Sweet Potato Island - Cebu, PH 😎

Ola Hive Community! 👋🏼💗

Let me share the time that my workmates and I went on an island, in the midst of the pandemic 😷😅

Mirror selfie while we checked-in in our hotel

But we were safe! No PCR test was needed. We just presented our vax cards and we all completed the shots. Cebu was at alert level 3 or 2 which was allowable for local travelers to do the thing they love most. The island that we’ve been to is called Camotes Island. For those who don’t know Camote in english is sweet potato and NO it’s not a land full of that 🤣 it’s actually a great island for adventures! We travelled by bus up North of Cebu and stopped at Danao Port then took a boat to cross to the island — in total it took us approximately 4 hours to arrive.

Santiago Bay Beach, Camotes Island

My workmates Morielle (a.k.a Moi) and Khaye suggested this and Nicole (also my workmate) and I agreed since we haven’t been to the island. It was also summer season and we figured we needed a break from work. We booked a hotel which is called Santiago Bay Garden & Resort. It was a very nice place; two swimming pools and a dinning area with an overlooking view!

Top and bottom left picture is our room view and right picture is their infinity pool

We also rented a multi-cab that comes with a driver. He was also like our tour guide. He was very accommodating and treated us like his kids (highly recommend) we were all girls and he said that he has 2 daughters ❤️🥺

That’s us with a banner “Welcome to Camotes Island Lotlot & friends” LOL khaye meant it as a joke. The driver held this at the port and drove us to our stay.

In Camotes, they’re known for the caves and beaches. The hotel where we stayed had a really cool spot for the beach. See picture below for reference! 🤗

We stayed in the island for 3 days and 2 nights. First night we were chillin’ by the pool and drank and ate. The second day was full of adventure! We’ve been to the famous caves and even went island hopping for 2 hours 😊 See pictures below for reference again hehe

First stop, Paraiso Cave

Taking a dip at Paraiso cave. The water was cold and fresh!

Second stop, Timubo Cave. No pics inside because it was dark and hard to get to the water.

Third stop, Tulang Diot Island. This is where we had our island hopping (basically circling around the island). I saw a purple jellyfish with rainbow tentacles 😍 (if placed under the sun) LOL I don't know how to describe it but it took my breathe away while I was snorkeling.

I think it was my first time exploring caves. There’s not much here in Cebu, but we do have waterfalls (you know the drill I’ll be blogging about this soon). I’ve come to realize that I am more of a adventurer with light and air rather than a cave underground HAHA it’s not something bad tho I’m just saying I think I’m cluster phobic.. I mean caves trigger that because there’s not much air and light. I feel anxious and tight around my body. But don’t get me wrong the water is super cold and crystal clear! The view from below also distracted the feeling and made me appreciate it. I was also fascinated by the cycle — how the water comes and goes or when it’s high tide or low tide season.

We were able to visit Lake Danao Park which is a man made river that had all sorts of activities. Dinning, karaoke, zip-lining and paddle boats which by the way is the reason why I had abs for around 5 mins 🤣

This is the road going to the Park. I loved this road, it was super windy and fresh. Camotes is also a province and their establishments are really far from each other.

This is me and Moi paddling our lives back to the shore LOL we were actually 4 in the boat and we took turns in paddling. I’m pretty sure we lost a lot of weight 🤣 and that delicious dish on the right is LECHON.

Beaches, caves, Eco Park, the fun activities goes on in this island that I almost forgot that we went to this waterfall called Busay Falls. It’s really far from where we stayed so we made sure it was the last trip.

This is Busay Falls. It wasn’t really well maintained anymore due to the pandemic but it was still nice and cold. The water was running super fast as well.

This was the last destination that we’ve been to and it was hella worth it. The driver said this one is the grand finale and my god he was right. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but the view was breathtaking I swear. The name is Amazing Island Cave

It was indeed a productive day and I’m glad we were able to explore the island in just a day. Super grateful that my friends are curious about the world and it’s greatness.

What warms my heart is that we were able to help the community get back to the livelihood that they once had especially when the pandemic started.

The sunset view from our last destination.

Thank you so much for coming this far Hivers! I hope you enjoyed reading my experience in this island and I can’t wait to tell you more of the places that I’ve been to. There’s definitely more to come ❤️🤗