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.

Review: Coco Grove Beach Resort

If you've been reading and following my blog posts about Siquijor, its this famous resort, Coco Grove Beach Resort that made us stay longer and extend for another night in Siquijor.  I maybe exaggerating but arriving at Coco Grove mad us feel at home with its relaxing by the beach ambiance.  The scenery and long stretch of white beach captures our hearts together with its friendly staff that made us decide to stay longer.

mini cottages

relaxing at their hammock

As mentioned in my previous blog, our initial plan was just to stay overnight since according to my research, Siquijor can be explored in half to one day.  Our plan was to tour Siquijor after having lunch at the resort (we expect to be arriving at the resort by lunch time) then swimming the following morning at the resort.  But maybe because of the long and quite exhausting travel from Dumaguete port to Siquijor (about 2 hrs including waiting time) and the beauty of the beach, we decided to just relax on our 1st day.

We availed Coco Grove's transfer service from pick up at Sibulan Airport in Dumaguete, getting ferry tickets bound to Siquijor port and going to their resort.  If you prefer DIY, Sibulan Airport to Dumaguete port is just about 15 minutes travel time via tricycle, which are easily available outside the airport.  From the port, several ticket booths for ferry boats are available.  You may refer to my previous blog on various ferry boat schedule.

Upon arriving at Sibulan Airport, we easily spotted Coco Grove's van to take us to Dumaguete port.  It was care of Coco Grande Hotel, Coco Grove's sister company.  Arriving at Dumaguete port, we waited a little while in the van while the driver bought us ferry tickets.  During my inquiry with Coco Grove, I specifically requested for a ferry boat that will not take more than an hour travel time to Siquijor.  The ticket we had was for Jay Lann Jaziel.  The travel time took us 1 hour and 30 minutes! But nevertheless, the staff of Coco Grove Beach Resort greeted us upon arrival at Siquijor port with refreshing wet towels and bottled water.

Aboard their improvised jeepney, the lady staff briefed us a short background of Siquijor as well as features of Coco Grove Beach Resort.  We passed by some tourist spots along the way which the lady staff also briefed its history.

Capilay Spring Park

St. Francis of Assisi Church

 

About 15 minutes, we finally arrived at the Coco Grove Beach Resort.  Refreshing drinks were again served and the front desk staff quickly assist us in our check in reservations.  There were tour offerings posted at the reception area, including Apo Island tour and Siquijor tour.  Similar to their website, their tour offerings have minimum number of pax required.  That's why I just ignored it during the time I was researching about Apo Island tours.  But what's attractive to Coco Grove's tour is that they are the ones who will be completing the number of pax required for every tour.  They do this by inviting every guests if they would like to avail the tour.  This is another reason why we decided to extend our stay for another night at Coco Grove.  Since we do have plans of going to Apo Island once we get back to Dumaguete, we thought it will be more convenient for us to avail Coco Grove's tour to Apo Island at Php 1,600 per pax all in.  This already includes lunch and snorkeling gears.  The tour will take up 1 whole day.  Quite expensive than DIY but it is very convenient.  Read about our snorkeling experience here.

We reserved for a Deluxe room at Php 3,100.  I initially requested for either Frangipani or Sunset Villa (you may check here the location of the rooms at various rates) but they told me that the room availability is dependent upon our arrival at the resort.  But we were surprised that they upgraded our room to Executive room and still at Deluxe price!  That's another attractive point in this resort that we were more eager to extend another night.

We stayed at Plantation 4, room #37.  It was a very spacious room.  Our only concern is that, signal for phone and wifi is very weak inside the room and a slight signal at the veranda.  See below for pictures of our room.

The bed with mini ref

Quite big room

View of veranda

Garden view from veranda

The toilet

Separate toilet and shower

I like their bathroom with separate toilet and shower.  It is also very spacious!  Being only a 3-star hotel, no other toiletries were provided except for toilet tissue.  But that wasn't really a big deal for us as we always brought our own toiletries.

The coffee table; Far right on the picture is their bamboo closet

Our comfy and clean bed

The way to our room

The Plantation Rooms

Stairs going to our room

Free books to read.  Our room on the left with bf peeking

Like in any hotels, keys have magnetic cards attached to it where you need to place it near the switches inside your room to turn on/off the air conditioning unit.  Since it was summer, we wanted our aircon to be running all the time but unfortunately, we cannot separate the card to the key.  But nonetheless, even if it is summer, the aircon is functioning well.

Coco Grove's location reminds me of our stay in Pimalai Resort in Krabi, Thailand (haven't finished my blog about this).  The vast area has several rooms along the way with lush greens in the surroundings which makes it a nice sight seeing adventure while you are walking to or from your room.  You will also pass by several pools, restaurants and even souvenir shops.

This is one of their pools with mini bar

This is near the pool, i'm not sure if its also a bar

The resort have 2 main restaurant: Sunset Restaurant and Salamandas Restaurant.  The pool also have a mini bar though I'm not sure if they are serving foods and drinks there since we didn't try it.

The mini bar at the pool

Sunset Restaurant

Salamandas Restaurant

The resort is also expanding.  I believe come December, new buildings and hotel will already be operational.

And because we had a very relaxing stay at Coco Grove Beach Resort, we were not able to tour Siquior as planned.  Also, as mentioned, we availed the resort's Apo Island Tour package.  You can check my blog about our snorkeling experience here.  We also ask the resort's assistance to book ferry tickets for us back to Dumaguete on our 3rd day.  This time, I clearly told them that we want a faster ferry going back.  They book our ticket from Ocean Jet.  You may check my blog about our experience with Ocean Jet here.

Overall, I recommend staying at Coco Grove Beach Resort if you are in Siquijor.  Just staying here is already relaxing: A blissful vacation away from the hustle and bustle of stressful Manila.