also provided in our room.  However, some fruits tasted old already that's why we didn't consume it all.

Welcome Fruits

Again welcome drinks were provided upon arrival in the hotel.  There's no more seashell necklaces given to us upon arrival unlike before.

The room is quite old but does not smell one.  I say old as we had a little difficulty in opening and closing/locking our door.  Linens and pillows are clean and smells nice. Bathroom is clean with ample water supply, hot and cold shower, towels and toiletries.

Bath tub beside the Toilet

Toiletries with facial tissue and hair dryer

The bath tub

Our stay still comes with free buffet breakfast.  Again, they served combination of Filipino and American dishes.  The choices were sufficient with breads, drinks and dessert.  They are also offering grilled buffet dinner.  I can't recall how much it cost but I think its not that expensive.  We tried it one time since it was rainy the whole day on our 1st day.  The choices were mostly meat and a few cuts of fish, shrimp and squid with pasta, rice and soup.  For us, its quite enough already but for some, it may not be as inviting since the cut or the portions of the food were quite small.  But anyway, it's buffet, you can get another one without a limit.  What's also good about this buffet dinner is that you can have a freshly grilled meat as there is a standby griller who can grill for you at the corner of the buffet.  Their food still tastes good.  Some servings of their ala carte foods were quite a lot.

Beef with mushroom

Similar to our last stay at Willy's Beach Club last 2012, we did not experience any problems during our stay.  Willy's Beach Club Hotel may not be a fancy and luxurious hotel but it is one of the affordable hotels in station 1 worth staying as it can be relaxing and enjoyable since it is beach front and away from the crowd.  If I'll be visiting Boracay again next time, I wouldn't have second thoughts of staying in here.

Review: My Boracay Guide's Transport Service

I have been using My Boracay Guide website the past years I've been to Boracay.  Recently, I booked again through their website when my husband and I decided to stay in Willy's Beach Hotel again for the second time.  I also booked through them the first time we visited this hotel (you may read about my review on Willy's Beach Hotel here).  Their rates were quite lower than other booking sites such as Agoda and Booking.com.

Upon booking, there was a notification that my booking comes with free airport pick up.  This is My Boracay Guide's way of gratitude to their customers who chose to book with them.  Based from their website, they have various kinds of transport vehicle depending on your budget.  Price is also dependent on the number of persons.  Since ours is free, the kind of vehicle given to us is their economy transfer.  This usually cost Php 400 per person for 2 pax, one way, inclusive of boat fee.  However, terminal and environmental fee is not yet included.  In their other transport service, all of these are included in their fee.

Once booked, My Boracay Guide will send an email to confirm your booking.  The free transport service was not included in their email to me so I confirmed it further to them.  Once confirmed, I gave them details of our flight and arrival.  We will be coming from Caticlan airport.  I believe My Boracay Guide's transport service can either be in Caticlan or Kalibo airport.  They were able to acknowledge my email on our flight details. I thought that was it.

Upon arriving in Caticlan airport, there was a My Boracay Guide staff waiting outside.  We approached her but unfortunately our names were not included in her list.  I showed her the acknowleged email when she was asking a voucher from me.  She made a few calls and thankfully I heard that we were indeed part of their transport service.  

Aboard the shuttle/van service, we were with other passengers who I believed booked through Southwest tours since that was the name written on the van as well as on the driver's shirt.  For proper identification, we were given sticker of My Boracay Guide. This is I guess to separate and identify us from those who booked through Southwest tours.

From the airport, the van took us to Tabon port.  This is an alternate port going to Boracay.  The travel time is quite far, about 8 minutes.  The port is not as orderly as in Jetty port thus the fee were minimal.  Environmental and terminal fee is only Php 100 per pax while the boat ride is only 25 per pax.  From Tabon port, the boat will lead you to Tambisaan port.  Similar to Jetty-Cagban port route, travel time from Tabon to Tambisaan port is less than 10 minutes away.

Upon arriving at Tabon port, we had to find the My Boracay Guide staff to assist us.  It seems that we were the only one who used My Boracay Guide's transport service.  Well that's a plus since we are the only one who they would take care of.  Anyway, it took us a while before the staff from My Boracay Guide assist us.  We were asked to pay for the terminal and environmental fee then the staff told us that another staff will be assisting us on our way to the hotel upon alighting at the Tambisaan port.

Tambisaan port is near Crystal Cove as we can see it from afar.  There were tricycles also waiting for passengers to take them to their resort.  But it seems that most of the tourist there were guided by various transport service.  Not the usual DIY traveller.

Since our service was free, we rode the E-trike, the economy transfer service of My Boracay Guide.  Travel time is about 20 minutes from the port to Station 1 where our hotel is.  That's quite far since i'm used to the very short travel from Cagban port to hotels in Station 1.  Another reason why the travel time took a while is because we were riding an e-trike.  It's a battery operated tricycle which travels about 20-30 kph at maximum.  Quite slow.  I heard that the e-trike fee is 180 pesos one way.

We took the same route on our way back to the Caticlan airport on our last day in Boracay.  Similar to Cagban port, vans are available should your flight be in Kalibo.  As for us, since our airport is in Caticlan, we just paid Php 25  boat ride and Php 30 terminal fee.  I noticed that some did not buy tickets for the terminal fee.  Also, there were locals and pinoy tourists who simply go straight to the ticket counter without even bothering to fall in line when there is one.  Pinoy nga naman. Well, maybe one reason is that the line were not so organized.  Even after paying for the boat ticket, there was no organized line in the waiting area of the boat.

This new or alternate route is new to us.  The e-trike driver told us that this is the usual route when the water is not calm or when there are waves during Habagat season.  Well, there was indeed strong waves as if you were in a surfing beach.  This is the reason why we were not able to go to Ariel's Point... Again *sigh*.

Anyway, My Boracay Guide's transport service is quite acceptable.  Though it wasn't perfect and organized and there was a little waiting time, I would still recommend it for convenience.  But for budget travellers, you can still do DIY as it is not really difficult to reach Boracay.

Treasures of Bolinao: Revisited

My family and I had a quick weekend getaway in Bolinao, Pangasinan last February.  They wanted to stay in Treasures of Bolinao.  I've visited Bolinao and also stayed in the same resort last 2012.

Not much has changed but there were improvements in the resort.

Treasures of Bolinao now have 2 pools.  This new one was supposed to be the infinity pool but it doesn't seem like it.  Although this pool is a bit bigger and deeper.

Infinity pool

The bridge was now repaired.  This serves as a viewing deck where you can view the sunset as well the picturesque rock formations with the splashing of waves.

The bridge

My family stayed in Maharlika Building.  We stayed in Suite room located at the 3rd floor.  We got 2 rooms but my family on the other room requested to transfer since their aircon was not functioning well.  They transferred to the 2nd floor which is more expensive as it has veranda but with no extra cost.

That red roof is the Maharlika Building

The picture of Suites room at the 3rd floor in their website is deceiving.  I thought the checkered floor is still part of the room, but it is not.  It's like the receiving area of the 3rd floor.  Anyone staying at the 3rd floor can lounge there.

The room was big with two queen size bed.  There is an LCD TV but there wasn't cable channel available.  The linens were clean enough except for the bed cover which seems unwashed for so long.  The pillows were just right, not too soft nor hard.  The extra bed provided was a sofa bed which is comfortable enough unlike in some resorts where a thin matress is provided for the extra bed.

The restroom was ok with hot and cold shower.  Although the shower head needs repair already as waters are coming out from the end of it.  The door knob can sometimes be not functioning well since most of the time, we can't lock the door.

Come night time, there were a lot of insects crawling in our room.  It seems like a big ant or as we call it "gamu-gamo".  It is quite disturbing as some are crawling in our pillows.  My sister patiently kills them all since we have kids in our room and the fear of it getting to our ears.  We also tried spraying citronella on it and it somehow helps.

I'm not sure why there were these kinds of insects in our room but in the other room where my other family transferred, there was none.  That room in the 2nd floor is a bit smaller but they have a veranda and size of bed is same as ours.

Similar to our last stay, the service was still slow.  It seems like they are undermanned.  The girl from the reception was also the girl getting orders and serving food from the restaurant.  Food was ok, edible.  Serving size was just enough.

