Revisiting Gigantes

My first trip to the sleeping giants' isle was a few months after Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) devastated a big chunk of the Northern parts of Iloilo. During that visit, Carles is not considered a getaway place for most people. I don't think it was even on the top 20, considering the Philippines has over a thousand other islands to see.

Islas de Gigantes

But here we are 5 years later, Islas de Gigantes has become a social media phenomenon that more and more vacationers flock to this pristine little island to experience authentic island living even if it's just for a few days. I was actually afraid that maybe it was not as clean as it was when I first take a peek. My worries were for naught though as the beaches are still as white as before with only a few pieces of garbage here and there and a cleaning crew combing the beaches for pieces of trash that may have been accidentally left behind.

I am getting ahead of myself, so before I get carried away again, here are the details that you are looking for.

How much did I spend?

For this entire vacation, I spent 3500 pesos including fares and a bit of pasalubong. But this is on the pricey side because there are less than 10 or us. The more people you have, the less money you'll pay.

How did this happen?

I have a friend who knows a friend that offers tour packages. But on Facebook, you can find people who also offer tour packages and even promo packages to Gigantes.

How to get there?

From Iloilo City, ride a jeepney to Tagbak Terminal for 7-10 pesos depending on where you are in the city. If you're from the airport, you can grab a taxi for 350. The fare for the VAN is 150 pesos until Estancia Terminal, and the trip is for 2 hours.

If you have a tour package waiting and you want to get all your money's worth, I suggest you leave for Estancia or Carles early like 4AM (not that you won't get its worth if you'll leave at a later time ).

THE TOUR

At the terminal, we were met by the tour guide and he has tricycles waiting for us, so that's 15 pesos for the tricycle ride to the Port of Estancia. Then we paid 10 pesos for environmental fee and off we go for Gigantes.

We left the Port at around 1 PM and arrived at the resort that we will be staying at around 3PM and waiting for us is Mr. Crab asking to be eaten.

Eat me! -Mr. Crab

One of the things that I was really looking forward to in this vacation was the food and it never failed to deliver from the lunch we ate upon arrival until the breakfast we had right before we left.

We delivered our bags to our room and dig right in.

So we had sinigang na isda, crabs and some shells for lunch and unlimited rice :D.

Sinabawang Fish

After resting a bit, we went on to our island tour because we requested for a night swimming activity.

The first stop is Cabugao Island, the "selfie capital" of the Philippines. I think this was more fun than when we first went because now they have stairs and railings to hang on to while going to the top, and they also have barricades and warning signs so that you won't accidentally fell down.

Cabugao Island

The island also has Buddhist stone stacks arranged around creating a nice view on the ground.

While there, we observed locals cleaning up the island, they were combing the beach for trash, fallen leaves and sticks and other pieces of stuff that had fallen on the beach.

A reminder to our fellow travelers, please pick after yourselves.

Buddhist Stones

Next, for the night swimming activity, we were ferried to Bantigue Island, where the Sand Bar is.

It was a very long beach and all you can see is white white sand. The locals were even asking our ferrymen to attend the bonfire party for later that night. :D

Sand Bar, Bantique Island

They definitely have the place for it. Some people were already pitching tents on the beach when we get there. But we were there to swim, so that was what we did until the sunset turned to dusk and the night settled in.

Sunset at the Sand Bar

Then we were deposited to our room for cleanup and dinner.

Dinner was laswa with crab meat, grilled squid, squid adobo, calamari, and some scallops with eat-all-you-can rice.

Delicious foods, eat-all-you-can

After dinner, we stayed at the beachfront talking and playing with the fine white sand until bedtime.

2ND DAY

For the second day, the day started with breakfast. The breakfast consisted of fried dried fish, sunny side up and shells, I forgot the specific shell and lots of rice. Rice is the staple food for Filipinos.

The view during the climb.

The tour started with mountain climbing for the caving. I was excited at first, because the first time I went here for spelunking, it was inside a very magnificent cave with stalactites and stalagmites everywhere, though a bit of a hard work to squeeze through gaps to reach the other end. The cave this time was also good but it was small compared to the first one and it did not have any mineral formation. There was a very huge space though that can enclose a large building.

Caves

Then we went on another island hopping.

The first island was Antonia Island for snorkeling and swimming. If you come here, bring your own snorkels and lifesaver if you do not know how to swim. The corals are wonderful to see if you can hold your breath long enough especially in the slightly deeper areas near the beach. they also have jet skis for rent and banana boat rides available.

Antonia Island for Snorkeling

The next stop was the Tangke, this is a natural saltwater lagoon or pool found on the island. But for some environmental reason, it was close to tourists, so we had to content ourselves to having our picture taken and left. You can also cliff jump here.

Tangke - Saltwater Lagoon

Some of our companions are leaving ahead because they have a flight to catch early the next day, so after visiting the Tangke, we head off to the resort so they can clean up and leave with the other guests. We cleaned up also and eat lunch.

Lunch was crabs, calamari, and squid. The food is really delicious.

Delicious lunch :D

After lunch, we told our guide that we will rest a bit and explore the islands some more afterward. We went to our room for a bit to siesta and ended up sleeping until evening.

We messed up on our tour but still sleep is also part of taking a vacation :D

But we were not able to visit the lighthouse :(

So, we were woken up to eat dinner.

Dinner was squid adobo and sinabawang isda (fish soup). The fish was fresh as the soup was slightly sweet. Perks of being on an island.

Dinner :D

After dinner, we watched the lightning storm some distance away. And we were also told that we had to leave with the passenger boat because the boat was not available for the next day.

