The Beaches of Camotes Island

After taking our breakfast, we roamed around the property that we rented. The front yard makes us very happy. It was all green and cool to look and to explore. 

But the beach is solid rock all the way along the coast. It turned out to be in closed with dead corals of about 1 to 1.5 meters high instead of white sands that we were hoping it to be. