Siquijor Island is another island that was highly recommended for diving and snorkeling right outside your door. I started researching places to stay and worked on that for several days. It was very frustrating, part of it was the lack of, or slow internet, and the other part was the non-existant contact emails and then un-responsiveness of the resorts to my inquiry. Then the answers finally came back ‘fully booked’.
Something to consider when traveling to this part of the world …. CHINESE NEW YEAR ! ... a huge celebration that starts the end of January and goes for 10-15 days or a month depending on who you talk to. i know from traveling in Latin America to avoid Semana Santa (Easter Week) … but this one hit me by surprise. i think the entire country of China travels to the Philippines for Holiday ! A MAJOR reason why all the hotels/rooms were 'fully booked' !!!
i wanted to spend a week on the island, but was unable to book more than a day or two, in any one place. Moving every day or every couple of days is a pain in the ass. It eventually came together after i adjusted my dates slightly, and i found a place called Hamilica that had 6 nights in a row … leaving only the first night to stay somewhere else. It wasn’t until 9pm the night before i left that i got confirmation at the Royal Cliffs Resort.
Travel to Siquijor Island is by Ferry. Leaving from the port in Tagbilaran (where i arrived), 2 hours by Ferry to Dumaguete, on the Island of Negros, then another hour to Siquijor. Here is a map so you can see where i traveled.
You get assigned seats on the Ferry, thankfully. It’s a zoo even with that; lots and lots of loud Chinese... they travel in huge groups! When i arrived at my seat there was a young girl sitting in it. We had a bit of confrontation, and then she realized she had the wrong seat and sat next to me. Then i felt the Catholic Guilt and apologized since we were going to be sitting next to each other for several hours. She is a 20 yr old, from Sweden, traveling ALONE! See, i’m not the only one :) We had a lot of good conversation and planned to take an island tour together.
Arriving at Royal Cliffs to check in around 1pm, i was told that the ‘other people’ decided to stay another night, and so my room was not available. But, their ‘sister hotel’, Belle’s, right down the road had a room for me. It was further than i expected, but the room was good and had A/C and hot water, and was cheaper !
and i liked that it had wide open spaces that looked out right on to the sea.
Low tide with all the fishing boats in for the night
i walked back down to Royal Cliff for cocktails. and i saw ‘Samuel’ a guy that Greg and i dove with the first day here. He recommended Siquijor to me .. and there he appeared! LOVE running into people that i've met along the way... funny when you see them again, you hug and laugh, like you've been best friends forever :)
i hurried back to Belle's to see the sunset and missed it ... this is the lingering cloud-show with a fisherman finishing his day
Then back down to Royal Cliff for dinner, since they had great reviews. The food was excellent, as advertised, then back to my ‘sister hotel’.
In the morning i woke up early .. WoW ... 1 February already !
I watched the early morning fishermen already coming in from their morning work
Then walked down the street through San Juan 'village', nothing more than a cluster of hotels, restaurants, and little Sari-Sari 'stores' (offering just a few items, sometimes you have to look through a wire cage to see them) along the road; nice and quiet, i liked it !
Speaking of Chinese New Year …
I saw this sign posted proudly along the road this morning. i am not sure the significance of the 'Original Italian Pasta and Pizza' ???
Here is one of the fishermen selling his catch ... she picked through all those fishes with her 'gooey' hands, weighed them, and paid him. She wiped her hands on some leaves to clean them off.
...while i held her kitten that she found new born without a mother, and had been nursing ... this kitty only had a stub of a tail. When i asked her about it, she said 'in-bred' .... i think meaning that it was born that way ... and i have seen quite a few kitties with just little stubs of a tail. I was relieved to hear that it had not been cut off !
My first 'Cat-Fix'
Most of the stores are just small; but down the road further, into more of the 'village', i found a larger store. With lots of EVERYTHING, and lots of choices of everything ! So much inventory that they don't have room for it on the shelves, and i am pretty certain that this is not just a temporary thing ... this is the way it stays. I found my peanut butter... not easy to find here ! I think people take good care of their dogs here ... this store smelled like 'wet dog' ... obviously it gets to sleep inside the shop, and not out on/in the street :)
I satisifed my curiosity and headed back to Belle’s and into the water right out front, for my first snorkel experience on Siquijor. i was not impressed because of the lack of fishes; but i did see this giant, 7 foot long Sea Cucumber.... those are rather large rocks he is sprawled over !
they use these tentacles at the end, searching for food
i saw another Sea Snake, (i will spare you the photo) .... and this BEAUTIFUL, very colorful, but funny-lobster-looking-thing ….
i would not have known what it was if Greg had not told me about them, and we watched a YouTube video. I encourage you to watch it, i love this guy's voice and his sense of humor, it's quite entertaining, 4min long and captivating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM
It is a Peacock Mantis Shrimp. Some info for you, ...but you will learn more with the video !
