02.28.2009-03.02.2009
After having eventful 2-night stay at Waterfront Hotel, Maanne and I check-out the next morning following another great breakfast at Uno Restaurant. At around 8 am of 02/28/09, we immediately proceeded to Cebu North Bus Terminal where we could find a ride for Hagnaya as we are about to travel and discover Bantayan Island. Hagnaya serves as seaport for those who will travel the northern part of Cebu via ferryboat. We rode a local bus "Ceres" that took a 3-hour travel where we passed by more or less 10 cities and municipalities of Cebu province. Although the travel was so exhausting, we were still keyed up to find out what awaits us because the night we met Doc DJ, he highly recommended to us that we travel to Bantayan if we intend to go to beaches of Cebu than having a stay to the costly hotel beaches in the vicinity of Cebu City as it will be truly worthy discovering the island. Though we were really unfamiliar to where we supposed to go, as strangers, I was unrelactant asking our co-passengers where should we unboard and thank God because Cebuanos are very honest and accommodating that they were so kind to direct our path.
We arrived in Hagnaya port at noontime. After paying the fare and terminal fee, we embarked on the ferry and waited for almost half an hour for other passengers. We sailed for an hour until we reached the Sta. Fe port area. Because Doc DJ has a staff who lives in Sta. Fe, he helped us thru having room reservation. Despite of unfamiliarity with Bantayan Island, we were glad that when we got off the ferry boat, there was already a staff from Sta. Fe Beach Club waiting for us having my name written on a piece of cardboard. He fetched us as well as their Korean guests. We arrived at around 2pm at the resort where we had our late lunch. Before we brought our things to our room, the receptionist invited us for a trip to Ogtong Cave at around 3pm so we just left our things secured in our room and we proceeded to Ogtong.
Upon arriving at Ogtong Cave, we felt that this resort has more things to offer than Sta. Fe Beach Club as they have pleasant reception, well-constructed man-made garden with green atmosphere, satisfactory swimming pools, fine white sands, and a cave with brakish cool water...simply wow to our delightful eyes! My wife then got speechless appreciating the beauty of Ogtong but at the same time knowing that that was not the resort that we'll be staying and that we need to leave Ogtong at 5pm...but I had another idea, recognizing that Sta. Fe BC and OC are sister resorts for sure we could make arrangements and transfer to Ogtong that very moment in time. Without wasting much time, we hurridly make the deal that we wanted. The receptionist called Sta. Fe BC and their service vehicle fetched us again for us to get out things at Sta. Fe. My wife's mood blanched the moment we got back to OC. We hurridly put our things to our room "No. 6", then dashly picked up our digicam and, of course, the tripod. The moment we left our room, it came to my mind that our stay would be a sort of our postnuptial photoshoot. :-)
We explored Ogtong Cave that afternoon, having our photoshoot anywhere we wanted, appreciating the shady sky, the huge rough dark-grayed rocks, and the white sand beach until the sun came down. We then had an early dinner at their restaurant with seafoods then proceeded to our room to have a break after an exhausting day.
The next day, we even explored OC more. The scenery is more appreciable upon sunrise. We adore nature, we love green, and we enjoyed what we are seeing!
After having some photoshoot with nature, we visited the cave once again and had a fine stop there before staying at the beach for some time to relax, swim, and ride the yellow kayak.
Our day was superb! As if we did not want to see the sunset knowing that we have to leave the next morning for our 440pm flight at Mactan. Time was fast, the sun came down again, we had our dinner with the resort's special birthday pancit and grilled tanigue. We had no choice but to rest in our room, pack our things, and had plenty of rests for tomorrow would be another long day for travel.
We really had great and enjoyable stay at Ogtong Cave, though far, it worth the travel. :-)
We arrived in Hagnaya port at noontime. After paying the fare and terminal fee, we embarked on the ferry and waited for almost half an hour for other passengers. We sailed for an hour until we reached the Sta. Fe port area. Because Doc DJ has a staff who lives in Sta. Fe, he helped us thru having room reservation. Despite of unfamiliarity with Bantayan Island, we were glad that when we got off the ferry boat, there was already a staff from Sta. Fe Beach Club waiting for us having my name written on a piece of cardboard. He fetched us as well as their Korean guests. We arrived at around 2pm at the resort where we had our late lunch. Before we brought our things to our room, the receptionist invited us for a trip to Ogtong Cave at around 3pm so we just left our things secured in our room and we proceeded to Ogtong.
Upon arriving at Ogtong Cave, we felt that this resort has more things to offer than Sta. Fe Beach Club as they have pleasant reception, well-constructed man-made garden with green atmosphere, satisfactory swimming pools, fine white sands, and a cave with brakish cool water...simply wow to our delightful eyes! My wife then got speechless appreciating the beauty of Ogtong but at the same time knowing that that was not the resort that we'll be staying and that we need to leave Ogtong at 5pm...but I had another idea, recognizing that Sta. Fe BC and OC are sister resorts for sure we could make arrangements and transfer to Ogtong that very moment in time. Without wasting much time, we hurridly make the deal that we wanted. The receptionist called Sta. Fe BC and their service vehicle fetched us again for us to get out things at Sta. Fe. My wife's mood blanched the moment we got back to OC. We hurridly put our things to our room "No. 6", then dashly picked up our digicam and, of course, the tripod. The moment we left our room, it came to my mind that our stay would be a sort of our postnuptial photoshoot. :-)
We explored Ogtong Cave that afternoon, having our photoshoot anywhere we wanted, appreciating the shady sky, the huge rough dark-grayed rocks, and the white sand beach until the sun came down. We then had an early dinner at their restaurant with seafoods then proceeded to our room to have a break after an exhausting day.
The next day, we even explored OC more. The scenery is more appreciable upon sunrise. We adore nature, we love green, and we enjoyed what we are seeing!
After having some photoshoot with nature, we visited the cave once again and had a fine stop there before staying at the beach for some time to relax, swim, and ride the yellow kayak.
Our day was superb! As if we did not want to see the sunset knowing that we have to leave the next morning for our 440pm flight at Mactan. Time was fast, the sun came down again, we had our dinner with the resort's special birthday pancit and grilled tanigue. We had no choice but to rest in our room, pack our things, and had plenty of rests for tomorrow would be another long day for travel.
We really had great and enjoyable stay at Ogtong Cave, though far, it worth the travel. :-)
