Getaway to Islas de Gigantes

I am pretty surprised with everything that unfolds in my daily life. For one is having unplanned trip happening before my eyes. True, this is the good thing, we rather be surprised with moments we never expect, than be sad with all the “drawings” or the plans that were never realized. LOL.

My short visit to Islas de Gigantes is one of these. During our recent trip to Iloilo, I initially decided to have a city tour, which by the way means that I will be visiting their food venues since this is what I usually do when I travel to new places, going to the museums for a reason that it is always a dream of mine to have museum hopping – you know, knowing the history of a certain place, its culture and all the practices its people observe, and grabbing the chance of knowing why Iloilo City is tagged as “Emerging Museum City of the Philippines.” I realize I am more of this, I am always thirsty to learning, to study about everything under the sun (and to mention, this thirst nearly made me decide in pursuing Law in the future! Lol.) Honestly, sometimes my mind surprises me. You know, it is exciting and so much scary at the same time.

Back to it, I wanted to cross Iloilo’s streets like a local because I am simply curious to do it. Aside from – of course – I love Iloilo City’s system of transportation. It felt like traffic is not a major problem in this place. People are joyful, hospitable and loving. They are literally soft-spoken and gentle – one of the reasons this part of the country is called City of Love and even Asia’s City of Love. This city, including Panay Island, is also located in the central part or heart of the Philippines, thus also tagged “Heart of the Philippines.”

In this post, I am sharing to you photos of our trip at Islas de Gigantes. It was a quick day tour and island hopping, but I felt very glad I jumped unto this decision.

Stories say it is called Islas de Gigantes (others also call it Gigantes Islands or Higantes Islands) because in the old time, people uncovered in their caves some bones gigantic in size which are believed to belong to giants.

There are actually 10 islands of Islas de Gigantes but locals justified that there are 14. In our trip, we visited few of it, namely: Isla Pulupandan – considered as the resting place of fishermen which structure is emphasized through a coconut tree in its mid and a little “kubo,” Cabugao Gamay – the popular and most photographed island because of its formation, Bantigue Island Sandbar, Tinagong Dagat – the “Mini Boracay” Island as it is called, because of its white, fine and powdery sands and a location perfect for swimming, and then Antonia Beach, a private island where tourists can experience different forms of Water Sports, and finally Gigantes Island, where we devoured our lunch with unlimited seafoods, especially scallops.

This is at Isla Pulupandan. I more took photos showing sceneries people can see while on the island. It has a lot of rock formations around it, good for sight-seeing and picture taking.

This is Cabugao Gamay Island. It is the famous amongst the islands and most photographed, which you can see a lot of online, because of its formation. Tourist can take a picture of the other hill (like illustrated above) from climbing other hill fronting it. Stairs made of bamboo was also designated in the area to allow easy access to this overview. There is also a resort in this island. Hence, tourist could stay overnight.

People can also see lots of zen stones in the place. These are also attractions in Cabugao Gamay Island.

I took this photo while we are cruising to the Bantigue Island Sandbar. In its shore, there is a resort nearby. My colleagues decided not to go down because of our sched and it is nearly lunch but I went down to swim for minutes. A local then offered a Buko ice candy and it is so much delicious!

Beautiful view you can see while you are in the Antonia Resort. The establishment offers water sports and rides. My friend Johanns and her cousins did go for Jet Skiing. I and my other colleague, Ate Germz, did not miss the chance to swim some more, enjoy the cold and clear water and of course, the majestic view.

When we are nearing Gigantes Island, our tour guide pointed us to two mountains which one form looks like a man, and other one is a woman. I kept on looking at the two figures and finding out what form made them such (It took time for me to get what they are talking about! Haha.) and missed taking photos. I hope I could show it in my video soon.

The moment we were already just distance away from the mainland, the water was so low that it is impossible for our ride to go near the shore. So, we walked towards the mainland. Funny, because the sea water can almost touch my chin! It is still deep for me, but I enjoyed the experience. No dull moments when you are with a bunch of people who are the same joyful to be with.

It is in this island where we took our bountiful lunch, and I was so full that I cannot even eat another mouthful. The scallops are unlimited. All the seafoods in the table are delicious. Goodness, I didn’t imagine I can eat so much seafood, and scallops like that.

This is the area serving as the mouth for tourist spot “Tangke” where we can supposedly do swimming and I heard the view is overwhelming, but during our trip, it was unfortunately close. (This is another reason to go back!)

This place is very beautiful that I cannot put it into words, my selected and best photos would not even give justice to the beauty it has either. I encourage you to personally visit Islas de Gigantes and indulge in its beauty and richness, which soothingly advise you to relax, breathe and look at the bright blue-green of nature. I tell you, it’s a kind of experience that is hard to move on from.

o o o

This trip is made possible by AirAsia‘s Inaugural Flight to Iloilo. Everyone can now fly from Cagayan de Oro to other four (4) destinations, namely: Iloilo, Cebu, Manila and Clark. Check out airasia.com for the cheapest rate and schedule. Hurry also, because they have on-going promo! You’re welcome.