Last week I went with a friend over to Bantayan Island for a night.  I wanted to stay longer but unlike him, I’m not on vacation but I am on a budget, which is blown.  My friend though, he’s still over there.  Seems he likes the place as much as I do.

I wish I could get over to the Island at least once a month but I just can’t seem to make that happen just yet.   Its not an expensive place to go.   It can be but it doesn’t’ have to be.  My overnight stay  cost about $65.00 and that included transportation to and from the island.

My last visit was a peaceful one, nothing out of the ordinary happened, nothing but fun and one topless girl but she was too far away to see her at all.   She was out in the water as was Joe and I so we headed that way and the top went back on quickly.  LOL  Oh well.  Shhh I probably shouldn’t even mention such a scandalous thing. 

I Finally got a chance to take my underwater camera underwater!  That resulted in some pictures from an unusual perspective.

We stayed out until fairly dark.  I looked around and noticed none of the locals were in the water and decided it was time to get out.    Probably the worst that would have happened is not being able to see where I put my foot.

The next day, we headed back out at low tide and went further out than we usually go.  Saw a beautiful Sea urchin that looked like a cactus.  Then I realized why it was a bad idea to stay after dark.   One needs to see what they are putting their feet down on.

The way the sun light gets focused into dancing lines on the sea floor fascinates me for some reason.  I’m sure those that are frequent beach goers would not be so easily amused but I am.  I would have cropped this picture off more but I love that dancing light.

I have too many pictures great to post in one article.  I’ll include more in a gallery at the end of this article.

The water was warm, almost hot in places.   That made it very pleasant.  When we went in February, the water was quite cool but that also probably helped to keep the urchins further away from the coast line.

Speaking of the coast line.  It changes quite a bit.  When we were there two months ago, the sand was piled high on the beach at Tristan’s.  Now that is gone, leaving a high step to get on the steps from the beach leading to the restaurant at Tristan’s.  The sand has moved because the currents have changed creating this sand bar.

I don’t know exactly when but that sandbar will later disappear again.

The day came to an end and we found that we had to return home.   On our trip home we had a bit of excitement, not that I look for excitement when on a ship!  We heard someone on the bridge yell something and the boat made a hard turn.  We never did know what that was about.  Some one the bridge had their heads hanging out the window watching something.

I don’t know if we nearly ran over a fisherman or if there was something in the water and the maneuver might have been routine because of some type of hazard.  I have twice noticed dredging going on in that area so I suspect there is some kind of hazard there that the captains know how to avoid and that’s all that happened.

We nearly missed our boat home!  Normally, the last boat leaves Bantayan Island at 4:30pm but there was some kind of problem with one of the ships.  I had noticed that there were two ferries in port at the same time and usually there is only one.  The ships gate was not positioned correctly on the dock, looked like it was teetering on falling right in.

One of Tristan’s employees had learned of this and raced back to the resort to tell us we needed to leave now as the last boat may not leave today.  He took us by pedicab to the dock, by passing some of the normal steps so that we didn’t miss what probably turned out to be the last boat of the day.  Its the kind of service that Tristan’s provides on a normal basis.

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Last week, I had the opportunity to head over to Bantayan Island for a night.  I choose to stay at Tristan’s again.  It was my second time to stay overnight at Tristan’s.  It is hard to improve on the experience at Tristan’s.

That's me relaxing at Tristan's Resort. Love that cool ocean breeze.

The owner of the resort is Nancy and she is attentive as they come.  If I’m hot, I get a fan turned on.  The food is fantastic and they take great care in the presentation of it.  I had some breaded pork chops that tasted of butter.   Just like the last time I had it, it is one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth.  It is just unbeatable to me.

My pork chops and Jessie's soup. Enough food for four normal people.

Tristan’s has these wonderful bamboo reclining chairs that I love too sit in for hours and soak up the cool breeze off the Visayan Sea.  Tristan’s is right on the beach except at high tide when the beach sometimes is replaced with water licking the steps of the resort.

