Camotes Island - Itinerary
- Patricia Narsico
- Apr 23, 2017
- 5 min read
Camotes Islands is a group of islands in the Camotes Sea, Philippines. The island group is located east of Cebu Island, southwest of Leyte Island, and north of Bohol Island. It is 34 nautical miles (63 km; 39 mi) from Cebu City and is part of Cebu.
When I think or hear about Camotes, I think the beach; consisting of 3 major islands Paclian Island, Poro Island & Ponson Island this place gives you more than what you've barged for.
Itinerary
Day 1
5:00 AM - Arrival at Pier 1
6:00 AM - Boarding the boat
8:20 AM - Arrival at Poro Port
9:30 AM - Arrival at Mangodlong Paradise Resort
10:00 AM - Santiago White Beach & Pito's SuTuKil
10:30 AM - Paraiso Cave
11:00 AM - Danao Lake
11:30 AM - Holy Crystal Cave
01:30 PM - Timubo Cave
02:30 PM - Buho Rock
03:30 PM - Aladdin Dive Shop
04:30 PM - Checking in Mangodlong Paradise Resort
05:30 PM - Watching the Sunset
07:30 PM - Dinner
08:30 PM - Lights out
Day 2
6:00 AM - Breakfast
7:30 AM - Lazying around the resort
11:30 AM - Head back to Poro Port
12:30 PM - Lunch at Poro Port
1:00 PM - Boarding the boat
3:00 PM - Arrival at Pier 1
Getting there
Getting to Cebu is pretty straightforward, it's one of the major cities in the Philippines and has flights on a daily basis. Choose your options carefully and I highly suggest waiting for promos like the-piso fare of Cebu Pacific to get your money's worth.
Once you get to Cebu there are 2 options to get to Camotes:
Option A - Ocean Jet, Pier 1 to Poro Port
Getting to Pier 1 is relatively easy, either you taxi from your point of origin, take a jeep with the sign Pier 1 or take MyBus care of SM Cebu. Below are the rates for Ocean Jet:
Open air – ₱335
Tourist class – ₱380
Business class – Pacijan IslandPacijan IslandPacijan Island550
For more information, call OceanJet at these numbers: (032) 255 7560 | +63 917 638 0000 | +63 922 857 5500, or visit www.oceanjet.net.
The first trip leaves at 6AM and the last trip leaves at 5PM. The travel time usually takes 1 hour and half to 2 hours, depending on the weather and the waves.
Option B - Danao Port to Consuelo Port
To get to Danao Port you'll need to ride a bus from North Terminal Bus Stop, which is located near SM, to Danao City. The fare is about ₱50.00 and the travel time depends on what time you leave (the traffic from Manduae City to Consolacion can get pretty bad).
Jomalia Shipping: Aircon – ₱200 | Economy – ₱180
Super Shuttle: ₱200
MCBA Junmar: For Poro, Nonok, and Sunog – ₱200 | For Danao – ₱350
Both options depend of the time you have and how adventurous you are. I was with my best friend and this was our first time in Camotes, so for time sake we took Option A because we lived near Pier 1. I took a GrabCar and headed there, while my best friend was dropped off by their family car. We got to the Pier 1 at around 5:30 AM, checked in and waited for the crew to allow passengers to board. We arrived at Poro Port at exactly 9:20 AM.
Means of Transportation in Camotes Island
There are 4 ways to get around Camotes:
Multicab
Tricycle
HabalHabal (Motorcycle with a driver)
Renting a Motorcycle
The rates varies from places and/or tour that you want to go to. We got to try 3 out of the 4 transportation there: we rode a Multicab to our hotel which was an hour after Poro Port and we paid around ₱500. After that we placed our things in function hall of the hotel because the check-in time was still around 2PM and we got there at around 10:30 AM.
We rented out a tricycle for the a day tour to 7 locations in the islands and this costed us ₱1000; that's quite a bargain because of the amount of places we went to and the duration. I'll talk about it more, in detail, on another post.
We rode a Habalhabal on our last day going to Poro Port. We needed to get 2 because we were carrying big bag packs. It costed us around ₱150 each; so ₱300 in total. I also asked how much it would be if you rented a motorcycle; it's around ₱500 for the whole day.
It depends on what kind of adventure you want to have in Camotes and also the people we're with. Seeing that it was our first time, we wanted to experience 3 out of the 4 transportation; mainly because both of us didn't know how to drive a motorcycle.
Accommodations
I'll be basing my chooses through Agoda because I use Agoda in all my travels in terms of accommodation; mainly because if you keep using the site you get more discounts, plus it's convenient.
The criteria I'll be using is the overall rating and number of reviews the place has. Of course this all in my opinion, you can choose to go differently; also note that we did not go to these places, expect for the one we stayed in.
Note: All images come from Agoda.
Here are 3 accommodation at 3 different price points:
$ - Camotes Flying Fish Resort (starting price ₱920/night)
Rate: 7.6
Reviews: 95
Location: Brgy. Cagcagan, Poro Camotes Islands
Pros: bases on the photos through Agoda, the place has a lot of offer. You can lounge around their beach area, go scuba diving, trying to sea kayak or simply go sun bathing. Whatever you choose you know that you're getting your money's worth.
Cons: The beach area does not have a shoreline, no free WIFI & no free breakfast
$$ - Santiago Bay Garden and Resort (starting price ₱1,554/night)
Rate: 7.2
Reviews: 271
Location: Santiago, San Francisco, Camotes Islands
Pros: The view is amazing. If you opt out on going to the beach you can choose to take a plunge on their pool. Come on, we know why we're there. The interior of hotel is quite nice and did I mention the shoreline. More importantly it's situated in the famous Santiago White Beach and near Pito's SuTuKil.
Cons: The rooms look a tad tacky and there is no free WIFI and breakfast.
$$$ - Mangodlong Paradise Resort (starting price ₱2,345/night)
Rate: 8.2
Reviews: 352
Location: Mangodlong, Heminsula, San Francisco, Camotes Islands
Note: This is the place we stayed at.
Pros: Considered to be the best resort on the island, although the it's a bit pricey, you get exactly what you're paying for. Free breakfast and an impeccable view of the Camotes sea, what more can you ask for. This also have a pool and huge garden area with lounge chairs and hammocks. Also out of the 3 places I've mentioned this is the only place with internet.
Cons: The only place you can get a hold of the internet is in the restaurant area, it's also pretty slow, and there is not signal. And It's pretty far from port areas.
This concludes part 1 of my post about Camotes, as a mentioned earlier I'll be posting more about our trip there.
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