83.5 kilometers away from the busy City of Iloilo, there is one underrated island where you can unwind, listen to the seas as the gentle waves strike the shores. The sandbar is long and inviting and the sunset is promising.
Dlinkers and Unlideals summer vacation is held here – 1 day and 1 night of procrastination, relaxation, awesomeness and losing up.
How to Get There
We already contacted a private van ahead via Tagbak Terminal to take us to Brgy. Mangorocoro where the private pump boat of the said resort is going to fetch us.
Alternatively, you can ride bus at Ceres Terminal with route going to Ajuy. Just tell the fare collector to drop you in the eskina going to Marbuena Island. From the barangay, you can ride a motorcycle going to pantalan/mini pier.
It took us around 30 to 40 minutes travel time from the mainland to the island destination. Just enjoy the timeless beauty of nature as you travel.
As we reached the island, we were welcomed by their dogs – Blackie I and Blackie II. My pawrent heart jumped in joy as I played with them.
We checked in first, arranged our things, ate a quick snack, took some photo opportunities and immediately prepared for the highlight – island hopping!
Ginasyan Island
This is the 1st island we hopped in and breathtakingly beautiful. Instead of sandbar, the island is filled with stones that makes it a ‘stonebar’.
Guard your feet with good aqua shoes or sandals, the stones may hurt your feet.
The blue waters feel like another infinity pool of mother nature.
Calabasa Island
Here’s another island we visited. This is unique as it has a ruined house on top of the hill – and a lighthouse. We took some time to explore the place.
The way going to the house is a bit challenging. There are people that has slipped so you have to be extra careful.
This is also the island where we swim and spend the rest of the time before returning to Marbuena Island.
After the swimming sessions and island hopping, we head back to Marbuena Island and get our lunch ready. We brought with us cooked food – chicken adobo and fried chicken. We also brought with us marinated pork and bangus for the barbeque. The island have charcoal grill so you can do your barbecue – ihaw ihaw; sugba sugba.
For the rice, we asked the staff to cooked it for us. You can pay them upon checking out. We also brought fruits for dessert.
After lunch, summer fun games followed. Our game masters ready something for us – a series of calorie-burning activity followed.
We spent the afternoon this way. We took a little rest and walk by the sandbar to watch another beautiful sunset.
For dinner, we had some canned goods and set up a bonfire where we roasted some marshmallows and hotdogs.
As the night went deep, we head back to our rooms. For the next morning, we had cup noodles and coffee for breakfast as we head home.
The pump boat took us again to the mainland. This time, we have no private van so we just rode on a motorcycle and wait for a bus that would take us back to the city.
Marbuena Island is just one of the many island resorts you can visit and unwind in Iloilo. Like Bulubadiangan Island in Concepcion and Jun Bee Garilva Recreation Center where we were last time, they are also in the process of rising up after getting hit by Typhoon Yolanda. Like us, fighting back to get up once again.
For easier and convenient travel, book everything in advance – the resort, your rooms when you are staying overnight, the van for transportation. If you arr coming as a group, you can delegate the things to bring – fruits, charcoals, rice, and even sunblock.
Photo Credits to: May Mombay, Nile Banga and Kez Taclino.
