After a month in Bangkok, I was ready for some beach time so I took a 2 hour flight to an island in the Philippines. It always sounds funny to say that as no matter where you go in the Philippines, you’re inevitably on an island. The entire country is a collection of islands, over 7000 of them, and I chose to visit Negros for a second time.
I’d visited tiny Sipalay several years before, and I consider it to be one of my favorite remote beach getaways in the world. This time, I chose the other side of the island, a place called Dumaguete. It is a larger town, though it barely cast enough light to be seen as notable from the plane as I flew in. Still, once on the ground I could see it had a good collection of restaurants and a waterfront walk.
I chose to splurge for the week, choosing an AirBnb right on the water. By US standards, it was incredibly cheap, just $60 a night, though it was probably three times the price you’d pay for anything else in Dumaguete. Still, I felt like the ocean front view was worth the short drain in my monthly allowance.
Because the property was 20 minutes south of town, I decided to rent a motorbike for getting around. For just $8 a day, I had complete mobility. To be sure, I took a little time to consider the option as buses around the area cost about 50 cents, but the time I saved by not having to change buses to get to my particular destination seemed to be worth it.
The first day, I drove up to Red Rock hot springs. I had intended to visit a waterfall, but living in a place that has over 80 waterfalls, I am not easily impressed with the smaller cascades celebrated in most other places. Besides, I’d just received a text from a friend that she and her husband were at the hot springs. I have to confess, that was the reason I chose Dumaguete; she said she was planning her winter holiday there and might even go diving. I’d been wanting to take scuba lessons for years and had been told the Philippines is the cheapest place in the world to do it.
The hot springs were delightful, tucked along the mountainside on the way to the falls. You know you’re getting close when you round a corner and the entire hillside is steaming. The springs were clean and surprisingly uncrowded. We enjoyed a couple hours chatting before making plans to go to Apo island the next day.
Apo island has a Marine Sanctuary on the south east side of the island. Unfortunately the waves were fairly tumultuous when we arrived at the island, and our guide informed us that we would not be able to go to the other side. To alleviate our disappointment, he told us that the corals and sea turtles didn’t really recognize the boundaries of the sanctuary and we had simply to enter the water in front of us to see the marine life. He was right.
In the two hours we snorkeled the beach we saw half a dozen sea turtles and the most beautiful display of coral I’d ever seen. The guide navigated us through small channels in the reef so we could see the variety of things growing there. I was surprised at the numerous shapes and colors as well as the textures. Some corals were solid, and others fluid. The latter behaved like grains in the wind, swaying back and forth with the motion of the current.
After snorkeling, we walked across the island which took all of 5 minutes. It was interesting to see the simple lives of the people who lived on this island that had to have its drinking water transported from the mainland by boat. Before leaving, our driver even asked if we wouldn’t mind sharing our boat with locals who wanted to get back to the mainland, or should I say main island.
At the recommendation of my friend, I chose to go to spend the next day on an island called Siquijor. It feels a bit odd to say it out loud as it’s basically pronounced. “Sicky whore”. In addition to its unusual name, it’s also known as island of the witches. Fortunately, I did not run into any whores or witches.
It’s actually a pretty relaxed place where locals greeted me with smiles as I rode by on my rented scooter. My first stop was a cave that was ironically located at the peak of the mountain. I say ironic because the cave was carved by water, and I was surprised there was enough water coming from the top of the mountain to erode the surrounding limestone.
A guide was required to enter, and I was glad of it since there were many passages I would not have thought to crawl through on my own. To a degree, you could just follow the underground river upstream, but there were many turns that seemed like they might be the end.
The water was ankle to waist deep and provided some cooling as I waded through. It was the first time I’d been in a cave that was warm. Perhaps it was because of its elevation at the top of the island. The cave was in pretty good condition, and this was probably due to the requirement that you go with a guide who makes sure you don’t damage the cave in any way. I was really impressed with the conservation efforts I saw at the islands given the filthy nature of other parts of the Philippines.
My guide directed me to a perfect little roadside eatery once we exited the cave. I sampled several things I could barely identify as the place had no menu. You were simply required to lift up the lid of each pot and indicate what you wanted. Fortunately most Filipinos speak English and can help you a bit, though I’m sure this place didn’t get many foreigners.
After lunch, I headed down to the beach. I’d heard of a beautiful white sand beach on the south western tip of the island. Once I arrived, I wasn’t sure if it was named for the sand or the pale skinned foreigners strewn across it. It’s the first time I’ve been in Asia and not seen any Asians. Clearly I’d found one of those magnets for foreigners, and I quickly got back on my scooter to see if I could find a place a little less homogenous.
About 20 minutes up the coast, I found another Marine Sanctuary. Having visited the one the day before, I was hesitant to shell out more money for snorkeling equipment, but I still had 2 hours before my ferry return so I decided to give it a go. What Apo boasted in coral, Siquijor boasted in fish. I’ve been snorkeling all over the world, but here I saw several new varieties of brightly colored tropical fish.
The coral wasn’t as impressive, but I got to see it up close since the tide was low. In fact, it was a bit of a challenge to get back to the shore as most of the coral was so close to the surface, you risked having to step on it to get through. Not only is this bad for the coral, but it could be bad for me too as there were plentiful sea urchins nestled in the reef.
Taking the last ferry home in the dark, I left Dumaguete as I’d arrived. The trip to the islands had been a nice break, and I looked forward to my upcoming visit to Manila. I’d booked a week in the city, deciding to give it one more chance to impress me.