Before I get started talking about my amazing time in the Philippines, first I must introduce this awesome lady; my Aunt Jen (or, as I would call her in the Philippines, Tita Jen!). She married my uncle when I was about 11 years old, and has been part of our family ever since. We’ve talked for years about me going back with her next time she visited her family, but this year, we finally did it! And we had the best time!
We flew from Chicago to Shanghai, China, and then to Cebu City. We spent about 3 days in Cebu, then flew to Iloilo and took a ferry to Guimaras Island. We spent about 6 days there. This trip included my aunt, uncle, 2 little cousins, my sister-in-law (who was pregnant by the way and still traveled like a champ!!), her mom, and her mom’s friend. So we had quite the crew!
I feel like this post would be waaay too long if I broke our trip down day by day, so I’m just going to talk about some of my favorite things we did!
CEBU
Our flight landed at around 4 a.m. in the Philippines. Since I would be diving the next day in Oslob, which was about 4-5 hours south of Cebu City, and they couldn’t check into the condo until mid-afternoon, the plan was to spend the day exploring and then they would drop me off in Oslob to stay by myself and they would go back to stay the night in Cebu City.
Thankfully my aunt had a friend who hooked us up with a driver (Thanks Jonas!), and he was willing to take us wherever we wanted to go! I had always wanted to visit a place called Kawasan Falls, so we loaded all of us into a giant van (including ALL of our luggage), and started our day!
I will warn you, traffic in the Philippines is terrible. A destination that may be an hour away in the states can be over a four-hour drive there. So be prepared for that!
While Kawasan Falls WAS beautiful, I will admit it is not what I had expected. The pictures you see on Instagram and Pinterest don’t truthfully depict it, in my opinion. Yes, the water really is that blue…but be ready to share it with hundreds of other people, with loud music, a snack bar right next to the water, and several little souvenir carts. We still had fun, it’s a beautiful place, and I’m glad I got to experience it, but it’s probably not something I would go out of my way to do again.
After this, we loaded back in the van and headed to Oslob. If you’ve read my “About Me” post, you’ll know I’m a scuba diver, and there was no way I was going to visit the Philippines without diving at some point; I mean hellooooo…WHALE SHARKS!!
I stayed at Sascha’s Resort Oslob, which was right on the water! Another great thing about the Philippines is how affordable it is to travel there. I paid 1,205.88 Philippine pesos for one night, which converts to about $23!! For comparison, I recently stayed at a hotel in Kentucky and paid $120 per night. I was a bit nervous since this was my first time doing solo-travel in a different country, but I was fine! Thankfully, my aunt’s friend connected me with someone on Facebook who was also a diver, so I had a buddy for the dives (thank you Malskie!)! After I dropped my luggage off and had supper with some new friends, we walked out into the ankle-deep water during low tide to see what kind of ocean life we could find, then I went to bed early after a long day of travel.
We woke up bright and early the next day and were picked up by Deep Zone Dive Center. Our first dive of the day was a shore dive with the whale sharks that Oslob is known for! I will be honest, they reportedly feed them to get them to come everyday for tourists to see, but I had always wanted to see them and knew it was my best chance. They are very strict though when it comes to protecting these magnificent creatures, and touching one results in a fine of I believe about $60. You can also snorkel with them, but there were sooo many people on the surface that I was very glad I chose to dive instead.
This maaay have been one of my favorite dives EVER (And I’ve been diving for 8 years!). We probably saw at least 10-15 whale sharks. I was in awe of their size, how effortlessly they glided through the water, and the beautiful and unique design of their spots.
The next 2 dives were off of a boat on the reef of Sumilon Island (which is also a popular spot to visit due to the sand bar and beach). Since most of my diving has been in the Caribbean, this was a whole new experience for me! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such beautiful coral. We were lucky enough to spot 2 turtles AND I saw clown fish for the first time (Finding Nemo is my all time favorite movie! I can quote all of it!). Unfortunately we didn’t see any black-tip sharks like I was hoping, but I’ll definitely be back someday, so maybe next time. If you want to check out some of my videos from our dives, check out my YouTube channel!
I also want to give a huge shout-out to Deep Zone Diver Center! I almost forgot to mention I accidentally left my mask and dive computer in the van when my group dropped me off, and they were accommodating enough to loan me a mask, and the owner let me borrow his personal wrist computer! I can’t say enough great things about them. If you’re a diver looking to visit Oslob, Cebu, check them out!
Malskie and I grabbed a bus back to Cebu City, and then took a taxi back to the condo so I could meet back up with my group. The next day we spent some time in the pool, checked out the mall, and then boarded our flight to Iloilo.
ILOILO/GUIMARAS
Iloilo is actually where my aunt grew up and where most of her family still lives. However, since our flight was at night, the ferry system had already ended for the day, so her sister Lourdes arranged for us to be picked up at the airport, brought to the wharf, and hired a ferry after-hours to transport us to the island of Guimaras, where we would be staying the rest of our trip. So if you ever plan on traveling to Guimaras, keep in mind what it takes to get there! The best part was, once we got to Guimaras, we all hopped in the back of Lourdes’ truck to get to the resort. Halfway there, it started to storm and we had to hold a giant tarp over our heads! We may have still gotten a little soaked, but it was a blast!
FUN FACT: Guimaras is known for having the sweetest mangos in the Philippines, and some say even the world! Their mangos have even been served at the White House and Buckingham Palace. I can attest, they are delicious!!
