Islas de Gigantes: Feast for my Hungry Eyes!

We woke up by the sound of loud thunder on our third day in Iloilo. The gloomy sky ahead signaled for a bad weather day for a scheduled island hopping. My high hopes for a good time at the beach seemed to deflate as I saw the gray clouds above with flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder. In my mind, our day was a big failure, the weather made sure of that.

After we had our breakfast, there was still no sign of sunshine. What greeted us instead as we head to the boat dock was drizzles of rain. Oh no, our island hopping adventure to Islas de Gigantes is ruined. I loved rainy days but not during an island hopping trip. No, definitely not.

We expressed our alarm to our boatmen and tourist guide. We were anxious because we might encounter huge waves ahead. But our guide told us that it was a common thing in Estancia. Every morning it will rain but later on stop and the sun will happily shine down on the beautiful islands. It was difficult to believe because the whole trip to Gigantes islands, the rain never stopped. The thunder became louder and louder instead. The clouds became darker as we docked on the first island, they called it the Sand Bar.

Nothing too special because we only lasted there for a few minutes, even less than 30 I think. We just took a few pics, dipped in the cold water, and left because our boatman said so. Wow so much for the P150 environmental fee. We felt nabbed. (Tip: Skip this island. If the guides tell you to visit the Sand bar and there is a fee of P150, tell them you'll skip).

Cabugao Gamay

The next stop is Cabugao Gamay. This island is the more famous face among the different islands in Gigantes. This is where most bloggers take that postcard worthy picture. We didn't miss out on the opportunity to get a picture of the nice vantage view of Cabugao Gamay.

Can you see those little striped fishes?

Another thing that I loved about this island is the abundance of fishes even on shallow water. It only signified the cleanliness of the place. The people of Iloilo are indeed very lucky to have this kind of natural beauty.

Cabugao Daku

Next stop is Cabugao Dako. Just like in Cabugao Gamay, the water is super clean too and fishes are normal sight even on shallow water. What I loved about this island is it's tranquility. Plus there was a cave and a cliff you can go diving. I climbed the cliff and attempted to dive but I chickened out on the last minute. Husband was a little disappointed but I just couldn't do it. My knees were shaking. lolz.

Semi Boracay

Then we headed to this island they called "semi boracay". The place was also nice but I saw some litter in the sea and it saddened me. This island was free though so maybe that's why there were a few trash floating because nobody was maintaining the island.

Antonia Island

Then we went to our last stop, Antonia island where we had our lunch. Here we didn't miss the opportunity to buy fresh scallops for only P1.00 per piece (minimum order is 100 pieces). The steamed scallops were so delicious and fresh!!! It was like heaven in you mouth. Really yummy.

200 pieces Scallop shells (worth P200.00)

See how big that is and it's super delish

Antonia Island

 

At around 12:30 pm we decided to head back to our resort because travel time was long (1-1.5 hours) and we didn't want to exceed 2:00 pm or else we will need to pay for another night's worth of room accommodation even if we won't be sleeping there anymore since we were scheduled to head back to Iloilo city. Fortunately we were able to arrive in the resort after an hour and we still had plenty of time to wash.

Next destination on our itinerary, Guimaras!

HOW TO GET TO ESTANCIA, ILOILO

Fresh from our island hopping adventure in Concepcion, we headed straight to Ceres bus after we freshened up. From Ceres bus in Concepcion, we went back to Sara terminal. Bus Fare is P30.

From Sara terminal, you can either ride Ceres bus going to Estancia or van (but the vans doesn't really have a stop over at Sara, you could just be a chance passenger since the van's route is really going to Estancia) or you can also ride a jeep. We took the jeep since the bus already left. We paid P50 each and we were dropped off at Paon Beach resort.