Rusty and Joe enjoying the view and breeze at Tristan's Resort

Tristan’s is all about a peaceful place of rest.   If that’s what your looking for this is the place to be.

The cost of Tristan’s is quite low.  If you can get room one or two, you might pay a little more for those but they have a ref (refrigerator) and air con.  I think all of their rooms have air con though.   They don’t have hot water but I’ve never been there or any where else on the island where that is needed.  The water is warm right out of the tap.  On this last trip I paid only P800 for the room.  During peak season the price will be higher.  During Holy Week the price will be much higher, if you can get a room at all.  Unless you book it well in advance, you will not be able to get a room at all any where on the island during Holy Week.

Beth, A Pretty Filipina at Tristan's

If you visit Tristan’s please tell her that Rusty sent you.  I would make a reservation if at all possible and you should make arrangements if you’re going to be later than 1pm but check with Nancy about that time.

Her nephew is the cook and its obvious he’s had some training as its not your normal meal in the Philippines, it will always be presented nicely.  Jessie loves the pizza there but I’m more inclined toward those breaded pork chops.

For this visit, I spent only P2500 for my overnight stay.  That’s around 50 bucks and that includes the meals.

Tristan’s now has a boat to take guest to nearby Virgin Island, the captain is included for P1500.  I hope to give that a try on my next visit.  There will be the opportunity to go snorkeling as well.

If you do make it to Tristan’s Resort, please tell us how things went for you.

Contact: Nancy Fernan. Tel #: (032)438-9041. Mobile #: 09195371536

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Yesterday I woke up to the sound of my air conditioner going off. Its yet another brown out in Bogo City. When Bogo City looses power, all of Northern Cebu Province usually does. I don’t know how widespread the outage was, one time all of the province lost power.

I decided it was time for a day trip to Bantayan Island. It was a hot trip! Oddly while it rained on and off all day on the mainland, the island had hot but clear skies. As we were coming into port, Jessie noticed that she couldn’t see the floating bar but we thought it might be on the other side of the Island and just out of view.

Once we departed the ship though, a pedicab driver approached asking where I wanted to go.  I asked him if the floating bar was gone and he responded with “destroyed.”  It appears it didn’t survive one of the squalls that blew through a few months ago.  One night when it was pretty windy in Bogo, I wondered what it would be like to be on the floating bar at Bantayan.  Though I have no idea if that was the storm that took it out but, the news still answered my question and no more floating bar.

That was disappointed because I really enjoyed it there as it was cooler their than most places.  Nottrouble on deciding were to go though, we went straight to Tristan”s Beach Resort.  I could barely wait before I grabbed my favorite reclining bamboo chair and lit up a big old fat cigar.  The cigars are hand made here in the Philippines!

Jessie ordered a mango shake for herself and her son, Jason.  I told her I’d try hers.  Nancy, the owner of Tristan’s, brought out two shakes heaping over with mango and ice cream.  I asked her how it was and she said they are using fresh mango and that it wasn’t too sweet.  I gave it a try but it was way to fruity for me.   I suspect mould love it.  Jessie loved it enough to have two of them!

We noticed some construction going on in building next to the resort.  Jessie asked about it and was told she’s putting in one computer for her guest to use.  Nice touch!  Jason was really excited when he first saw the island but since he didn’t have a change of clothes Jessie wouldn’t let him go swimming.  So he ended up getting board and wanted to go to an Internet cafe.  We wouldn’t know where he could go even if we would have let him.

Jessie ordered spaghetti and meatballs for Jason and they brought out a huge plate of it.  So Jessie helped him eat it and the pizza we ordered too..  Tristan’s always present there food in a splendid way and this trip was no different.  The beach had been built up, it appeared that more sand had been brought in.

