Resort Review: Anika Island Resort, Bantayan, Cebu
On my recent trip to Cebu, my fiance agreed to accompany me to my old summer playground of Bantayan Island. From an initial group of 8, the group dwindled down to 6 (my dad, my sis, my bro-in-law, his mom, fiance and myself). Our booking at Beach Placid was so messed up that one group was booked at Anika. However, when we arrived, we were advised that Anika was not open to guests yet. Now, how would I do my review then?
Location
Anika Island Resort is located on the beautiful Alice Beach in Santa Fe. A van will pick up the group from Santa Fe pier or Bantayan airport. If you wish to hire a van to pick you up at Mactan Airport, it will cost Php 3,000 all the way to Hagnaya Pier. You can have this van arranged with the resort when you book it. When you exit the pier, you turn right away from the town proper. Nearby resorts include Santa Fe Beach Beach Club, Beach Placid, St. Bernard’s Resort and Tickety Boo Resort. There are no restaurants in the surrounding area and you would need to either take a tricycle or walk if you want some fare outside the resort.
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Touring Oslob, Part 2: Sumilon Island
When you walk around the seaside area of Oslob on a clear day, you will notice several islands in the Horizon. There’s Siquijor, Bohol and a small island almost a stone throw away. This small island is in the southeastern tip of Oslob and was a subject of debate between Santander and Oslob. The winning party? Oslob.
Sumilon Island
Sumilon Island has an area of 24 hectares with beaches on one side, rocky terrain on the other side and a small area with white sand bar. It is the first marine protected area in the Philippines and was created a marine sanctuary in 1974. It has four major dive sites namely Garden Eel Plaza, Nikki’s Wall, Coral Landscape and Julie’s Rock. The white sand bar on one of the tips of the island is constantly changing in shape, size and location.
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Touring Oslob, Part 1: Nueva Caceres
This post was initially intended to be what I miss in life.. the simple things. However, since I was talking about the place already, I might as well turn it as a travelogue. If you are in Cebu and tired of city living, I suggest heading to the countryside and enjoy the beauty and the quiet life.
Nueva Caceres, Oslob, Cebu
Initially, a group of friends of mine were supposed to meet up in Cebu City. However, I can’t seem to get hold of the person who was supposed to be already there. Instead of staying in the city, I went to my boyfriend’s hometown of Nueva Caceres, Oslob. Oslob is 3 hours southeast of Cebu City. It’s a coastal town with approximately 22,000 residents where half the population are mostly elementary school age students and elderly people. The gap in age is due to students preferring to study in the city for better opportunities upon graduation.
Getting to Nueva Caceres is quite easy as there are buses (Sunray or Ceres) which depart almost every 10 minutes during regular hours to Oslob from Cebu’s South terminal. You can choose to ride either an air-conditioned bus (Php 132) or regular bus (Php 108).
Nueva Caceres is a group of 5 coastal barangays in Oslob, namely: (from north to south) Gawi, Pungtod, Sawang, Bonbon and Looc. Barangay Sawang, the central barangay, is also called nowadays as Barangay Nueva Caceres and is where the Parish and community stage is situated. For purposes of simplicity we shall call the larger Nueva Caceres as “Caceres” and the Barangay Nueva Caceres (previously called barangay Sawang) as Nueva Caceres.
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My 2009 Holidays
Every year, my wandering feet took me to different regions in the world. 2006 took me twice to Australia. 2007 took me to different regions in China. 2008 took me to Europe. 2009 seems to be Asia.
In China, we have two week long holidays and several long weekends. The first week long holiday falls on Chinese New Year. This year my wandering feet took me to my ancestral birthplace, Shishi, Fujian, China. It was freezing and boring. There wasn’t that much to do. I enjoyed meeting the relatives though. It was a different experience but not something I want to repeat.
During the Qing Ming Festival long weekend, my siblings came to visit me. I fetched them in Shanghai as they took the Cebu Pacific flight. We went to the usual tourist haunts such as The Bund, Nanjing Road, Yu Gardens and Xintiandi. A first for me there is the Shanghai Aquarium which I thought was a good place to visit especially for kids and sea animal enthusiasts.