Bantayan Escapades

It has been raining for almost an entire week here in Cebu, which makes me think of all the sunshine-y memories of a go-to summer destination in the region: Bantayan Island.

From Cebu City, the most common way to commute would be to ride a Ceres bus from the North terminal to Hagnaya port. The trip would take approximately 1.5-2 hours. From the port, you would have to ride the Barge which would take approximately 2 hours as well. Upon docking at Santa Fe port, you may take a tricycle to go to your resort or have the resort service car/van fetch you. The availability and cost of this service depends on the resort. For the trip, you may have to set aside around Php600 for the round-trip travel expenses.

I have been in Bantayan twice. First was on April 2008 where we stayed at Yooneek resort, and the next was late 2009 where we stayed at Placid Beach. I have posted photos to show you how wonderful the island is. Though, I recommend that you go there rather than taking my word for it.

Placid Beach

the "marketing" team!

Last 2008 at Yooneek Resort

Yooneek Resort

relaxing

 

strolling at the beach taking advantage of the low tide

pa-luto at a nearby fish market..yum!

Bar at Yooneek Resort

Alcoy Weekend Getaway: Bodo's Bamboo Bar and Tingko Beach

Finally, after a lot of wishful thinking moments, we finally went to Alcoy last May.

Alcoy is at the southern part of Cebu with a distance of approximately 93 km from the provincial capital. We just commuted and after a 2-hour trip via Ceres bus, we arrived at this municipality.

We stayed at Bodo's Bamboo Bar, located at an elevated portion of the town, that has a spectacular view of the sea. Then, the following day, we headed to the public beach, Tingko. The beach would have been so beautiful with its fine white sand, if not for some trash littered by the people at the shore. (When will we ever learn?)

Anyway, here are some of the pictures of our Alcoy weekend getaway,

our cottage

Bodo's landscape

overlooking the ocean seen...

...at the back porch

the resto

some afternoon coffee to wake us up

then its time to hit the pool!

Dinner time! Family size pizza... I'm telling you, its HUGE!

what's a pizza without beer?

a few rounds of pool

The next day, we headed to Tingko Beach which was a few minutes away via tricycle,

my Tingko beach essentials

Alcoy Mission, accomplished!

Dinner at the Shang

To celebrate a milestone, the Mr. and I decided to head to a dinner buffet at Tides Restaurant, Shangri-La Mactan. 

 
I was quite fortunate to have availed of their Buy 1 Take 1 promo a few months ago so we decided to use the ticket this July! All in all, we were very satisfied with the buffet not to mention the very friendly and pleasant staff of the hotel. Good food plus commendable hotel service plus spectacular dinner venue = one very happy couple.

The outcome (we left our camera at home so we only used our camera phones so please bear with the low-quality resolution),

started off with some greens and a whole lotta' Japanese

next round, some meat! lamb chops, roasted pork & chicken and blue marlin

more meat for the mister! sayang ang ulam pag walang rice ;)

beef stew

grilled fresh salmon: To. Die. For. (literally melts in your mouth)

can't get enough of the salmon, and a taste of the blue marlin

this would have to be my new-found-friend. a kind of hors d'oeuvre that has cherry tomato, white cheese and olive drizzled with pesto sauce

some just desserts

what's a dessert without icecream?

a variety of cheesecakes which is the fave of the mister

had some coffee al fresco to wash it all down. this is the view of the pool.

and a short walk to let everything settle in. LOL