We’re past the middle of October, and I find it gets so dang warm, it’s almost like summer. Well, ‘cept for the frequent downpours we get in the late afternoons and evenings, some of them lasting all through the night (oh and that storm over the weekend). Hot days like these call to mind those days spent at a beach or an island, with nothing but the sea, sky and scorching sun to bear witness to whatever foolishness you come up with. And it’s ok to be foolish, especially if you’re in a place as picturesque as the Bantigue Sandbar in Islas de Gigantes.
This is officially my fourth sandbar. The first was the Virgin Island in Panglao, Bohol (blog post here) and the second one was Luli Island at Honda Bay in Palawan (blog post here). Of course the third one was one I just recently blogged about, which is the White Island in Camiguin (also, blog post here).
Among the four, though, I think the biggest is this one, the Bantigue Sandbar. It has its own set of sheds, with even a store and island restaurant, with shower rooms and toilets for those who have to heed the call of nature…
If I’m not mistaken, there is actually a small village at the middle, and they’re the ones that own the few stores on the sandbar.
After our short stop at Pulupandan Island (if you haven’t read about that yet, go check it out right now), we arrived at Bantigue Sandbar. This is where we got changed into more appropriate clothes, and put an order in the local eatery for lunch. Of course, while they prepared our lunch, we were free to just go around and into the water.
Because, well, why not? The water just looks so inviting!!!
Just look at how clear the water is!!!
Other accounts and narratives made about this place would suggest you visit it at sunset. Which is probably going to be really spectacular. But if logistics do not allow it, and you do not have enough time (like we did) for that luxury, then I’d say there is absolutely nothing wrong with being there in the middle of the day.
I mean, look at all those clear blue waters, the blue sky with its cotton candy clouds…. wah. Just… wah.
At this juncture, I already knew better than to skip sunscreen. After having been burnt into a crisp and even turned into a lobster color at one point, I have learned my lesson the hard way.
Considering that this was in the middle of the day, in the middle of summer, with that scorching heat, you’d be a fool not to slather on sunscreen.
I’m not sure if it was because we were too hungry, and this was our first proper meal of the day, or the food was just too good, but we devoured lunch like there was no tomorrow. Many of us did not even bother getting seated, and we even used our hands, haha!
Getting a proper photo was even out of the question because there were grabby hands everywhere, and we were too busy having our fill.
By the way, what we had was sinigang (stew) out of some kind of fish, two boxes full of scallops, and another two boxes of this type of shell, called wasay-wasay in the local dialect, because they looked like “wasay” or “axe”.
SOOOOO YUMMY. (Also, the boxes were crates, really. )
And I have to say I developed a great appreciation for scallops. The scallops were also fresh, and best of all, they were so cheap! Only one peso per shell! But this was actually complimentary from the local eatery, which meant it was free!!!!
After we cleaned it up, food coma set in. We very given some time to rest and settle down.
The place is undeniably beautiful, and if you’re not careful, you’d end up taking way too many photos than you can handle later on. (I know I did.) By the way, in case you’re wondering, the itinerary was arranged by Las Islas Travel and Tours (I’ll link you down below later.)
After taking several more photos, off we went to the next island of our island-hopping tour!!! See ya then!
And, as promised:
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