camotes island

Camotes Island (May 1-2, 2009). The final decision as to where I and my friends are headed for the long weekend was decided late afternoon of April 30, Thursday. Everybody was busy emailing each other, extracting our minds to destinations that we could possibly go. Time was something we did not have. Planning and budget for the trip was supposed to come first before anything else. But it came dramatically and luckily we were able to agree to go to Camotes and even the budget was okay for the most of us. We planned for to stay there for 2 days and 1 night only. Thanks to Chakka for calling up Masamayor on the last dot and reserved for us 1 family room.

Day 1

Woke up 4:00 am and went out the boarding house with Ping at 4:30 am and meet up with the rest of the gang at chowking. At exactly 5:00 am we boarded the bus to Danao already. The trip from Mandaue hi-way to the Danao port took about 45-50minutes. Going off the bus, we ran towards the boat to catch the 6am trip. After setting ourselves on the boat, I completely forgot about the time. Although we weren't able to sit at the benches of the boat, it wasn't so bad because we sat on the floor “yaka" with an open view of the sea just behind our back.

San Francisco/ Masamayor/ Mangodlong

We were picked up by the jeep provided by Masamayor. The family room was okay, it can accommodate up to 5 peeps. It has 2 double beds and an extra mat can be provided for an excess person. We did not expect to engage in day tour for that day because it wasn't even included in our budget. The driver guy asked if we wanted to avail the land tour and there was another guy that asked us if we'd like to see the other side of the island, and to go to Mangodlong Beach resort, by riding a pump boat. Lear group (composed of 2 lear and 3 ex-lear gals) and Lexmark group (jae, anj, joanne, ian and ruchi) decided to share expenses for the boat trip. The whole day was spent swimming and not to mention the tireless picture taking over and under water.

The experience was fun. We were all a bit tired already when we came back. While waiting for the CR to be vacant, we kept ourselves busy with the soccer ball that we borrowed. What's also nice with Masamayor is that they let their guest borrow soccer, volleyball balls, frisbee and skim board for free!! When everybody was all tidy, we decided to dine out to another resort just few walks from our place. It started raining though so we sheltered ourselves to the nearest karenderia. The rain didn't stop for a while and everybody was hungry already and we decided to eat there. We had pork bbq, pancit canton, noodles and isaw. Yum2x! We saved a bit of our meal budget that time.

The rain finally halted and we still did not dismiss the thought of visiting the resort near by. We checked the menu for some luck we can have desserts but they did not have that on their menu. We went back to our place and ordered mango shake while watching TV and reading some magazines. Masamayor's bar was very cozy. It felt like I was just sitting in our sofa. Even ping early that afternoon had a short nap, haha...

Lotte, cele and ping went to bed early except chaka and me. Curiostiy, curiosity... We went to the beach as there were guys near the shoreline with a traditional lamp. We got as close as we can without disturbing them and giving the slightest hint of our interest towards what they were doing. They felt our presence when we got closer and lit their flashlights towards us, so we retreated. It wasn't a good idea sneaking around, hahaha... We went back to borrow a flashlight and used it to check out the creepy aura of the beach. The beach from a distance was very dark. It was a perfect place for stupid things like jogging, practice our cat walk (in my dreams) and even see how we do cartwheels, which chaka and I did, bwahehehe…Everybody was sleeping like a baby when we came back, it was late I guess, I wasn’t able to check on the time. It wasn’t that late for Jae though, few minutes after dozing off, she knocked loudly on our door. From that ungodly waking, I knew right then she was up for a dare which she admitted morning after.

Day 2

At 5:00 am we were roused by my beeping alarm clock. It was time rise and experience and see the sunrise. The sky was still dimmed lightly so we opted to play a little of frisbee catching, soccer and enjoy the cold waters of the beach. We also tried skim boarding. It was really a thrilling experience. I remember falling hard twice. haha...Lotte was just around capturing every action packed moments. After a while, we grew tired and head our way to the karenderia where we had our dinner the other night. We ordered food and while waiting for it to get cooked, we washed and changed into our traveling clothes at same time also packing our stuff.


Going back

The boat ride back to Cebu Island was behind schedule. Stress, heat and discomfort from the boat ride starved us pretty much. Ping having much experience with the food from the Port (which I forgot the name), lead the group to the popular place. They had lots of grilled sea food readied for the guests there. The grilled fish was cooked already but tinderos and tinderas heat it up before serving. The price is right, just right to feed our hungry tummies.

It was the last memoirs we had from the weekend galore.

PS. Pictures will be posted as soon as I get the copies from celeste and lotte.