Camotes, my way!

It was the last week of April 2017 and I got really excited about having to spend this year’s Labor Day as a real holiday (at least for me), finally! Been working on a 24/7 schedule for the last three years of my working life and this will be the first that I’ve got to experience a holiday outside work. So yeah, I think I have all the right in the world to be happy about this, don’t you think?

Armed with no itinerary and no fix plans of ‘to-dos’ at all, my partner and I decided to visit Camotes Island this time. 👌👌

Settled on the east side of Cebu, Camotes has been seen to be a fast pacer in the tourism industry. Over the years, this island slowly earned its way to becoming one of the most sought travel destinations in the Central Visayas Area.

While most Camotes island visitors naturally hop from one tourist spot to the other, I however, just wanna go beachin’ and enjoy the underwater part of this little paradise. This is one of those rare trips I went where I just want to slow down time, stay in one place, and appreciate what this life has to offer. 🌻🍁

First stop: Lake Danao Park

I know this will slightly contradict my ultimate ‘Camotes goal’ (be a beach bum 😉), but allotting time to visit this spot while in the island is I think, a must for anyone.

One can just sit somewhere here and enjoy the views, or find some touristy activities to engage with. In our case, we did the pedal boating. Truthfully, I don’t feel like explaining to you how this thing works, so I prepared a short video of this water activity instead. 😂😂😂😂

Second stop: Mangodlong Rock Resort

After having slept for almost three hours (I badly needed it. I worked the night before we got here! 😅), we were back on the road again. This time, we decided to spend our time for sunset in Mangodlong Rock Resort.

The beach was so crowded when we arrived. Everywhere I looked, there’s always something going on. I couldn’t blame those people though; this resort indeed has a lot of picturesque corners!

We were a little bit early for sunset, so we decided to drag along and went to their resto. There were still so many tourists at this point, and everyone was obviously waiting for Mr. Sun to go down. We were halfway digging through our food when the sun finally went to a slow rest, and captured this moment.

Third stop: Bakhaw Beach

The following morning, we rented a motorbike and trusted Google to take us to one of those ‘less-travelled’ shores of Camotes. After 30 minutes of listening to Google Maps’ instructions, we’ve glimpsed at Bakhaw Beach – a should-be destination for anyone who plans to visit Camotes.

Most of the locals we encountered in Camotes encouraged us to go caving in Bukilat and Paradise Caves. But due to the limited time we have here, we opted to spend the day in the beach, just chillin’ and killing time. For the first time, I am not guilty of not adhering to locals’ advices. ☺️

No words can exactly describe how beautiful and serene this place is. I hope though that in the years to come, this little paradise remains the same – discovered yet unspoiled.

Fourth & last stop: Pito’s Sutukil

One of my friends was so bubbly about how good the food in this local eatery is. Right after we got back from Bakhaw Beach, we agreed to finally check out Pito’s Sutukil.

And true enough, there was no food here that I wouldn’t love. We particularly ordered ‘kinilaw‘. And though this was my first time to eat kinilaw (I knew this dish by heart, I just don’t feel like eating it when I was younger 😂😂😂), I truly believed that Pito’s serves one of the best kinilaw in the country. LOL 😂

The touristy side or the laidback ones – Camotes is a certified must-go destination in the Philippines. 

Planned or spontaneous – there’s no better way to travel Camotes than to follow what your ‘jet-setter’ heart says. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️