The ship or ferry we took to the Island was air conditioned and even I found it a bit cold myself, especially on my flip flop clad feet.  I was surprised by the number of people headed over to Bantayan Island on a Sunday morning.  There was only one other expat.  It appeared to be mostly Filipino headed back home after a weekend in Cebu City or other areas of Cebu Province.

The trip over was smooth, it almost always is.  No need for anyone to use the plastic bags hanging from the ceiling.  There Was a TV in the first class section which cost P150.  Second class is P120.  The setting in first class is a bit more comfortable too.  While there is no aircon in second or third class, once the boat is moving its quite comfortable, even for me.  It takes just a little over an hour to get to Bantayan.

We had to wait an hour and a half for a ferry.  One was scheduled to leave about 15 minutes after we arrived but the girl at Super Ferry suggested we shoudl wait since the boat had not arrived yet.  It never did arrive before the next boat from Island Shipping had arrived and we took that one instead.  The Super Ferry ships I’ve taken over didn’t have air conditioning as an option.  We ended up getting to Bantayan about 12:45.

That gave us a bit more than a couple of hours to enjoy the beauty of Bantayan Island.  The view was spectacular which is what one expects.  We also stopped by a shop that sells sea shell’s and wind chines.  The wind chines are made out of shells too.  They also have some necklaces and bracelets.  The wind chimes are very nice.  We bought one of their midsized ones.

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Kids all over the Philippines make sail boats out of whatever materials they have. When we went near the beach at night, we spotted these kids playing with the sail boats they crafted from discarded items. Jessie hopped the retaining wall and grabbed this picture of one of the two boys playing with their sail boats. This may serve them well when they are older, especially if they become fishermen.

Children playing with Sail boats. A common site in the Philippines

The pool, as I said before was a very nice added bonus that sets this resort from most others. I enjoyed getting out of the ocean, using the outdoor shower to get the sand off me and then heading to the pool. To continue reading please visit the NEXT PAGE.

A local artist had painted some of the walls around the pool. I’ve seen pictures of sea life at Tristan’s Resort as well. I think from the same artist. True to Philippine form, they are brightly colored. The Philippines is a colorful place! While homes are often toned down in color, most every thing else screams “Look at me!”

Jessie, being of the competitive type, unlike me, we ended up having swimming races in the pool. Funny, that I managed to pull muscles in my shoulder in chest when I’m not competitive at all. Of course I am, just as much as she is. I think she beat me but she says I beat her. Well, other than the time I went off course and swam across the pool rather in a straight line. She clobbered me that time. Looked like she go o the other side first but she says no. I guess it was a photo finish. She tried to get me race again the next day but I resisted, as hard as it was.

The time in the pool has renewed my interest to join the local beach club so we can go swimming when we like. Today it is 33C/91F which is quite warm with the humidity levels we have here. I had hoped it would be cooler today as we had a good deal of rain last night. This is the hottest part of the year. After June, it should start getting a little nicer with highs around 30C/86F

Live Band

Tickety Boo has a live band on Friday and Saturday nights..  The name of the band is d’ Everlast. They are quite capable, good musicians and a good singer that ads his flavor to the songs they cover.  The owner of the band is also a member of the band.  On the night we were there though, she did not perform with them.  I don’t know how often she takes part.

For me they played too many ballads but the girls love those.  They did from time to time play some more up beat tunes and a little hip-hop too but with a rock flavor as they do have guitars!

I would have been able to enjoy it more if it had not been so hot.  The bar is air conditioned but it didn’t open until 8pm and they didn’t turn the aircon on before that time.  I tried to wait it out but finally it was just too hot for me to enjoy myself.  So I went outside.  There were picnic tables just outside the window.  When the waitress saw me out there she opened the windows.  The staff at Tickety Boo is very attentive and often very pretty too!

A few issues during my stay

The only complaint I have about Tickety Boo is that they have a severe shortage of fans.  Once I left their restaurant without ordering mostly because it was too hot for me.  Now I have more problems with heat than most people, even most other Westerners.  Out on the Balcony of the restaurant was cool enough but they didn’t have tables out there for a full meal.  With more fans, I could have stayed.  Instead I went to Tristan’s and ordered a Pizza.

