Half an hour away from Aguinid Falls, we arrived a few minutes before the next boat leaves the main Island, Blue Water Sumilon Island Resort is a 24-hectare coral island, located on the southern eastern tip of Cebu and is in close proximity to Dumaguete. It is the first marine protected area in the Philippines and was made a fish sanctuary in 1974 under the guidance of Suliman University Marine Reserve. I heard about it from friends who lives in Cebu and also read some blogs about their trip to Sumilon Island making me want to really include this in my lists. A lot of tourist (mostly foreign) visits at the place for a relaxing overnight stay, but for the backpackers like me, a whole day exploration I think would be enough.
On our arrival, guests was already being oriented about the trip to the island. There were two sets of guests, one are the VIP’s who will be staying there for one or more than days, and the others are like me who would be doing a day tour and would need to leave the island before the evening starts. It was 11 am then.
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Payment has to be done at the Pavilion and an amount of Php 1,500 is needed for you to get an access in the resort, boat transfer to and from, free use of Kayak, goggles and life vest, plus a buffet lunch. The price isn’t bad at all. After handing my payment they gave me a coupon for the lunch with a drink, another one for the snorkeling gear, life vest and towel.
I was seating next to some Koreans at the boat. I think half of their guests today were foreigners. I was actually trying to dwell into the quest of meeting new people in this trip so I started to talk to the Koreans, but unfortunately, the language barrier knocks in, so we just took a photo together then.
It took us a few minutes to finally reach the island. The staff who greeted us (as expected and should be) are very welcoming.
All the guests who would be spending the night in the island went straight to the island pavilion for their room assignment and lunch while the remaining (including me) went straight to the island shore where a tent housing our buffet lunch were set-up.
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What to do in Sumilon Island
Aside from enjoying the view, feeling the white sand on your feet and enjoying the sparkling blue water, there are other things that you can do in the island, which I was able to try as well.
Here you can ride the Scenic Boat tour of Sumilon Island, they are offering a whale and dolphin watching as well. If you’re into spa, there’s a Sumilon island massage services, go picnic, walk along the beach line or go kayaking or fishing at the natural lagoon found in the island.
I was too eager to explore the island that I braved myself to do trekking all alone. It was quite a scene at first but a few minutes after, it felt a bit creepy that all I can hear was the creaking of the trees. My thoughts includes being massacred in the woods with no one there to even help haha! Weird!
My goal was to take a photo of the whole island at the top of the tower and when I was able to reached it, I tried to climb up but halfway through, decided to go down for I felt that the rusting metal stairs would break.
I guess this is best to be done with friends, it’s more safer. If you do love doing island trails, a map located in your room will help you navigate through the paths.
I think one of the best thing I did was to just lay down in a hammock for hours.
When it was almost in the evening, the water started to go down, forming a sandbar on the other side of the island.
At five, all the remaining day tour guests started to gather at the port. It’s time now to leave the island.
Including Sumilon island on your itinerary would be a great addition to your south Cebu tour. If you’re travelling light, a day tour would be enough to enjoy the amenities of the place. Though an overnight stay would also be a good option especially if you’re okay with the budget. But if Php 1,500 fee would be too much and lunch isn’t really considered in your option, you can always ride boats owned by the locals on a more affordable price.
For Information about Blue Water Sumilon Island Resort and Reservations please call 0917 790 6260 for Manila Sales Office or at 09176317508 for our Sumilon Sales Office