Lightning

There was also a masseuse who offered massage services after dinner but failed to show up after.

The next morning, our breakfast was fried dried fish, dilis and tapa, and scallops.

Then we were lead to the passenger boat and its Goodbye Islands.

Bye Islands

Before leaving Estancia though, we passed by the market to buy dried fish as pasalubong since we really loved the tapa we ate for breakfast.

So that ended our tour, it was not as fully packed as what was promised during negotiations. Some of it, our fault for delaying and arriving at the islands late and sleeping off half a day. But all in all, it was a relaxing trip and a memorable one as it was spent with friends you do not see on a daily or even monthly basis as they live so far away.

Sunsets

The food is unforgettable and one of those nice things you always want to have in the house, simple yet delicious. But since fresh is not in our vocabulary lately, so we settle for what we can have.

But if the opportunity arises, please grab it and rise above what is common and make it good.

Go UP!

Until the next adventure.!!!

If you want the number of the tour guide, send me a message or search for persons on Facebook who offers tours to Gigantes.



Daghang salamat sa pagbasa!!!

I post an article once a week... :D

Antique: Seen On Malalison

Leaving the mountains behind, we now make our way to the next stop of our journey, the beautiful Culasi. The hour-long trip ended on the wharf where we will be riding a pump boat to bring us to the island of Malalison. Before heading out to sea, we ate lunch in Jing’s eatery (special mention coz name sake), had our water gallon refilled and bought a 3kg fish for only 250 pesos.

Malalison from the wharf

The trip to the island was brief, 15-20 minutes. There is an island visitors’ registration area where you will also pay 10pesos for environmental fee.
The house we rented for 3000pesos is quite big, it has 2 bedrooms good for at least 4 persons each, 2 bathrooms, a living room with tv and a kitchen complete with cooking utensils. There is also a pump behind the house for bathing. No running water here, and also no electricity during daytime. Electricity is only switched on during the night and only from 6pm-10pm. The house, though, has a solar panel installed.

Sand Bar

Instead of hiring someone to cook food for us, we decided to go cowboy and do the cooking ourselves. Good thing, some of our male companions knows the hows on the kitchen, so we are spared from having distasteful meals.  While some of us went about with cooking pancit, sugba (grilled) pork& fish, sabaw (sinigang isda); others went to explore the sand bar in the rain. They came back at around 3pm to eat. Swimming does make one hungry.

Swim, Drown & Snorkel

Finished with dinners preparations, all of us also went to the beach to go swimming, semi-snorkeling and picture-taking while watching the sun set. The sand bar separates 2 areas of swimming: on the left is a rather rocky beach with corals littering the area which is safe for swimming and on the right is the ideal place to swim with its sandy beach and deep waters and danger of sea urchins. One cannot really have it all. We swam in both areas of course, with a little care.

Rainbow Sunset

After all the pictures were taken, we went back to the house to clean up and eat our dinner, watch the pictures we took during this trip, played some cards and slept when the lights went out. Early the next day, we cook adobo while waiting for our tour guide for the mountain trek to arrive. And since its dark when we started cooking preparations, we had the chance to use solar-powered bulbs in the kitchen 

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings

When the guide arrive at about 7AM, we started the climb. It started with stairs to the mountains, then a winding road that leads to the beach. We also passed by the school, the school is on the mountains and the children has to climb to get to it every single day. Exercise done right, in my opinion.

Pitcher Plant

Malalison Island has 3 high points when you look at it from the sea. The target of the climb is the 2nd high point. The trek brought us to the 1st point – Nablag Islet, it’s a low tide and the mountain is connected to the island via a stretch of sand. Along the way, pitcher plants dotted the side of the mountains. This side of the island is a coral beach, and we had fun picking out beautiful corals but the guide says that it is not allowed to bring any away. 

Nablag Islet

Hole in the Wall

Then we proceed to go the cave, it’s a slide down the mountain with only pine trees to save you. The pine trees planted is a project of DENR(Department of Environmental and Natural Resources) to bring trees on this, otherwise, grassy mountains. The cave is not really the cave that we are expecting, it is only a hole in the rock that can accommodate 20persons at once and the entrance is also the exit. Sort of a disappointment but we are only halfway and already thirsty. We stop for drinks and food, then proceeded to climb again.
 

The climb is steep and there is an area where one mistake can bring your death as the mountain has a cliff that directly falls to the sea. And you are not even sure how high it is. But we did reach the summit after a lot of rests, and the view is beautiful. Just leaves you wondering how it must look from the highest point, but the trek there is not for beginners as the tour guide insists. Then, we begin the trek back to the house for brunch and to prepare for departure as well.

The Advance Party

We paid the tour guide 500pesos. After eating and cleaning up, we decided to leave all leftover food to the caretaker and all our surplus food supply as well.

At around 12NN, we left the house behind. Rode the pump boat to tour around the island (during high tide only), was brought back to the wharf, and paid the pump boat 150pesos for the transportation to and from the island and the tour.

Then we waited for our van, and we are on our way to Iloilo city. We stopped by San Joaquin to buy bandi and arrived in Molo Plaza at around 4PM.

Tan not so visible but it was a great adventure and a cheap one too. Each person only paid 1,850 pesos for the 3day-2night trip.

Hooray for a Great Escapade!

Shout out to the owners of the pix: @goldpiz @elzniv @mikejohnsabido

Next week will be my Palawan adventures. Look out for it. 

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Daghang salamat sa pagbasa!!!