One of our favorite quick getaways is island hopping and fortunately over the weekend, we were invited to join my friend’s family for a post-birthday celebration of their cute little boy. We rented a boat via Cebu Mactan Island Cruise (https://www.facebook.com/CebuMactanIslandCruiseIslandHopping). The boat was quite spacious for us even if we were 13 adults, 4 kids, and 2 babies with us.
Hilutungan Island
Our first island stop was at Hilutungan Island and there was an entrance fee of Php 150. Specifically, we landed in this beautiful resort called island and Sun Beach Resort but the boatman told us it’s now Benthel Resort but because of the typhoon Odette the resort was severely damaged. The resort has a really beautiful fine sand and there were locals selling “bungkawil” shells and “swaki” (sea urchin). My baby enjoyed watching the local kids swimming and diving while we wait for our seafood to be served.
Caohagan Island
Our next stop was at Caohagan island. It features a shallow, beautiful, white sand beach but when we got to the island it was a bit crowded because this is the only island that doesn’t collect fees as long as your boat stays afloat while you swim around. We decided to take our lunch on this island so that the kids can enjoy swimming.
San Vicente Marine Sanctuary
When we got to the sanctuary, there were only 3 boats so we didn’t have difficulty in docking. The water was very clear that you could actually see fishes swimming very close. I wasn’t able to swim because my little baby was sleeping but I was really amazed to see a lot of fish. Our boatman threw some leftover food during lunch and I was thrilled to see those fishes eating those feeds. There’s an entrance fee for adults of Php 50 per head regardless if you swim or not.
We paid extra for our lunch because we don’t want to bring with us a lot of stuff so we availed of the boat lunch meal which is Php 360 per person and includes pork bbq, chicken bbq, chorizo, and shrimp bbq, mixed seaweed, fruit cocktail for dessert, 1 bottled softdrink, and 1 bottled mineral water.
The cost for our boat rental was Php 4,000 and that covers the three islands that we visited. If you’re in a larger group than ours then boat rental will be at Php 5,000 and that can accommodate maybe 20 adults.
Overall, we had a great time and we really enjoyed our island-hopping activity. I definitely, would recommend Cebu Mactan Island Cruise if you’re looking for a boat that offers friendly and helpful boatmen, clean and spacious boat, a very accommodating operator, and of course good food. You can check their FB page for more details.
If you’re someone who is a first-timer here in Cebu, make sure to include in your itinerary the Mactan Island Hopping activity definitely you will enjoy swimming with fish, exploring sea corals, and generally love the beach. Just be reminded to do this during summer days that is from March to May, but it does not mean it’s not available all year round, just be aware of the weather though.
That’s it for now, for more travel blogs, don’t forget to upvote and follow me. Bye 💚
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