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Visit To Bantayan Island Beach Resorts
As regular readers know, I recently headed over to one of the Bantayan Island beach
resorts. It was my first visit in almost two years. That’s just too long to be away from Bantayan Island.
On our ferry ride to Bantayan Island we did take a ferry with first class accommodations and air con, I noticed a sticker on a cabinet that read “Life jackets 20pcs.” At first, I thought, wow they charge for life vest ha-ha. Of course that was 20 pieces and not 20 pesos as I first interpreted it.
I stayed at Tristan’s Bantayan Island Beach Resort and it is my most frequent place to stay when I do visit.
There are so many Bantayan Island Beach Resorts that I have to visit though and I really need to see them all. Only one is expensive. That is Ogtong Cave Beach Resort.
The price at Tristan’s makes it hard for me to pass up. The price charged by Tristan’s Bantayan Island Beach Resort, along with the hospitality and great service that is provided by Nancy, the resort’s owner. If you’d like to contact Tristan’s Beach Resort you can text or call her at 63-919-537-1536. Please tell her Rusty sent you.
Cost of visiting Tristan’s Bantayan Island Beach Resort
My trip was for one night. The cost for my two days and one night at Tristan’s was only P2200 or about $52 at today’s exchange rate of P42 to 1USD. That is the effective dollar to Philippine peso exchange rate that I actually get. Now the total cost would include a ferry ride, pedicab rides, and porter fees and would push the price up to around a total of P3000. None of these fees are very much separately but they do add up when you combine them together.
That includes the two full meals we had at Tristan’s Bantayan Island Beach Resort. Jessie and I shared a pizza soon after we arrived. That night I had breaded pork chops. I don’t recall what Jessie had. I was going to try the Tristan’s Tangerine Steak later on but I fell to sleep before I had the chance to do so. That would have cost me another P200.
When we arrived at Tristan’s the sea was at high tide. It was not only kissing the steps but splashing upon the edge of the Bantayan Island Beach Resort.
She had made some improvements to the resort. Building her sea wall up and extending it out just a bit. With a row of very nice picnic benches that sun lovers could enjoy while having their meal. Though Tristan’s is not the most lavish of the Bantayan Island beach resorts, it is one of the best.
I planned to enjoy them too, after the sun went down. I became very sleepy around 7:30pm though and was soon fast asleep. I had slept only three hours the night before. I woke up around 3am. Perhaps, I was too excited to sleep in anticipation of my return to one of the Bantayan Island beach resorts.
I did take my first swim in the waters of Bantayan Island around 2pm. I was waiting for the sun to go down a bit. We arrived at Tristan’s Beach Resort around noon. I wanted to jump in right away to take advantage of the high tide. But I remember the injury that added to the insult of middle age hair loss and the horrible sunburn I got on top of my head on my last visit. So, I waited. Noticing the tide roll out, I entered the sea a little before I thought wise. But it went okay, no sun burn. I stayed in the water less than an hour.
The current was strong. The water was pounding upon the sea walls protecting the homes along the Bantayan Island beach. I’ve never seen that before, splashing high with a loud crash. I recalled that there two people drowned during Holy Week. Resulting in Bantayan Island officials raising cautions about strong currents in the area. The Bantayan Island visitors had been snorkeling. I don’t know which Bantayan Island beach resorts they were staying at.
Spectacular Golden Sunset Blankets the Bantayan Island Beach Resorts
Wow, I’ve seen golden sunsets in Bogo City before but I have never seen anything like this. There had been a storm in the distance, followed by a rainbow. The winds blew up and it became very comfortable in Tristan’s open air but covered restaurant.
Jessie spotted the rainbow and we both took pictures of it. We took a lot of pictures because with my camera, capturing a rainbow is hard to do. Jessie’s picture came out the best once I processed it. In the camera, mine looked the best but on the computer it was awful.
We had returned to our table, I was browsing the web, working on something when I looked up and saw this awesome golden glow covering the beach. Though I had little hope of capturing it with my camera, I did. This little Olympus Sports camera does an awesome job with landscapes. The pictures from this golden glow have been enhanced only slightly and some were better untouched, presented just as they were taken.
After the storm in the distance died down, it became staggeringly hot on Bantayan Island.
Day Two At Tristan’s Bantayan Island Beach Resort
I didn’t see any wildlife on my first swim. But the next morning Jessie and returned to the waters and quickly found a dreaded sea urchin. I had asked her if “Can you scoop them up if you dig under them?” She freaked out. She did not realize that I meant me when I said “You.” She went to the beach to get her slippers and scooped it up. I am too lazy to have even considered that. I surely wouldn’t want to step on that!
The water was at low tide and we had to go out a bit further than usual. The urchin though was quite close to the shoreline. We ventured into a rocky area where Jessie spotted a beautiful starfish.
