Siquijor - Philippines

To read an overview of our Philippines travel itinerary, click here.  Kate and I headed to Siquijor from Moalboal,  the following is some advice for those doing the same.

Moalboal to Siquijor: 

Now don't be afraid :D  there are boats, a bus and tricycles a-plenty, but it's really not difficult when you know, and soon you will!  Just make sure you're on your way not much later than 9am to give yourself a nice relaxed journey 

1. From your accommodation in Moalboal, take a tricycle to the bus stop in Moalboal town where you can get the yellow Ceres bus to Bato.  These are relatively frequent (every 40 mins or so), with AC and non-AC options (just take whatever comes first) and should cost less than 100 pesos. 

2.  From the Ceres bus terminal in Bato, you will need to take a tricycle to Liloan Port (it is not the port you will drive past shortly before getting off, do not be fooled into thinking you can walk it!). You'll have to haggle a bit like we did among the cluster of drivers waiting, but we paid 60 pesos in the end for 2 people (these days I can never be arsed to haggle over another 20 pesos or so).

3. From Liloan Port, there is an hourly ferry that goes to Sibulan Port which takes around 25 minutes and is under 100 pesos PP.

4. From Sibulan Port, take a tricycle to Dumaguete Port.  We paid 150 pesos for two people with luggage but could have haggled down.  Was happy to pay that in the end as it is a good 20 minute or more drive with traffic.  You can also go via the cheaper, jeepney option, but may have to wait and less comfortable, especially with luggage.

5. From Dumaguete Port, take another ferry to Siquijor Port. More basic, non-AC ferries are frequent with 2 or three private boats offering transit.  You may wish to seek out the OceanJet service which has a more comfortable, AC service, but this wasn't operating when we visited (though they assured us they would be up and running again in a couple of weeks).  

6. When you arrive in Siquijor Port, you will be greeted by a flurry of tricycle drivers and many, many, people trying to loan you motorbikes.  If you're travelling light, you can consider renting one for around 250 pesos per day there and then.  If you're taking luggage, then you probably need a tricycle.  There fares on the island are fixed, there is a board with what you can expect to pay to the left where all the tricycles are parked slightly up the hill.  Or just look at this picture:

Siquijor pricing for transport from the port

Glamping in San Juan

We had arrived earlier than planned in Siquijor island and therefore booked ourselves a couple of nights in tent accommodation by the beach at a place called 'Glamping Siquijor'.  After a relatively bumpy and loud crossing on the ferry, our immediate impression of the island was quite pleasing. We were greeted by bright blue waters and a small port, with a solo man on a megaphone warning about how smoking was prohibited throughout Siquijor municipality (note not the whole island).  A sign at the pier confirmed this.  

When we had made our way along the pier we were accosted by locals doing their best to offload a motorbike rental (this was a bit of a running theme) to us for the duration of our stay, which wasn't really practical at that point in time considering we had our big bag.  We opted instead for renting a tricycle to our campsite.  Our driver continued to try to rent us a motorbike even after being dropped off, I took his number and he seemed happy with that and drove away.

Panoramic photo at Glamping Siquijor

Arnel was the happy local man who welcomed us to Glamping Siquijor and I was thrilled that we also got a brief orientation of the island, which included an overview of the main sights and snorkel spots.  The campsite was perfect, with not too many tents and the accommodation whilst being basic was clean and comfortable, with ample furniture just outside the tent to relax (including a hammock!).  It was also an idea place to meet other people and share a few drinks and stories, as we did with a group of friends from Portugal and Japan which ended up in a ukulele singalong.

Kate presenting the tent's interior at Glamping Siquijor

Arnel strikes a natural pose during orientation at Glamping Siquijor

View from campsite at Glamping Siquijor

It's apparently not uncommon for people to visit Siquijor at months at a time and I can definitely see why! It has a slow pace of life and there are numerous options in the way of scenic spots to visit along the generous coastline.  Whist the beach at Glamping was not the best (quite a lot of seaweed) it was great for a sunset and just the sense of being by the sea made for the perfect compliment to camping.  There are also a couple of really good restaurants in walking distance, Kate and I were extremely surprised by the standard of restaurant and still good value.  We were expecting it to be a bit more basic, like it was in Sablayan but this wasn't the case at all

Tents at Glamping, Siquijor

Romance on the beach at Glamping, Siquijor

We opted to rent a motorbike to explore the island with a little more flexibility and freedom.  On our travels we stopped by the renowned Balete Tree, which is a supposedly enchanted tree covered in vines, I think it's the Philippine equivalent of a Banyan Tree. At the food of it is a 'fish spa', where we dunked our toes and got that tickly and tingling sensation of being nibbled.  