One other issue that was note worthy was a frozen beer they brought me.  The beer was frozen solid, she should have returned it and brought me something I could drink.  It was completely undrinkable, once it thawed a bit, it tasted like water of course.  Perhaps I could have told her to take it back but based on other experiences I’ve had, I would have been expected to pay for it anyway.  I’m sure the waitress didn’t know what to do but she should have known.  She did know it was frozen.  I have no compliant about the waitress.  She was very pleasant and attentive.

The toilet in our room didn’t function properly.  I’m not sure what the issue was but it filled so slowly.  So slowly at one point that it wouldn’t flush at all.  They were quick to respond but it still filled very slowly.  It never worked as it should.  It wasn’t a huge issue but it was an issue.  The toilets should be working without flaw.  We managed though.

One other minor thing was the steps provided to get to the beach.  There is a necessary retaining wall between the resort and beach.  In order to get to the beach, you must walk up these short steep steps.  There is no railing and each step requires a bigger step than normal…  The chance of a fall is too great in my opinion.  Again this is not a deal killer for me.

{Note:  the issues above were resolved.  Kudos to the management of the resort for acting on this!  Shows they really care.]

No place is every perfect and you also have to consider the price being paid.  For $30 a night for a room we got a lot.  I will stay there again and I would recommend it to my friends.  The great staff, the surroundings the pool were more than enough to make up for the few issues that were less than perfect.

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Contact Information:  Owner Thess Charlton
Telephone Number: 63-(032)438-9105
Cell Phone: 63-920-749-0743

It is my goal to stay at each beach resort on Bantayan Island at least twice and give you the inside information on each one. I would like to go every month but I probably wont be able to do that unless you want to take me! Well, I can dream. Last month I stayed at a resort with a modern, active feel.

Tickety Boo Beach Resort

In March I had the pleasure of staying at Tickety Boo Beach Resort. Its nestled back off the road a bit. Its quiet with an exquisite garden and well landscaped courtyard. The first thing that got my attention was they had a swimming pool at the resort and that is a major selling point for me. I didn’t find any information on their web site that they had a pool so I was surprised to see it.

Tickety Boo Bar and Restaurant

Accommodations

The room was spacious but nothing extravagant. Simple rooms are what you should expect in most places within the Philippines. The cost for these is much lower than you might expect. Our room with an air conditioner (aircon) and a good size bed and an extra bed for our friend cost us P1750. A two person room with aircon would be P1500. They also have rooms without aircon for a bit less. You can get twin beds or queen size bed.

Don’t expect a full size mattress any where in the Philippines unless you ask before hand. Most places will have a foam mattress and inch or two thick and they are more comfortable than they look. Some places have full size mattress but you should ask for that if it is important to you. And ask before you get there.

The Resort Staff

The staff was awesome through out the resort. Very friendly and quick to respond to request. They met us at the dock with a Bantayan Island style limousine. Okay, I jest. Its a small truck commonly called a multi-cab in the Philippines. The more expensive resorts offer fancier vans but this was fine for us. After a year of living in the Philippines, I’m use to the less than extravagant amenities. They provide transportation to the resort.and it was much appreciated. They found me as soon as I got of the ship.

Tickety Boo Beach Resort Restaurant

Once we were settled into our room we headed to the restaurant. It has a view with an awesome view from the balcony. It over looks Santa Fe Bay and onward to the Visayan Sea. The resort has an umbrella like canopy provided by the coconut and palm trees.

We had a snack of calamari which is similar to onion rings except there are no onions. Instead of onions the batter surrounds squid. Jessie and Jean had Mango juice. Its a bit too sweet for me but that’s partially becomes I so rarely have anything with sugar in it. Natural sugars or otherwise. Even non-diet soft drinks are way too sweet for me.

