Bantayan Island and the Mini Tours of tricycle tour guides

Upon leaving Subic Bay I transported down to Bantayan Island. Not that transiting is a true depiction of travel days in the Philippines. The truth was getting anywhere in the Philippines is a journey. The exit flight from Angeles Clark Airport to Cebu City was re-scheduled to become 5 hours later into the evening than planned. Fortunately my assigned drop off from the office was able to adapt. And then the next morning from Cebu I then spent 5 hours sitting on a bus and ferry ride to my tropical destination, Bantayan Island. Included was an hour waiting on the 8am bus to depart for the Hagnaya port apparently only 2.5 hours away. 

Alas I didn't know it at the time but these were my my first experiences of "Philippine time". I received a bit of an explanation from an experienced Australian expat traveler I found on the bus. The buses always wait to fill right up, and everything is at least a half hour after the schedule. Only once had he nearly missed the 8am bus. He had arrived to find it driving out at 8:30am. But not for me. That was not my experience. We left at 9:05am after our food salespersons had done several laps of the bus. And well as a result we missed the 11am ferry and then connected onto the midday ferry at 1pm.

As a result of the late arrival I made it to my accommodation late. So day one of my tour was re-scheduled to the next day. I was though met by my tour guide's bagman there at the accommodation waiting for the final payment for the 2 night tour I was now a part of. Yes it had seemed quite concerning. After all I had told my work colleagues I had booked a 2 night tour on Facebook paying by Paypal. 

I had broken all internet safety rules for scammers in booking this tour. Before arriving I had joked I was being kidnapped in the Philippines and I had just paid the deposit. But well this was Bantayan Island and the reality was I was booked on the most simple of tours arranged by a motorcycle rider Jonathan. He was just a simple guy with a motorcycle and a mobile phone. He had designed his own tour for tourists so as to make a better life beyond being a motorcycle taxi for tourists. My first nights were beachside in a simple cabin at the very quiet and somewhat removed Placid Beach Resort. Not that getting to and from the Santa Fe town centre was expensive. 30 pesos each way I was told was the going rate. Staying close to the Santa Fe town centre is a good tip. Here you'll find plenty of local and western palate friendly restaurants. Personally I became a huge fan of the Bantayan Burrito Company. Not extremely local, but they had the best quality meals I could find which included salad ingredients. I had been craving salad and not rice to switch up away from the Philippine motto of "rice is life".

 

Jonathan my tour guide from Bantayan Is 1 and 2 day tours