Overall, it's still nice to stay in Treasures of Bolinao but some of the rooms already needs improvement.  I just don't have pictures of our room.

White Beach, Boracay: Ranked #7 in the Best Beaches of the World

Once again, the beautiful White Beach in Boracay Island is included and ranked number 7 in the 25 most beautiful beaches of the world according to the 2015 Travelers' Choice from Tripadvisor.

It's no doubt that many people was still smitten by the powdery white sand and clear blue waters of the White Beach in Boracay Island.  I've been here a lot of times and at different seasons and I can say that I still want to go back here even if it has been too commercialized.  The sands are still fine, the sunset still lovely and the water is still clear.  Boracay is still one of the beaches here in the Philippines that I never get tired of coming back.

You may see all the top 25 best beaches in the world here.

Haven't been to Boracay?  You're already missing a lot!  Here's a budget friendly accommodation in station 1, the more quiet but still more fun location in the whole White Beach of Boracay.

Enjoy Boracay!

Snorkeling at Apo Island

Based from research, I know Apo Island is best for snorkeling because of its big turtles which you can see even near the shore.  There are also nice corals and marine sanctuary that can be found here.  This is why we had to include this in our trip to Dumaguete/Siquijor.  Besides, Apo Island is quite accessible coming from Dumaguete.  But we opted to come from Siquijor going to Apo Island since we availed Coco Grove Beach Resort's, the place we stayed in Siquijor, package trip.  You may read more info about it here. 

The resort's package tour to Apo Island costs Php 1,600 per person which includes boat transfer, entrance fees, lunch, snacks, snorkeling gears, aqua shoes and tour guides.  This is quite expensive compared to DIY from Dumaguete to Apo Island.  But it doesn't matter to us since we prefer to stay in Siquijor a bit longer and we no longer need to worry about anything since everything will be taken care of the resort.

Coco Grove's nice boat

Their boat was quite big which I think can accommodate to up to 20 pax.  It has an "indoor" and "outdoor" lounging area and with small restroom.  We aboard the boat at around 8am.  Travel time from the resort to Apo Island is about 2 hours.  The travel was not a smooth sailing because of the waves but still safe since the boat is quite big.  Upon reaching Apo Island, we walked our way to Apo Island Beach Resort, which we heard was Coco Grove's sister resort.  We just left our things there and proceed to the registration for snorkeling activity.  Snorkeling area was just near the registration area.  It is said to be called "the village" where locals stay.  It is also the area where big turtles can be found even near the shoreline.

Registration Area

Apo Island Beach Resort

Apo Island Beach Resort Accommodation

Apo Island Beach Resort on the left end of the beach

Rock formations surrounding Apo Island Beach Resort

Now feast your eyes below on what we saw :)

I don't know what this is. Creepy.

Turtles being fed by one of the tourist

My fiance trying to chase the turtle.  They swim fast!

See how big the turtle is!

Closer look of the turtle

Nice color of the turtle

Lunch was served buffet style at the Apo Island Beach resort.  It was a simple lunch with 3 viands, rice and dessert.  Location of the Apo Island Beach Resort was on one end of the beach where nice rock formations can be found.  It was a nice photo op location.

Panoramic view in front of Apo Island Beach Resort

When everyone is done, I thought we were already heading back to Coco Grove.  But it turns out, we were off to another snorkeling area!  Not far from Apo Island, our boat stopped and let us snorkel again.  I wasn't able to ask what the location is called.  I'm not sure if this is what they called the Marine Sanctuary which is located at the back of the village.  Anyway, these are what we found.  Not so clear pictures but the corals were beautiful!

Going back to Siquijor was a more "dizzy" ride.  Aside from its already raining, the waves were stronger and some waters were coming in our boat.  But again, it wasn't so scary since the boat is quite big.  And by the way, even if the travel time is quite long, you will not get bored since Globe data signal is strong even in the middle of the sea!  You can just browse Facebook and post status while cruising.

Visiting Apo Island is really worth it, most especially to those who likes snorkeling or even diving.  I heard there are a lot of diving spots in Dumaguete including those in Apo Island.  I would surely want to explore those someday. 

If you want to know how to plan your Dumaguete, Siquijor and Apo Island trip, you may read my previous blog post for some details.