Calamari Rings At Tickety Boo Beach Resort

Jessie drinking Mango Juice

After our snack we went exploring the island for a bit. On our return we went to the beach and into the water. First into the sea. To continue reading and to see pictures of the beach, please visit the NEXT PAGE.

This old fort appears to have been built by the Spanish, probably around 400 to  500 years ago.  We were told it was built by the Japanese but I don’t think that’s true.  I think it, like many old forts were used by the Japanese during WWII.  I wasn’t able to find out the name of this fort.  Its actually a museum.  Not a major one but does show some of the local life around the Island.

There was a picture of Filipino working in the salt fields.  They made 5 to 10 bags of salt per day.  They didn’t explain how big the bags were.  I see lots of ships with large bags coming off.  It takes a strong man to lift them.  Still,  it couldn’t have been a great deal of money. Just enough to get by on and barely at that.

Fishing is the life blood of Bantayan Island.  It is considered the place to be for Holy Week in the Philippines.  Locals though are trying to return the week to a solemn remembrance of Christ crucifixion.

The court yard of this old fort has been transformed into a beautiful garden.  Jessie pointed out an interesting “tree” without leaves.  It had only green branches without leaves.  She explained that it doesn’t have leaves.  The place was abundant with local plan life.

There was a marker pointing out that one corner was a sacred burial place for ancient for fathers known as Lawisanons.  There is a picture included in the gallery below.

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On our visit on March 22^nd, we had the chance to visit a beach and park used by the locals.  Now this beach is not secluded like the beaches on Santa Fe but its a very nice beach with lots of room to roam in the sea.  If you like to rub elbows with the locals, this is the place to go.

It is located on the southern tip of the Island in Madridejos Bay near Madridejos town.  A strong typhoon blew threw May of 2008 and did quite a bit of damage and the facilities have not been fully restored.  But nothing that should cause you to enjoy the place any less.  There is a bay-walk and the last section of it had to be closed due to significant damage.  It is still very enjoyable to walk down that way.

The Bay-walk at Madridejos

The water is crystal clear as always and the sand as powder white as you could ever desire.  This is a public park, t here is no fee to use it but donations are asked for.  If you donate, you can enter your name into a guest book.  You can bring all the food in you like with no corkage fee!  The donation can be whatever you like or nothing but I hope you’ll help the local towns people to rebuild their facility with P20 to P100 donation.  More if you like.

I enjoyed the kids, fishing with only a hook and string or building their sail boats, often out of trash.  I noticed one sail boat build from wood and painted!

Beautiful Filipina

I’m not sure what’s going on in Bantayan Island or why they have so many pretty ladies but the place is packed with them!  The Philippines has the most beautiful women on the planet.  Bantayan Island has the most beautiful Filipina in the Philippines!

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Hard Kock Cafe is an expat hangout on Bantayan Island.  There’s usually a card game going on that sometimes results in some heated disputes from the way the players were talking but they went on to say everything works out okay and everyone remains friendly.

Like most restaurants on the island and many other places in the Philippines, it is an open air cafe.  They also have an inn and provide the lowest price I’ve been able to find so far at only P600 per night.  They advertise that they have a “real mattress” too.  Most beds in the Philippines use foam as a mattress.  They usually are not very thick and not as comfortable as the bed I had in the States.  Of course, the price is about $700 less too.  I think I paid $700 for my mattress on sale. 

We did not get a room at Hard Kock.  I went there to try their pizza.  They had a meat lovers pizza that was very good.  Jessie didn’t like it because it had little, if any cheese.  It was good tasting but a bit too small for my liking.  I’m going to give this place another chance as I had such high hopes for it.  But on this visit, things went rather poorly.

I still wonder if they were trying to run us off for some reason.  We had to ask for menu after waiting about five minutes.  We were very hungry and perhaps a little   impatient because of that but things got worse from here. We waited an hour for our Pizza.