Arguably one of the most captivating creatures in the sea. Its hard-shelled body is bursting with color: hues of bright red, green, orange and blue, and its forearms are covered in spots. At the top of its head rests a set of protruding eyes, and they aren’t just for show.
They have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, with 16 color-receptive cones (humans, have three), it can detect ten times more color than a human, including ultraviolet light. It can move each eye independently and uses this exceptional eyesight to avoid predators and track down prey.
It lives in the crevices of coral/rocks. Territorial, it's been known to exhibit aggressive behavior toward intruders. It has club-like appendages that fold beneath its body, resembling a praying mantis.
With a spring-like punch, it uses these appendages to attack prey—it has the ability to strike at the speed of a .22 caliber bullet (50 times faster than the blink of an eye), a blow from a mantis shrimp can easily break through the shell of a crab or mollusk. WoW … what a creature…and i saw it :)
As i was coming into the shallows, i spotted this pretty multi-orange creature, moving very slowly across the sand. It had 2 horns, or eyes...i don’t know, more research is needed. At first, the back of it was covered with flower-like frills … then maybe since i disturbed it, they disappeared.
Update: I've since learned it is a Spanish Dancer, a Nudibrach, a kind of snail without a shell.
It was noon and by the time i got ‘cleaned up’, i could check into my new home, Hambilica, for the next 6 nights. Ironically, it was only 100 feet down the road ! Hambilica sounded like a cool place, boasting of snorkeling right out front, (big draw obviously), a FireFly Hatchery, Bird Sanctuary, Sunsets, private room w/bath, WiFi, and free Continental breakfast. Owned and run by Fides, an ambitious Philippino woman, who was educated in the USA as a Montesorri Teacher and a lawyer. She bought this property, which was a dump, and over 10 years has done an incredible amount of work, with lots of stone walkways and walls and beautiful gardens. Lots of Orchids
a flowering Philippino bush :)
i kept forgetting to ask Fides what this is called ... it was very cool, climbing up some of the trees
i was a bit disappointed because 3 years ago the government decided to excavate HER property and destroyed most of the FireFly population and habitat. But she did show us a FEW Salt-Water FireFly Larvae, which also glow like our FireFlies. It also affected her bird population. And you could not see the Sunset, at least at this time of the year, unless it was low tide and you could walk across to the other side of the excavation.
As i was settling into my new home, i heard a woman ask Fides where was a good place to eat. Since i had a great meal the night before, i poked my head out the door and offered my 2 cents. The woman who had also just arrived was traveling alone and more in my ‘age-range’ :) Her name is Kim, from California, and has done extensive travel throughout the world. Just what i needed… a Buddy — YEAH !
Kim and i walked down the road to find a place to eat. San Juan is one of the little ‘communities’ along the West coast of Siquijor. As i was searching for a place to stay, i knew i wanted to be on the West side, but not sure where, since there are several small communities with hotels and restaurants (again, using those terms loosely) along the way.
We stopped at BaJa Bar and Restaurant which advertised an acoustical entertainer, it was very large and very busy. We found out why once we got in there … half price drinks tonight :) There were no tables, we put our name on an 'invisible list' and luckily got a few chairs at the bar. Kim is a Rum and Coke kinda girl too :) We waited for 45min and then asked about our table, ...1.5 hr more. We were able to eat at the bar :) We shared a Tuna Ceviche and each had a Tuna encrusted entre … surprisingly, both VERY good :)
We got along very well and we were both happy to have someone to eat with and do things with. She was staying one day longer than me; so we were looking forward to a fun week. She is very interesting and willing to share her knowledge of places she has stayed. oh, did i mention she is an AVID snorkeler as well ! How perfect is that !
It was another good day and night.
Happy to be on Siquijor ... quieter than Panglao
