The original plan was a family road trip from Iloilo City to Boracay. It was supposed to be the culmination of our ten solid days of “family’s escape from the city”. The day before the trip, the kids expressed their dislikes to the idea of road travel for ten to twelve hours from Iloilo City to Catiklan, then a boat ride to Boracay Island, more so that it’s a round trip.
Finally, we cancelled the plan just the night before the trip. We all agreed that the road trip is a waste of time and is stressful for the kids, so we will just plan a separate Boracay trip via plane from Manila. The mission now is to make the best alternative to the cancelled Boracay escapade. We all wanted to make the most of our last days in Iloilo City so the plan should be better if not good. Well it was not just good, but it turned out to be the best! Destination - Guimaras Island!
As unplanned as it is, we take whatever available option that will bring us from Iloilo City to the Island. First step is a boat ride from Port San Pedro to Buenavista Port. The boat ride is both relaxing and exciting.
Docking at Buenavista Port, we hired a jeep that will take us to one of the beaches in the island. We bought foods along the way and whatever we might need for our whole day stay in the island.
First sight of the beach…oh wow what a pleasant surprise!, not crowded, white sand, cool, clear, calm sea.
The kids can’t wait! We’re not even settled in our cottage and they went running to the beach. I followed them and and it took a while before I can persuade them to go back to the cottage and have some food first. The truth is, I myself find it difficult to go back to the cottage. The beach is so inviting.
Our lunch food is from Jollibee. The snacks, junk foods, soft drinks, candies are all from the sari-sari (convenience) stores we found in the commercial/residential area near the pier. The local delicacies, fishes (for grilling) and fruits are from the local wet market. The fish are fresh catch and the fruits are sooo sweet and cheaply priced! Just eating the uncontested world class mango of Guimaras island is simply heaven!
We stayed in the beach just lounging around the shore, doing lazy swim, playing in the sand, hunting for drift woods, sea shells, and all sea-shore friendly creatures, building sand castles, rock-throwing , coin hunting, hugging and cuddling in the water and exploring the beach. They are all just simple but the most joyful things you can do in the beach. The sun was also friendly on that day, it was not too hot.
We are unmindful of the passing time. We only noticed that it’s time to go when our hired driver took a kindly peek in our cottage.
The only spoiler that day is that our camera is low in battery and we left the charger. This is the same reason that we didn’t go island hopping. The camera is blinking the “low batt” warning and we thought that it would be a waste to go island hopping without documenting it. Anyway, we are definitely coming back in this island.
All in all this unplanned escapade surprisingly turned out to be one of the best and memorable among our family bonding. It also made us forget about the cancelled trip to Boracay. In Guimaras island we found our own P-A-R-A-D-I-S-E!
"The best things in life are mostly unplanned"
. But of course, this is with my super strict supervision.