Balete Tree and fish spa in Siquijor

Fish spa at the Balete Tree in Siquijor

Balete Tree in Siquijor

One of the best things was just to cruise around and enjoy the island scenery on the bike, so this is what we did.  We did this up until a point where the van in front of us carrying something taller than they should have been carrying took out a power line causing us to screech to a halt and take a detour down a more minor road.  

Soaking up the scenery by motorbike on Siquijor

This road ultimately lead us to the approach to 'Monkey Beach'.  Anything with monkey in the name and we're game, so we parked the bike up and made our way on foot for around minutes through a tranquil, forested area until we reached the top of stairs leading down to a cove-like area that was the beach.  There were a handful of people already there, snorkeling and sunbathing.   We didn't have our gear with us, so we just relaxed for a while and watched the multitudes of hermit crabs on the shore made of broken coral, shells and small pebbles.   It was an ideal place to hang out and relax.

The approach to Monkey Beach, Siquijor

Monkey Beach, Siquijor 

That evening, back at our 'Glampsite', we watched our second beautiful sunset and watched a lady, who turned out to be our neighbour, collecting sea urchins for her dinner.  'A poor persons merienda', she stated (with a merienda apparently being a Filipino term for what you eat between meals).  I informed her that with so much natural beauty and being able to pick up her snack on her doorstep, many would consider her to be quite wealthy indeed.

Sunset at Glamping, Siquijor

Sea urchins at Glamping Siquijor

It was time to move to our scheduled accommodation, also in the San Juan municipality, of Royal Cliff Resort.  We were looking forward to slightly more comfort and I was excited about that views that would be offered.  We weren't disappointed, and were greated by beautifully dressed and friendly local staff and a wondrous vista from our cabin, where we could occasionally see sea turtles surfacing for air.  The dining areas were also strategically placed for optimum coastal viewing, and as the food was decent, we could have easily just stayed here for the remainder of our duration!  However, we had heard that there were still a few things we needed to do, one of them being the Cambugahay Falls.  After a lazy morning, we set out to do this local style, via public Jeepney.

A dining area at Royal Cliff Resort, Siquijor

View at Royal Cliff Resort, Siquijor

Kate eating lunch at Royal Cliff Resort

Our cabin at Royal Cliff Resort

Cambugahay Falls

We were lucky in that the, apparently hourly, jeepney happened to go past the resort bar (which was roadside and anecdotally, the only place where they had wifi) just as we appeared there.  The only problem was that it was almost completely full.  Kate was able to squeeze in and sit on the end of a length of small, wooden stool serving as temporary seating in the aisle.  I opted to join the payment collector on the back, hanging on tightly to the rack on the top with the island breeze in my face.  I actually quite enjoyed it, but I was conscious that I was gripping on quite tightly so when a spot opened up I was more than happy to slip inside the jeepney with the other customers.  I think a few local heads turned when they saw me, a foreigner hanging off the back of a jeepney driving past.  I got a few laughs and waves which also gave me great amusement.  

Jeepney selfy in Siquijor

We stepped off the jeepney and were followed a little bit by a couple of people looking to offer their services as guide, but after all it's a waterfall and we didn't really feel the need to take them up.  We walked down the steps and we saw that there was a lovely lagoon-like pool framed by a beautiful waterfall.  There are a few man-made wooden platforms that look like adolescents tree-house projects, from which people were swinging and dropping into the inviting water.  We paid 50 pesos each for unlimited swings from the taller platform and enjoyed ourselves for the afternoon.  There are further tiers with more waterfalls and swinging platforms further up, but it wasn't busy so we didn't need to go too far. 

Kate at Cambugahay Falls, Siquijor

Me dropping from the rope swing at Cambugahay Falls

Upon leaving the waterfall we were followed for a good 20 meters by someone demanding 10 pesos for parking our non-existent bike.  She finally got the message after realising we were continuing on foot! We walked down the hill towards Lazi town, picking up a delicious sugar coated BBQ banana (or 2) on route.  It's only a ten to fifteen minute walk from the falls to the San Isidro Labrador Convent & the local church.  It was worth a visit whilst we were in the area, though nothing especially interesting to witness in my humble opinion.  What was interesting was that people found it strange that we were walking, 'Why are you walking?' one shop-keeper asked as we sauntered down the hill.  I couldn't really think of an answer so I babbled something along the lines of us walking meant we could interact with wonderful people like her.  Not sure if this was genuinely baffling to local people or yet another veiled attempt to rent out a motorbike! 

