The Philippines: Part 2 - Camotes islands

After a few weeks of exploring the rest of Palawan island we headed to Cebu to catch a fast craft to a place called Camotes islands. There isn’t much written about Camotes on the internet as far as blogs or information goes, so we thought we’d go and suss it out for ourselves.

It was an hour and a half ferry trip which departed from the Mactan warf in Cebu and we got off at Camotes Consuelo wharf. We had pre booked accomodation using booking.com and were pleasantly surprised by two blokes on scooters on our arrival to give us a lift. At first we were a little hesitant as we had not arranged this, but we jumped on anyway and off we went - into the unknown.

The island was extremely quiet and peaceful with empty roads and few people moving about. Although the place was absolutely stunning and had a very chilled and beautiful vibe we were still unsure of how we felt just yet. Every single Person from young to old waved at us and smiled and yelled out, almost as if they had not seen tourist before - if so they had seen very few.

The accomodation was a big two story house with balcony’s right on a cliff edge above the beautiful blue and clear water. It was completely off the beaten track and without the lift on the back of the scooters we would never of found it. It was actually owned by an Australian guy but unfortunately he was back home in Sydney at the time we were there. His wife Kaye was there with their two lovely young children and was extremely accommodating for us. The place is called Mick n Kaye’s bnb for anyone who is heading there..

Out the front the ocean was stunning. Reefs to snorkel on, rocks to jump off into the water, and local fisherman coming and going with there fresh catches. Also the stunning sunsets we got to soak in most afternoons..

After speaking with Kaye she informed us of most of the things we could do on the islands. There is 2 islands connected by a small crossing. One is called Pacijan, and the other Poro. Everything is spread out across both of these islands, but if you hire a scooter like we did you can ride around both of these islands in a day if you wanted too.

There is loads and loads of caves on the islands which are easily accessible and extremely cheap, ranging from 20p to the most expensive 50p. We spent one of our days visiting the caves. Our favourite ones were the Timubo cave, Bukilat cave, and the Holy crystal cave. Most were not that deep into the ground but still stunning inside, all with deep clear fresh water pools you can swim in.

The next day we went to the Busay falls, Buho rock, Lake Danao, and Santiago white beach.

Lake Danao for us was just a quick stop, as we have already done heaps of kayaking and boat things (which is what the lake has to offer). So we just went for a walk and took in the views of the lake which was very nice and peaceful. Unfortunately followed by a pretty slack and full of MSGS meal from the restaurant at the lake. Take note the horse riding at the lake which is advertised everywhere is not available, much to our disappointment haha!

Busay falls was the next stop! Absolutely amazing. This is a somewhat man made waterfall, although the fall itself is natural they have built a concrete bottomed pool at the base to catch water which actually makes it swimable. So not a bad thing if you ask us. For the jumpers reading this you can climb up a big tree that overhangs the pool and jump off, it’s about 15 feet and into fairly shallow water so it’s a bit of an adrenaline rush! It’s a very picturesque place though and nice to just float around in the water or sit around and soak in the views and nature surrounding.

Seeing as we we love jumping off things into water next stop was the Buho rock resort. A resort built on the cliffs in the bottom corner of the Poro Island and very easy to find. They have concrete diving boards and slides built on the cliff edge over hanging the clear blue waters. One is 10feet and the other is 20feet. It has to be high tide to jump off the 20feet board and unfortunately it was low tide when we were there. Although the 10foot board is extremely fun! We shared the experience with a group of Japanese girls ( who were very scared of jumping) which made it even more fun for everyone else!

Last stop for the day was the Santiago white beach. The beach we think could of been great, although it was an extremely low tide which made it pretty much all sand and by the time you walked out to the waters edge it was shallow warm water and reef not far off that. Plenty of restaurants and stuff on the beach but most were closed or empty which I am going to explain next.

As a wrap Camotes island was very picturesque, pretty, green, clean, friendly, and comfortable. However the whole time we were there we couldn’t help but think what had happened here. There were no other tourists or white people. We found it extremely difficult to find anywhere to eat meals other than street food (which we were not that fond of). There is massive warning signs and banners all over the islands warning about tsunamis, typhoons, rabies, human trafficking, and mosquito viruses. Most if not all the restaurants, resorts, hotels, and shops were either boarded up or completely empty of people other than the workers. The whole island looked as if it was an abandoned theme park or island that had been deserted and lots of the building just left to fall over. No one spoke English so we couldn’t really get an answer as to why it was the way it was. We still had a nice time but only spent 3 days here. We believe it was worth blogging about though to either get an answer or spread the word to other backpackers or tourists considering the Camotes islands for a vacation.

Hope your enjoying our blogs so far, as there is plenty more to come!

Cheers!