I noticed its bright orange color and immediately wondered if that might mean it is deadly. Many brightly color critters are deadly. I did some research on it but I didn’t find anything about deadly starfish in the Philippines. At least not deadly to humans, there are starfish in the Philippines that destroy coral and this may very well be one of those. Deadly or not to humans, stepping on this animal might not be a pleasant experience.
Once back at Tristan’s Bantayan Island Beach Resort, I noticed what looked like a snake protruding from a rock. Jessie said it was dead and went down to the beach to take a picture for me. There she saw it was moving and not dead at all. Her closer vantage point and picture suggest it is not a snake but probably a sea cucumber. These are normally found on the ocean floor though. Perhaps it washed up along with the tide that came in during the night. I’m not sure it is one of the sea cucumber. If anyone knows for sure, please tell me what it is. Sea cucumbers are a traditional food source for humans in the Philippines.
On our way to Bantayan Island, I noted many kids swimming in the sea. Filipino children often swim like fish. Headed into waters that would totally scare an American mom to death, it is summer in the Philippines. School is out and the kids are in the water.
When we arrived at the port on Bantayan Island, there were a line of kids, all yelling hello my friend. What they want is for the new arrivals to toss coins into the water. I didn’t realize that until Jessie said “Want to see them dive?” I shrugged and answered in the affirmative. I didn’t know she was then going to toss some coins into the water. Jessie is pretty tight fisted with money as she has seen some days when money was scarce for her. I was surprised when she did that. She went on to tell me that they use to do that when she was in high school. She explained that the waters in Tacloban were deep and it was fun to watch them dive deep for the money.
Time To Leave Bantayan Island
On our way back to the dock, I noticed that one vendor was selling bottled fish. Little fish packaged in a bottle of Tanduay. The Tanduay long since disposed of and replaced with these tiny fish that are soaked in vinegar and eaten right out of the bottle.
There was some kind of mix up with the tickets we purchased for our short return voyage. We had paid for first class tickets on one ferry but when we got to it, we learned the departure was delayed about two hours. Another ferry, a ro-ro used to transport both people and vehicles was leaving at our scheduled time instead. We were told we could take that one instead. There is no air con on the ro-ro but that isn’t really necessary on the ferries. Once they start moving, the breeze creates a nice natural air con.
The ship’s personnel even went back to the ticket office for us, a long walk for me, and returned with new tickets and change. The first class tickets we paid for cost a little more. Neither Jessie nor I expected that. Good old fashioned Filipino hospitality and honesty. This is the kind of honesty that one rarely hears about when foreigners talk about the Filipino. But, this is the honesty that I find to be quite common after living in the Philippines for more than three years. So many times, I hear that Filipino will take advantage of you at every step. And here’s some proof that it just isn’t so.
My latest trip to the Bantayan Island beach resorts was pleasant, just as I knew it would be. If you’re coming to visit Cebu, do yourself a huge favor and visit Bantayan Island. If you stay at Tristan’s please tell her Rusty says hello.
You can also see a 11 minute video I captured while on Bantayan Island during this trip by visiting this link: Bantayan Island Video
There are many other Bantayan Island beach resorts to choose from but no one will take better care of you than Nancy and her staff will.
Tagged with: Bantayan Island • Bantayan Island Beach Resorts • Living In The Philippines • Video Of Philippines
Filed under: Bantayan Island Beach Resorts
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Kewl, Post Rusty.
Now I have another place that I have on my list of place to visit when I come to your part of the world.
I’m really not sure when I will get there to Cebu, as I have pressing business on the island of Luzon (that I need to attend to before I will be free to go site seeing).
However, I have followed your blog and enjoyed your posts. I will be in closer contact prior to coming to the Phil; I would enjoy meeting you and Jessy if that is ok? I would like to take ya all out eat at barbeque by the bay (I have wanted to go there since you mentioned it in your posts), it seems to be some place I would enjoy.
Looking forward to meeting you in person, some day??? Later bro, Thomas
Sure Thomas, would love to meet up with you.
There are a lot of places I have not been too that I’d like to visit. About to scratch one of those off, that is Palawan if things hold together for me.
Then Bohol and maybe one day Boracay, not as sure about that one. I’m sure it is nice but it may be over priced and other places just as nice.
Wow thanks a ton for this article, I can’t wait to share this with friends and look st your pictures when I have more time. That does look like a sea cucumber to me but I have not seen any with those colors and patterns, that could be cause I am not well traveled thou.
You mean the sunset? There is often a golden glow in Bogo City but nothing that pronounced that I’ve seen. I don’t think that’s a regular occurrence on Bantayan either but it might be. It was a bit golden here today.
