A Guide To Bantayan Island in Cebu - Virgin Island (1st Day)

Ola! I've been to Cebu last year and here is my promised blog post on how I prepared and planned through the details of our trip. This is one of my craziest trips with my friends and a first in the Visayas region with them!

It was interesting how this Cebu trip materialized (hindi drawing!!). Last June 2016, My initial plan was to travel with my boyfriend to Cebu on February 2017. Six months after booking, my friends told me they've booked seats to Cebu for July 2017. Clingy friend in me goes in the way and I cancelled our February trip and booked seats on the same month and plane as them for July. The more the merrier right?

With me being in charge of our itinerary, I did research and completed it a month before our travel date and brief out my friends of the plan and alternatives. Alternative or PLAN B is very important when travelling because there are external factors that may arise during the trip and may cause a change of plans.

FIRST FEW HOURS ITINERARY

Our flight was bound for Cebu at 6:15 and I was still at work by 4pm haha. Only to find out when I arrived at 5:30pm in the airport that our flight was delayed. I was really crazy mad knowing that our flight boards at 9pm already! 4 hours delayed and that really cut out our planned dinner in Lantaw Floating Restaurant and 10000 roses cafe in Mactan.

We arrived at 10:30 in Mactan Airport and ate dinner then headed directly for the North Bus Terminal. We took the regular white taxis.

Note: Regular taxis in Cebu has cheaper fare than the ones in Manila. Be vigilant of drivers who will ask for additional fees especially when they can feel you don't understand bisaya/cebuano as this happened to us but thankfully I can understand! Our group was divided in 2 taxis since Cebu strictly implements max of 5 passengers only, including the driver.

Once we arrived at the North Bus Terminal, we looked for the CERES bus heading to Sta. Fe, Bantayan Island because this bus hops on to a RORO ship and then heads to Sta. Fe in Bantayan. Don't confuse Bantayan wth Daanbantayan which is another town in the northern part of Cebu.

CERES BUS SCHEDULE TO BANTAYAN

11:45 PM

12:15 AM

3:00 AM

6:00 AM

8:00 AM

10:00 AM

12:30 PM

If you're worried about commuting via CERES bus, fret not. I love how the bus is new, has comfortable seats you can recline and travels smoothly. We arrived in the port after 3 hours waking up to the shout of the bus conductor that says we already arrived at the port and we need to buy our roro tickets at the booth.

Inside the bus with my boyfriend being new to commuting lols

Here's a quaint picture of us inside the roro ship. Take note that even though you'll ride a bus that says straight to bantayan town proper, you still have to alight the bus and get inside the ship. The bus would just park inside the roro haha.

We arrived at the Bantyayan Port at 6:30am and got on the bus again. Just a few kilometers away, we got off in front of a small chapel and hailed a tricycle telling the driver to drop as off in Jelly's Haven Resort. In a separate blog post, I'll write in there more details about the resort we stayed.

VIRGIN ISLAND

I cannot forget how beautiful this small island is, which is located in the eastern side of Bantayan. Took us 20 mins through boat to go there from the mainland. It's simply hard to think of the best word to give justice to this island's beauty.