I was quick to ask my officemates to organize a day trip to the North Sand Bar in Bagumbanwa Bohol. A sand bar that emerges from seems to be nowhere during lower tides. I made a little research online about this destination but there seems to be a very little information to get on the net. Indeed, this little paradise was unknown to many.
The destination and the date were chosen. But wait, we need to find a boat going to the island at a very reasonable price. Afterall, cost matters to me (well actually to everyone). So there, was a start of an online boat-for-hire search. It was never easy, kudos to Roy who gave his all and never gave up until the last centavo haggle of the cheapest rate we could get. Yebah! From 13,000 to 10,000, then there was 9,000, we finally got the most reasonable price. At Php595 per head (min of 15 pax) - with free lunch buffet, plus Php1,000 fuel sucharge. So then, we closed the deal. Nowadays, one has to be wiser specially during summer season as the banca trip rates could go to as high as the clouds.
Fast forward to the day of trip itself. May 2, 2015 when everyone was still getting a hangof Labor Day and excitement of the MayWeather-Pacman fight the next day, we headed in an L300 van (pre-arranged by Roy too) to the Cordova warf. We arrived at the warf 30 minutes past 7 in the morning.
Took a pose with Marcial and Ryan at the warf.
Excitement drew on everyone's face as our boat started to sail towards the east. We couldn't contain ourselves, photo shoot here and there, all sides of the banca. Haha. The clear sparkling waters and the green scenic mountains of Bohol was a perfect backdrop in our photos.
The Casts. All aboard.
The boat. Could accomodate up to 30 pax.
It was a nearby 3-hour ride as our destination seemed to be quiet unknown to our boatmen. They asked 2 groups of fishermen and finally, we saw the watch tower from a far. We told our boatmen that tower was the one we saw in the internet. He quickly maneuver the boat heading towards the direction of the watch tower. Minutes after, violaaaa!!!! we got a glimpse of a sandbar soaked in the water. At around 10:30AM, it was still a high tide. We couldn't see a single portion of the sand but all we know was that was the sand bar we've been preparing for.
This was how the sandbar looked like when we arrived at around 10:45AM.
So needless to say, everyone jumped off the boat and started to swim. Of course, in this age and time where Facebook becomes part of everyone's daily life, one couldn't get enough by swimming alone. Sports camera were ready to capture those precious moments in the sun.
A mesmerizing white sand underneath the sprawling turqoise waters of Bohol was the best way to say we had fun under the sun.
As time went on, the fine white and not to mention, gorgeous sand bar started to slowly emerge from the dancing cool water. God is really good to have blessed the Philippines with this one stunning piece of paradise. Truly unspoiled, the beach was a heaven on earth for beach bummers like me. We look like we owned the island as we were the only group having a taste of this lovely beach.
Jump for joy!
We headed back to our boat to have our lunch. While we were eating, 2 more boats with tourists arrived. Until we leftthe sandbar, there were only 3 groups in the island.
After our lunch. Happy tummy with yummy food.
Beating the heat while feeling the sand - barefooted.
Under my instagram-ish umbrella.
It was indeed a fun time in the sun!
We headed back to Mactan at around 2PM bringing all the fun memories we shared in that little island. We arrived at the Cordova warf 15 minutes past 4PM.
One last pose before docking off the Cordova warf.
So what are you waiting for? Get a group of 15, for a cost of Php775, head on to the island away from the city. Enjoy your summer guys!
Boat contact:
Ate Debby - tel:09234211458
- highly recommended service. Very friendly and courteous bankeros!
L300 transpo (Cebu-Cordova-Cebu):
Kuya Louie - tel:09083705080
- eye candy daw na driver LOL
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