And your welcome, hit the share button if you have a FB account 🙂
Hello Rusty,
That was an awesome post! My H2B and I was planning to head to Bantayan Island for our honeymoon. We later on decided that it was too long vacation for both of us (between marrying and honeymoon) and decided to move it back to next year.
We heard that Bantayan Island have alot of fresh seafoods. I wonder if you have a tip for us on that … like after buying it – where can we have it cook? H2B dying to eat some lobsters… is that available there?
Thanks and keep posting!! 🙂
Jann, I don’t know about lobster but there is plenty of fresh seafood all over the Philippines. Northern Cebu is famous for fish especially Bogo City. Here is a picture of some crab being sold on the dock in Bantayan Island.
Many, especially budget travelers go down to the public market and buy their fish and have it cocked right on the spot. You need to know how to buy fresh seafood. I think it is mostly about the eyes being clear. I’m not a big sea food eater but only because it causes me to itch much of the time. I sure wish I could eat more of it. Its very good and very good for you! I might try some again soon. Most of the time, this fish will be caught the same day.
I’ve added a video to CEX. Watch it here: Bantayan Island It will open in a new windows/tab.
Thank you for the quick reply. and my, those crabs do look tasty! 🙂
thanks with the new link and I truly enjoyed it! 🙂
Your welcome Jann
Hi Rusty,I went to Bohol and checked out the beaches.Beautiful there with very friendly people.I stayed at a place called Bohol divers resort.The food was good and the rooms were nice with aircon and hot water.Went dolphin watching early in the morning before it got to hot and also went around another island where they do a lot of swimming and scuba diving.Beautiful places with crystal clear water.The prices were western for the lodging and food ,but as a first time visitor there I felt very safe and enjoyed the music and the beautiful beaches.Next trip there I hope to go to Bantayan Island beach resort that I read about on your web site.In Cebu I stayed at the Cebu Pension plaza and the price was only 1100P with free breakfast for myself and my girlfriend.The restaurant there also had good coffee. Just a short walk up the hill they have a MacDonalds with great fried chicken and good coffee.The prices were really great.5 to 6 dollars will buy 2 good meals.The MacDonalds in Cebu are much better than the ones in Canada.Better food and a much better price.I love Cebu and can hardly wait to go again.My girlfriend thinks it takes about 4 hours to travel to Bantayan Island and said it starts with a bus trip than by ferry,do you have any suggestions for travelling there from Cebu city? I,m always open to suggestions? I travelled by fast cat to Bohol and enjoyed the trip .We did make the mistake of leaving our return ticket open and this got us down graded to what is called a chance return ticket.Standby here in Canada.I suggest you always get a confirmed return ticket as the ships seem to always be very busy.Some people had to wait another day to go back to Cebu city.I was there on May 21,22 and 23 and it was a very busy place.I had a great time and met a lot of very nice people.Bohol is a beautiful spot to visit but the prices are much higher than some areas that you have mentioned.I wasn,t worried about price on this visit because I had planned on visiting Bohol and some other people had told me before that the rates were the same as Canada. Bantayan Island will be my next visit and hopefully I will be on my honey moon.Thanks for any advice you can give me Rusty and have a great day and good health to you all. from Randall Connors the Canadian.
I’m planning on going to Bohol for my next trip after Palawan. I’m pretty sure you can find places that don’t charge Western prices in Bohol but if you’ve got the cash, why not enjoy yourself to the max. 🙂
You can find Western prices in Bantayan too, you can pay around $400 a night and get a jacuzzi with flowers floating in it. Or you can stay at Tristan’s for P1200 for her best room. There are some places that have fees in the middle range.
I’ve had a heck of a time booking a room in Palawan but I finally have one. Was treated poorly by one resort and I’ll probably be writing about that very soon. I was going to wait until my trip but I think I’ll do that today or tomorrow, but who knows. Often, I end up getting sidetracked on another topic first.
I’m glad you had a good time!
Bantayan Island is indeed a nice place. That’s my hometown. It actually reminds me of Boracay especially whenever I see the white beach and amazing sea creatures. I love it. Reading this makes me miss my hometown and my father. God bless Bantayan.
We’re going in Bantayan next week to visit our relatives… And i’m planning to explore Bantayan since I didn’t have the chance to do it before. Is it okay to walk in the beach line of Sta. Fe’s beaches? without staying in the resorts? Because we’re going to stay at my relatives house. I really want to walk the beach line of Bantayan Island…
Yes Sora, the resort are not suppose to block the access to the beach. If you can’t find a path to it go to Tristan’s and get to it there. 🙂 I don’t think you’ll have a problem though, I’m sure your relatives know much more about it than I do. Have a nice trip. 🙂
I read your messages on Tristans Place. I am interested to visit Bantayan Island next week…can I make u as my referral? I never been to Bantayan island since then…thanks.