Some Helpful Tips If You're Visiting Cagbalete Island

I'm still not over Cagbalete Island kahit summer is sooo over! You can't blame me, I fell in love with the place :) I wrote about it HERE

Photo by Joane Macay

Okay, I'm not a traveler but here's a few tips you might find useful,  I will skip the tips that you have already found in other reviews (I advise you read other reviews first for the basics), so let's get down to business:

1. Some resorts like the one we chose, Villa Pilarosa takes another ten to fifteen minutes boat ride from the Sabang Port, so if you are a big group it is better to rent a private boat that will take you directly to your chosen resort. Or contact your resort personnel if they can arrange a boat to take you directly to your destination, this was our option. We paid P 500 sundo, hatid (back and forth) to Sabang.

2. If you are going via public boat, be early because the schedule may change once the boat gets full, specially during peak season. Yes, aalis po agad ang bangka at for sure ayaw mo maiwan!  You need to pay an environmental fee of P 50 before going aboard (see the photo below) After paying head straight to the waiting area near the dock because nobody will call on you when the boat arrives, (first come first served basis) just like what happened to us. We were sitting pretty on the chairs in front of this Ticketing Office, it was just our instincts that told us we should wait over there and not wait here. Again, in the photo below, you will pay P 50 here for the environmental fee, then at the boat during the ride you will pay the fare (P 75 during our time)

3.  Make sure that you wear your most comfortable anti-slip footwear, and girls avoid wearing short skirts for this,  because there is no dock in Sabang Port, and so be ready with your strong feet and legs. This was the challenging part in transferring from the public boat to the smaller boat :

Please look at the photo above. At first I thought that that bamboo platfrom was just for anything engineering related purpose, but when we reached the island, we used this as an exit to transfer from one boat to another, or so to speak, this is the dock :) On the upper left side of the photo, see the group of people in a small boat beside the bigger one?

3. It is advisable to bring your own food. There's a public market near Mauban Port. If the resort allows, they can cook the food for you. This was what we did in Villa Pilarosa. We asked a kind staff to cook our food during our stay. We bought fresh squid, pork, and the ingredients, bread, and rice of course for the whole time we stayed. We were charged P 250 for that and the cook was good. Not bad na :). But still if buying at the market is not convenient to you, you can always ask the resort if there's anything they can provide. Never hesitate to ask, and make arrangements, after all, you are their valued customer :)

4. Bring insect repellents because there are a lot of crawling little friends specially at night. We rented an open room so we experienced having these little creatures as room mates so better be careful.

5. Villa Pilarosa is a nice resort. The owner is kind and over all our experience was great. I recommend you choose this resort.


That's it! Very few tips. Thank you for reading! :)