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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