Settling Down
What: where I stayed and where I looked and dined
Where: Sta. Fe Proper onward
What to expect: Varied hotel and resorts scattered around the island. I’ll just write about the few that I visited in search of the best location to price ratio
a couple resting under the shade
Looking for a roof over your head is no problem at all in Bantayan Island. The island offer a myriad of hotels and resorts I’ll just write about the ones that I’ve been to so far. Upon reaching the port we were picked up by my friend’s relatives. Before we looked for a hotel to stay in we needed to stay in Madridejos for the duration of the night before moving to Sta. Fe. We rode a Multi cab on our way to the other side of the island; we used the alternate route on the east side of the island compared to the usual route that passes through the town of Bantayan. As we passed by I was taken unaware of this unfamiliar road. The road that we used was partially asphalt, the more we got away from the pier the more the road got rougher. We passed this dense clot of vegetation growing on a nearby lagoon. The mangrove trees here were not like any I’ve seen their roots spread out like feet onto the sand as if dancing. There was a particular part that I liked while passing through this part of the island, there is this clearing on up the road where there would be a bridge between small lagoons. The lagoon would be about 2 feet deep with clear water, limestone and jagged coral rocks protruding the outcrops laced with various mangroves and other vegetation. This particular scene was reminiscent of a certain Vietnam flick I saw way back. To add the icing on to the cake, there was this man who looked Vietnamese and was trailing us with a bike. Fairly odd, he did look like he jumped out of a movie.
he just jumped out of a movie
Upon reaching Madridejos we got to my friends ancestral house and had a bountiful lunch. After spending a night at Madridejos it was time to transfer to Sta. Fe. We woke up early morning just in time to get warm bread off the bakery that was across the house. We then got ready for the ride and rushed through the main road that passes the town of Bantayan. After an hour’s travel we finally got to Sta. Fe to greet the sun.
The sunrise was kind of murky, it’s natural for sunrises and sunsets to me muddy or murky in the “BER” months and clearer in summer. We then hit the beach looking for a nice perspective where we could use the morning light to our advantage. After shooting we then headed into town grabbed a bite to eat and then devoted our time to looking for a suitable hotel or resort to stay.
Our first stop was Sta. Fe Beach Club. We went there and asked for their tariffs and scoped out the place, the place was good but it was kind of too far from the town proper we just looked around and moved on. One of the advantages that we saw about going to Sta. Fe Beach Club is that if you stay in you get free entrance to Ogtong Cave Resort since they are sister companies. Ogtong cave aside from having the much talked about cave has also a variety of swimming pools which you can use. It would have been nice if I was on vacation to enjoy the beach and all but I was here to shoot so not much choice with having a swimming pool access that I won’t be using anyway.
Sta. Fe Beach Club
Our next stop would be Budyong beach club, Budyong the place I stayed last time I was on the island. I had no trouble getting reacquainted with the place. Budyong offers a nice beachfront with mini coconuts in front and the highly coveted hammocks facing the sea. I was ok with staying here but friends wanted cable TV with a BOLS channel so they could watch UFC. Unfortunately they didn’t have cable TV so we moved on.
Budyong Beach Club
It was nearing 10am and it was getting very hot. Unless we could find a place to check in we risk being fried by the hot Bantayan noon sun. Our last stop was Marlin Beach resort, the location was absolutely fantastic since it was just about 5 minutes walk to the town proper which meant having a chance to go to into town whenever we needed anything. The only thing disappointing was when we entered the gate the security guard suddenly got in our noses and asked in a very imprudent manner where were we going? We said to the front desk and went in. We liked the location, we liked the price, they had cable TV but we didn’t like the guard. But we decided the positive aspects of the place outweighed the security guard’s disrespectful attitude towards guests. It was a long way to check in time so we decided to leave our bags in Marlin’s front desk and look for a potential place to have lunch before we checked in at 12 noon.
Marlin Beach Resort
a map of Bantayan Island
Hunger was catching up so we went into this resto named “The Hard Kock Café” funny name for a restaurant since there was a logo of their a fighting cock looking at a hen. They had a big TV with cable and WIFI internet as well. We decided we needed to eat lunch before checking in. We ordered their Bacon Carbonarra and relaxed a bit. We noticed that a lot of foreigners using their laptop computers to surf the internet. This made me feel quite uneasy since I left my laptop in the city there were quite some things I also wanted to check on the net too.
Hard Kock Cafe has WIFI and Satellite TV
Marlin Beach Resort offers pick up and drop off from Sta. Fe seaport
We went back to the Marlin about 1pm and got settled in. The room was quite spacious and the amenities were quite sufficient for the tree of us staying there. We then took a quick nap to recuperate from waking up early.
our messy 1600 PHP / day room
In the evening we had dinner in this place called “Marisquiera O Portuguese”, it’s a restaurant bar that offers a 45 course buffet during Fridays and Saturdays for 245 PHP with bottomless iced tea. So far we had a hell lot of time eating and sampling their food since it was well endowed with a mixture of pork, chicken, beef and seafood. You can even choose for them to roast you a fresh batch of barbeque, pork belly, squid, chicken and fish. My personal favorites from the buffet were the sweet and sour fish, the seafood chowder, baled scallops and the Bicol express. You can also leave a shirt there for you to write a memento or for people you know to write on their next visit there in Bantayan. We left a Digital Photographer Philippines shirt there for all photographers who venture to the island can write their name, origin and date of visit.
the Marisquiera O Portuguese
45 course buffet for 245 PHP with bottomless iced tea
yum yum yum
For anymore questions on where to stay on the island I suggest calling the Bantayan Island Association of Resorts, Hotels, Bars and Restaurants or visit their tourism information office in Poblacion Sta. Fe.
tourism information office in Sta. Fe
I will be adding additional articles namely “Island Life, Majestic Madridejos, Buhay Buwad and Island Life” to supplement some pieces of the story. So I chopped up the material via relevance and will be blogging on this format. I just came from a trip and was busy to update the blog, I hope you like the read and will follow up on the next articles of my bantayan series. Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment