Hello steemians and to my co-steemit achievers, today's blog is another DIY PH travel blog. We are still within Oslob, the last two travel entries were:
Today, we are going to the beautiful Sumilon Island. This is an island few minutes away from main Oslob land. It has been a tourist destination even before the Whale shark had started. However, it has started receiving a lot visitors when the tour guides included this for the Oslob day tour package.
Normally, the tour starts at the Whale Shark watching, then to Tumalog Waterfalls then to Sumilon Island or vice versa. Theyll end their tour with either going to Aguinid Waterfalls or at the Cuartel Ruins.
But instead of availing a tour package, one can do a DIY instead.
Boats going to Sumilon are located at Barangay Bangcogon. As for my experience, my sister in law had won a free tour to Sumilon Island, she can bring four other companions and I got tagged along together with my husband.
It was an unexpected tour but I made sure to go because I had been wanting to visit the island ever since. Call time was around seven in the morning, there were other groups in the boat with us but it was okay because the boat was quite big.
It took us some time before we headed to the island as the guide was still waiting for the rest of the other groups. When we were complete, the boat started it's engine and we were on our way, of course we were all excited for it aside from this was my first time, the weather was also perfect that day.
Life jackets are important so everyone was required to wear their own before the boat could even depart from the shore.
After a few minutes, we can already spot the white sand bar glittering in front of the limestone island. Then without too much waiting, we were already stepping in it's white sand shore.
The island is basically made of coral rock stones but what's cool about it is its clear blue waters. There's a sandbar which extends from the island, breaking the waves into two directions moving towards each other.
Unfortunately, there were only one shady area, this is a public spot of the island while there's a private resort within it. It was a hot sunny day so everyone was trying to find a spot where they could hide away from the scorching sun but the enticing water was super inviting that you can't stop but get out of the sun and dive into the clear waters.
Look like the visitors enjoyed the sun!
Koreans taking groufie.
Sweet lovers spending some time alone.
It has the tendency to become populated obviously.
Obviously, there were lots of visitors that day, I took a lot of candid photos randomly.
To show you how clear the waters were, check out this media taken by my sister in law using a GoPro Hero 4 Silver:
How To Get There?
There are different ways to get to the island but since I had already shared on the past blog the options on how to get to Oslob from Cebu City, I'll be consistent instead with my point of directions.
So if you come to Oslob solely for Sumilon, you may directly go to Bangcogon, ask the bus driver about it and they'll drop you there right away.
However, if you are coming from the Whale Shark watching area, you may take a habal-habal which can bring you to Bangcogon, haggling skills required again but they will charge you around Php 25-50 one way.
If you are with friends and families, it is much better to rent a van which most tourists do, a van for hire costs Php 4000 per day. Then you can split the fee among yourselves.
From Bangcogon, boats are just available anytime and you can negotiate with the drivers too! However, since there are lots of tourists lately, you might be able to share the boat with some random tourists, which means you might be able to meet someone, perhaps your future loved one!
Fees:
Bus fare from Cebu usually cost around Php 140-160 for airconditioned ones, I definitely suggest taking these because it is stressful to be in an ordinary bus while stuck in traffic.
Boat can take you to Sumilon Island and back for Php 1500 private boat. You can share the fee amongst your companions. The boat don't stay at the island though, the drivers will tell you to remember the name of the boat, so you can go back to the main island anytime you want with the same boat.
Be sure to be on your way back to Oslob main land before five in the afternoon.
Disclaimer: All media files are mine otherwise stated.
!steemitworldmap 9.434171 lat 123.386657 long Sumilon Island Sandbar d3scr
xo JUNEBRIDE xo
