Sablayan - Mindoro Island - Philippines

For a full trip itinerary of this trip in the Philippines, click here.

Outside Sablayan Public Market - Mindoro

Sablayan is a municipality in Mindoro island.  It's known as being the hop-off point for those looking to dive the famous Apo Reef, the second largest reef after the Great Barrier Reef.  There are fairly limited options when it comes to accommodation, but it's recommended that you aim to stay in a resort which offers diving and factor in some contingency time for the weather. We went in August, which is late for the dive season but still were able to enjoy a good dive on the reef.

The main reason we chose Sablayan as the destination is that from here it is easy to get to Pandan Island and arrange the Apo Reef dive. As we really weren't sure what to expect from Sablayan we stayed in the relatively inexpensive Adventure Camp Beach resort, which is located right next to the port to get to Pandan Island, and also offers diving excursions in the local area, as well as Apo Reef.

To get there, once you arrive at San Jose airport, take a tricycle (it's a very small airport and drivers wait outside) and tell them you wish to take a bus to Sablayan.  They'll take to you the (small) local bus station (15 mins drive, probably charging a foreigner fee of 50 Pesos Per Person with luggage).  The bus is around 1.5 -2 hours and will cost around 140 Pesos per person, tell the driver you wish to get off in Sablayan.  It's a pretty causal approach to getting off the bus, so it can be difficult to determine where to get off with locals stopping the driver quite consistently.  The thing to note is that there are two terminals, if you stay at Adventure Camp Beach resort, you'll want the first major terminal and from there you can take a tricycle.  If staying in the main town (inland), you'll want the second terminal. 

Rice paddies on the way to Sablayan

Mindoro is an island well-worth exploring in itself.  Legitimate travellers will be rewarded with unbelievably friendly locals, authentic cultural experiences and off-the beaten track hospitality.   The island is mostly known for farming rice, and other than fishing, there isn't much else here in the way of industry. Despite being a well-known place from which to arrange a dive on Apo Reef, tourism hasn't seemed to have been developed to any significant degree.

Local kids playing basketball in Sablayan

A little about Adventure Camp.  We weren't quite sure what to expect, but as it's not expensive our expectations were relatively low.  Having rocked up, the environment itself is not amazing in relation to other beaches in the Philippines.  Whilst they have done a great job with clean and simple accommodation, the beachfront isn't good for swimming and whilst they clean the beach daily, there is a bit of rubbish.  However, this doesn't really matter as this is your base camp to explore Sablayan, Pandan Island and Apo Reef.  The hospitality of Ate Suanie the Manager is excellent, she has a great sense of humour.

Adventure Camp Beach Resort Public Area

One of the first things we did was go for a walk of the area.  There are lots of small street with basic housing and small shops where the locals will smile and wave as you go past.  There is nothing major in the way of heavy hitting attractions, but you get the good vibes of an authentic chance to mingle with the locals if you wish.  This wander culminated with us taking a tricycle to the Sablayan Public Market.  This is mainly a market for buying meat, fish and vegetables but there are also some smaller shops and restaurants around the outside, offering cheap food and goods for locals. 

Sablayan Public Market

Sablayan Public Market

Sablayan Public Market

 

Lunch at Sablayan Public Market

We inquired about diving, but being the off-season, there were no others at the resort looking to dive Apo Reef.  This was a problem for us, as whilst we would have ultimately sucked it up had there been no better options, Adventure Camp would have had to arrange a private boat for us.  Altogether, for the two of us to dive Apo reef privately with Adventure Camp with all gear and a guide would have cost 32,000 Pesos for 3 dives.  Understandably, we started looking into our options. We were aware of Pandan Island Resort (to my understanding the only resort on the island who also offer dives), so I fired them a quick email and luckily they had two divers waiting for decent weather.  It's a bit shifty to dive with a resort you're not staying with and honesty is the best policy, so I mentioned this to Adventure Camp who were totally cool about it. 

It turns our it's quite easy to arrange a boat to Pandan Island from Sablayan (going rate is 250 pesos for the trip based on 2 people, more works out cheaper PP), so we built our trip to Pandan Island Resort around the diving schedule.

One thing we didn't realise, was that to Dive with Pandan Island resort, they require you to do a fun dive with them prior to the Apo Reef dive to ensure you're capable.  This is quite a good idea, as it could prevent ruining others' dive on the day but something to consider time-wise if you're heading there.   

The cost of the Apo Reef Dive with Pandan Island Resort ultimately looked like this:

Boat Hire: 9,000 PHP (split between 4 so as a couple we paid half or 4,500 PHP)
Apo Reef Fee for Divers: 2,940 PHP PP (so we paid 5,880 PHP as a couple)
Environmental Fee: 275 PHP PP (550 PHP as a couple)
Diving Bill:  6,600 PHP (13,200 PHP as a couple).  This is for 3 dives on Apo reef plus one obligatory fun dive the day before.  Each dive is 1,650 PHP and if you want to do a refresher dive as Kate did, it cost 2,050 PHP)
Picnic Lunch: 260 PHP (520 PHP as a couple)

Therefore a day diving Apo reef with four people with Pandan Island Resort will cost you in the region of 12,325 PHP per person (we also tipped an additional 1,000 PHP for the crew).  Not a cheap day but well worth it for something you're not going to do every day!  We didn't get to see any hammerhead sharks or rays unfortunately, perhaps owing to the season, but we still had some great dives.  Our guide Romel was very chilled and the boat crew were excellent.  Though pictures never quite live up to reality, I'll let them do the talking.

Apo Reef

Apo Reef

Apo Reef

Apo Reef

We stayed in a bungalow for two nights on Pandan Island, there was heavy rain intermittently but during the gaps in sunshine, it was glorious. I highly recommend factoring this into your itinerary as it is a quiet and peaceful place.  The service in the resort was OK, but it's the slow and peaceful beachfront life that you stay for. When you're ready, you can arrange a boat back to Sablayan (it only takes around 20 mins).  The bungalows are quite romantic, are standalone and cost us 1,800 PHP per night.

Sablayan to Pandan Island boat

View at Pandan Island Resort

Relaxing at Pandan Island Resort

The rain continued over the next few days which limited our exploration - I was quite keen on visiting the national park and penal colony, but it wasn't to happen.  Spirits were high however, because in the evening as the rain came out, so did the videoke machine (karaoke machine with TV showing lyrics) at Adventure Camp. We got to meet Ate Suanie's friends including Lotlot and drank many bottles of Tanduay rum whilst taking it in turns to sing pop songs on the machine.   The following day heads were sore but Lotlot was kind enough to take us on a tour of the town where we were even introduced to the local radio station.

The Mangyans statue in Sablayan

103.3FM Radio Station in Sablayan

Tanduay and Karaoke 

Our last night with Ate Suanie and friends

We had had a great time in Sablayan.  Our next stop was to fly to Cebu and make the journey to Moalboal, famous for the uncountable shoals of sardines which can be found just off the coast.