Banana BBQ in Siquijor

Labrador Convent in Siquijor

Church in Siquijor

We stopped off for a shake and some food in Lazi town.  A really quaint area with a few shops and a couple of cafe-restaurants.  We noticed that there were some ladies selling fish at the pier, so we went over to have a little bit of a look and witnessed a purchase in progress as a local haggled over the price of fish.  If we had the capacity to cook in our accommodation, I have a suspicion we too may have ended up purchasing something!  A lady gutting and cleaning a large fish at the time was happy to hold up the prize catch when I was seen snapping with my phone.

Bartering for fish in Siquijor Island

Showing off the fish in Siquijor 

Fish for sale on Siquijor Island

We were now left with the difficult question of getting back to our accommodation.  We were offered a tricycle price of 500 PHP which was way over the top, and just as the sky was beginning to grey and the clouds thicken, we happened to see the exact same jeepney that had dropped us off right at the falls earlier!  We couldn't believe it and thanked the 'Travel Gods' once again for bestowing us with such luck.  On the return route, there was a scary moment where the jeepney had to break suddenly to avoid colliding with a pickup that pulled out onto the road recklessly, causing a young guy to go flying and almost end up in the driver cabin.  We were all ultimately unscathed, but it got the heart going!

That night we were aware of a party taking place (as it does every Friday) at Ceaser's/Czars.  It was already very busy by the time we arrived, with a DJ set taking place (we were expecting a live band, which there was eventually, but apparently the DJ opens the proceedings here!).  For 50 pesos or so you can get your very own table and chairs on the lawn area in front of the stage which we did, along with placing an order for a bottle of the local 'Tanduay' rum and 'Jamaican', which is a lime cordial with which you mix the rum.  We wanted to stretch it out a little bit more than that so we also opted for a bottle of sprite and some ice to help it all go down.  

Ordering drinks at Ceaser's on Siquijor Island

Party at Ceaser's every Friday on Siquijor Island

It was a great, fun night with locals and tourists mixing, we also made an appearance on the dancefloor during the band's set.   There is a curfew of midnight when things ground to a halt all of a sudden, and less than sober, jovial locals departed on bikes.  Royal Cliff is thankfully in walking distance, but we were sure to put the light on our phone so that we were clearly visible, as a lot of the walk demands you be partially on the road or very close and I can see how accidents could happen.  

Diving Apo Island

There is a fancy resort on Siquijor called Coco Grove.  It also happens to be the only resort on the island which legally provides diving and snorkeling excursions to Apo Island.  We paid a visit to the dive shop at the resort to find out more, and we were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as expensive as we had feared.  To do the snorkeling day trip cost 1,950 PHP per person, then to dive it was a standard additional 1,500 PHP per dive with a choice of one or two dives.  This included all equipment rental plus one guide to every four divers (ultimately eight of us dived). 

The boat is good and you can opt to go on the top level or shelter from the sun and spray indoors.  They also provided us with an excellent buffet lunch.  We got to the first dive spot, which was to be a rather shallow dive of a beautiful coral garden.  The second spot was more of a wall/dropoff where we went a little deeper to around 20 meters.  It was here that we saw an incredible shoal of jackfish, as well as sea turtles. We saw some amazing sights but as usual with diving I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Sea turtle, diving Apo Island

Coral Garden at Apo Island 

Jackfish at Apo Island

SCUBA selfie during Apo Island Dive

Because neither Kate or I are especially confident on motorbikes, and let's face it we're on holiday so we want to be able to daytime drink, we opted to do a day tour with a tricycle driver.  This cost 1,200 PHP from Royal Cliff, which I thought was pretty good value considering it's a long time and you can dictate where you go.  We wished to visit:

1. Mt. Bandilaan National Park and viewpoint
2. Tulapos Marine Sanctuary (as recommend by Arnel at Glamping)
3. Kanheron Ranch (a privately owned, unusal Wild West themed ranch

Mt. Bandilaan National Park and viewpoint

One peeve of travelling via tricycle is that it's quite noisy, especially when you're going up steep hills.  It can also be a bit uncomfortable when traversing less than smooth roadways.  We encountered both on the way to the viewpoint.  Having said that, tricycle is a great way to travel as you are less cut-off from your surroundings compared to how you would be in a closed vehicle (not that you have the capacity to travel by car, I don't remember seeing many) and you feel more involved in the environment around you.  I never got tired of strangers, especially young children, waving and saying hello as we passed.  As we got further into the national park things seemed to get a bit more basic in the way of housing, albeit with a few exceptions, and things got a lot more beautiful and rural.  