We stayed at the California Coral Beach Resort, which my aunt’s sister actually owns. The rooms are amazing and the resort sits right on Alubihod Beach, which was never crowded. I was actually shocked at the difference between Cebu and Guimaras; Cebu was filled to the brim with people and traffic was terrible, while Guimaras was much quiet, cleaner, and laid back. But, to be honest, I really didn’t see much tourism on the island of Guimaras. I feel like it’s a “hidden gem” that not many people know about. You always see “Instagrammers” posting about places in the Philippines such as Palawan, Boracay, etc. Don’t get me wrong; I definitely want to visit those places someday as well! But if you’re ever looking for a quiet, beach vacation, I highly recommend Guimaras!
We spent a lot of time visiting with my aunt’s family and celebrating her father’s 80th birthday. I loved getting to meet all of her relatives; they were all so welcoming! I even got to meet her niece, who was my pen pal when I was younger! We took the ferry back to Iloilo several times to visit, see where she grew up, and explore a bit more of the city, and of course go to the malls (I will say this – malls in the Philippines are SO MUCH better than the ones in the states, or at least I think so!).
Transportation in the Philippines was a whole different experience on it’s own. I’ve already mentioned the ferries, and they have taxis as well, but the two most common types of transportation we saw were “jeepneys”, which were basically large vans with open sides to allow airflow, with benches on each side. We also rode on the “tricycles”, which are little carts attached to a motorcycle. Both were a lot of fun!
My favorite activity in Guimaras was “island hopping”. Lourdes’ resort has their own boat with a captain that you can pay to take you out on the water for however long you want to explore some of the smaller, nearby islands surrounding Guimaras. The 3 we visited were Natago Beach, Tatlong Pulo, and Ave Maria. We also took the boat through Baras Cave!
If you ever go to Natago Beach, take the stairs on the left up and follow the path to an incredible shallow swimming area. There are also several different look-out points for a great view. The 2nd place we visited during this excursion, Tatlong Pulo, means “3 islands” because there’s basically 3 beaches separated by rock formations. It was really beautiful! The sand isn’t quite as soft here and composed more of broken shells and rocks, but there is decent snorkeling and it has little huts with tables to eat lunch at. The 3rd place, Ave Maria, has some of the BEST snorkeling I’ve ever done. I’ve never been a huge fan of snorkeling (why snorkel when you can dive?!), but this was worth it to me. You do have to swim out a ways to get to the reef, but it’s still shallow. There are a large variety of corals with hundreds of different fish species to marvel at; including this clown fish that wasn’t too happy about my sister and I snorkeling near its anemone! We loved the snorkeling here so much we actually came here again on another day. But watch out for jellyfish – they were everywhere! I got stung at least 30 times while in Guimaras. Thankfully, they are tiny and really don’t hurt for very long (and no, nobody peed on each other!). By the end of the trip I was used to them. Then of course there was Baras Cave. The boat captain had to carefully steer us into the opening, while another person held a long pole to make sure the boat didn’t smash into a wall. It was a little tricky, but once we got inside I was in awe! We got to snorkel here as well.
Another day, we took a tricycle to the Trappist Monastery (if you go, try out their coffee shop!). We then also visited the Guisi Lighthouse. This was quite a long ride with 5 of us on the tricycle (at one point we had to get out and walk because it couldn’t make it up a hill!), and I got made fun of by the rest of the group for wanting to go there because the “lighthouse” was mainly just ruins covered in vines, BUT we got to see an amazing view and get some pretty cool pictures. Worth it to me!
We mainly ate our meals in Lourdes’ apartment or at the little restaurant at the resort next door, but there were a few times we visited a restaurant called Olivia’s Kitchen and Island Brew. Lemme tell ya; Best. Pancakes. Ever! It’s the cutest little restaurant; you have to visit it!! I’ve mentioned before that I’m a picky eater, but I did branch out a bit more than I usually do on this trip. I tried “lechon”, which is like a pig that they cook whole (yup, still had a face and everything!). I also had “lomi”, which was my favorite dish I tried! Picture a cross between chicken noodle soup and egg drop soup. I’ve been thinking about trying to make it! I also tried “ube”, which is a yam that is purple in color. They make everything with it, from cookies to ice cream and more!
When we weren’t running around the island seeing everything we possibly could, we were hanging out on the beach and relaxing. I managed to read three books on this trip, get lots of sleep, and somehow not get too bad of a sunburn.
The Philippines has always been at the #1 spot on my bucket list, and I’m sooo glad I finally got to check it off. This country has some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and I mean it! The second we got off the plane for the first time we were immediately welcomed! I can’t wait to go back and explore more of everything it has to offer. Is the Philippines on your bucket list? If it isn’t, it should be!
P.S. One of my favorite things I did was try to learn their language! Pretty much everybody in the Philippines also speaks English, so communicating was never really an issue. But I still wanted to learn! Since we were in the Visayas region, they spoke Ilonggo. My aunt and her family taught me a few words, so I thought I could teach you, too!
“Salamat” = Thank you
“Palihog” = Please
“Ma-ayong aga” = Good morning
“Ma-ayong hapon” = Good afternoon/evening
“Halong” = Take care
“Am-bot?” = I don’t know
“Guapa/guapo” = Pretty/handsome
Hope you’ve enjoyed this post and I’ve convinced you to visit the Philippines someday! If you have any questions or comments, let me know about it in the comments below! And don’t forget to share it!