I think the waitress just forgot to bring it to us.  It was not hot when we got it, it was still warm though.  I kept trying to get someone’s attention to get a second beer but finally had to go to the bar to get it!  I don’t understand, it was almost like they wanted us to spend less money.

Now it is not common for a waitress to return to your table after being serviced to see if everything is okay as I’m use to in the US.  It is also uncommon for waiter to check to see if you’d like something more to drink or desert.  It is even common to have a hard time getting someone’s attention.  I got the feeling they were avoiding us.  Probably not, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt on this visit and will try again.

However, if they make me feel unwanted again, I’ll assume that was the intention!  I hope not because I would like to visit there more and get a room there due to the lower cost.  I believe the price with an air conditioner is P750 or about $15.00 per night.  Since I didn’t stay there, I’m giving no opinion on the Hard Kock Inn.

I’m also going to refrain from giving it a numerical score until I revisit.  I don’t wish to rate it as low as I’m going too based on that one visit.  The owner was there, at a table right next to me, he spoke when I first arrived as did his beautiful Filipina wife.

The quality of the food was very good, but when the service make  you wonder if they’d rather you leave, then the service is as bad as it gets.

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During my March 21st visit to Bantayan Island we stumbled upon the floating bar.  We had seen it before but had not been close enough to actually visit.  This time we rented a multi-cab and drove as close to it as we could.   There was a boat that took us out to the bar.

This was a really hot day but out on the Floating Bar there was a nice breeze making it very comfortable there.  I loved it there.  If you do get hot, you can jump in the water!  I couldn’t because I had a camera and a phone.  Not sure how to handle that, not to mention a billfold!  There were not a lot of people out there but there were a few and they had no problems getting into the water.

We decided to go back to our hotel and go swimming and then come back to the floating bar to eat.  The restaurant at our hotel was just too hot.  And this place was perfect with very friendly waitresses.  I had the feeling they were open to dating some of the single expats that were there.  Lots of giggles and such.  Of course, when one goes fishing in unknown waters they should be very careful.  You might catch a barracuda or something even worse!

They don’t cook on-site they take your order and send a text to a kitchen who prepares your food then they send it back via boat.  We ordered a pizza for Jessie and myself.  I don’t remember what Jean got.  The pizza was good but too small for my liking.  Still that was okay, I gained five pounds while on the island in March.

The service was on time and friendly.  I’d give the place five stars out of five. I don’t know how they could do anything better.  They also played a lot of rock and roll but later went to cheesy pop.   I would be sure to include it in my plans.  Its a great place to hang out during the hot part of the day, the only better place would be the water.

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There was a sign indicating a fee of 5 Peso, but there was no one there to collect it and the driver told us to wait while they looked for the owner. He told us to go ahead but there was no charge. He had built a walkway over out to the mangrove jungle.

In this still water, you can see just how clear the seas around Bantayan are.   At high tide there are many fish in the water.  Too bad we missed that.  Our group enjoyed this area of Bantayan Island and was well worth the few minutes we spent there.

The walk way eventually comes to a dead end.  I don’t know if they will add to it or if they have stopped construction at this point.  I hope they add too it.  I doubt it is a lot of fun to build!

I have wanted to get up in these mangrove jungles since I saw the first one and saw it personally instead of seeing them on animal planet.  The roots of the mangrove jungle are intimidating.  It looks like you could get entangled there and never get out.  Truth is, they are so dense, you’d have a hard time getting entangled in the first place.

You might want to set some time aside to visit the ecotourism.  I don’t know of any other name for it.  The owner is a local government official and very nice.  It wont take long but it was enjoyable to me and to Jessie.  Jessie is not the out doors kind of person like me.

If I see a patch of woods or an animal trail in the weeds or under-brush, I want to dive in and check it out.  I want to know what created that trail.  First time I saw one here, I asked her if she’d like to know what created it.  She said yes, so I said lets go and started walking toward it.  She doesn’t say yes any more. LOL

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