We made it to the steps up to the viewpoint and then climbed the gantry that led to the iconic island viewing point.  The day wasn't especially clear nor was it especially cloudy or overcast.  It was great to look over the splendor of the island as birds (I think perhaps starlings?) flitted by us as close as they dared as we were at one with the treetops.  It was almost as though they were playing a game among themselves.

Kate enjoying the viewpoint Mt. Bandilaan

Tulapos Marine Sanctuary 

This was a supposedly a great snorkel spot, and Arnel at Glamping said it was his favourite.  After a bit of a drive we ended up getting to the coastline of the marine sanctuary.  We were approached by a local guy who mentioned that we should pay 50 pesos each for the sanctuary fee, as well as hiring a guide for 250 pesos, which was mandatory.  There wasn't any signage or formal ID, so we did verbally express our hesitations to cough up, but ultimately thought that a guide wouldn't be a bad idea.

The sea was very shallow up until far in.  It was just about deep enough to swim in just as the spiky sea urchins seemed to be appearing so we gladly got off our feet and horizontal in the water.  It felt like we were kicking for a long time, there was a good amount of marine life even in the shallows, with a heck of a lot of starfish and anemones with clown-fish living in them.  Finally, the water seemed to get very deep very quickly and it wasn't long before our guide pointed out quite a large black-tip reef shark scouring the depths below.  There were a couple of other snorkelers in the area who appeared to be diving down alot, so we headed towards them and saw what was almost certainly the most amazing thing I have experienced snorkeling.

Just below the water there was a shoal of barracuda, consistently forming balls and other shapes for their safety.  They weren't especially put off by our presence, and we were able to dive down and in towards them as they manipulated their position to form curves around us or even a donut shape with us at the center.  As I dived, they would calmly swim away from me, but they also weren't bothered about getting quite close to them either.  It really was a spectacular experience and one that I would highly recommend if you are given the chance.

Swimming with barracuda at Tulapos Marine Sanctuary

Swimming with barracuda at Tulapos Marine Sanctuary

Swimming with barracuda at Tulapos Marine Sanctuary

Swimming with barracuda at Tulapos Marine Sanctuary

We swam back slowly to shore, admiring the marine life. Kate spotted a giant clam shell as well as a crab living in an anemone, there was a lot of life here and who knows what else you might spot with a few snorkel sessions and more time.  We had planned on visiting our third spot of the day however so had to get moving.

Giant clamshell at Tulapos Marine Sanctuary 

Starfish at Tulapos Marine Sanctuary

Kanheron Ranch

I wasn't too sure what to expect from this place.  Arnel at Glamping said it was something between a museum and a fancy house with a Wild West theme.  I was intrigued so we included it in our route.  We were greeted by our host and paid the 50 Pesos entrance fee, then subsequently given some background about the owner and the art within the residence.  It was quite impressive, especially the owners art where he uses a method of burning wood.  I'd recommend it as a worthy stop, not only for the impressive collection of old American artifacts, but just as an impressively designed building.  There is a deep plunge pool, with the pool area overlooking the island with a view practically as good as the viewpoint we had visited earlier.  

Kanheron Ranch, Siquijor

Kanheron Ranch, Siquijor

We had stopped for a beer before we left, only for the owner to turn up whilst we were there.  Daryl, who is also now one my newest Facebook buddies, was kind enough to give us his story even though he must have been asked over 1,000 times.  He now lives in the United States, but is from Siquijor and thinks it's important to open his house up to the public so that that local people can get a glimpse of this collection of Americana, which he so loves, as they may otherwise not have an opportunity to see it first hand.  He's an altruist at the end of the day, and we had quite a long chat about culture and wealth/awareness in general before we decided that our poor driver had waited long enough and it was time to start the not-so-short journey home.

Selfie with Daryl, owner of Kanheron in Siquijor

Whilst it isn't worth an individual post owing to the fact we didn't do too much exploring, we finished our time in the Philippines in Dumaguete in an amazing place called Victoria's Haven.  Worth a mention for the amazing staff and Drago, the dog the size of a small horse that resides there as well.  Dumaguete town is a great spot to eat and drink with locals.

Drago the dog at Victoria's Haven

James makes a G&T at Victoria's Haven

We had really enjoyed our time in the Philippines and I'm happy that I've finally taken the time to blog about it.  I hope you enjoyed reading and perhaps our experiences may help you plan your own trip someday. Siquijor has a reputation among Filipinos for being associated with the dark arts, we definitely felt there was a special magic to the place that will be calling us back.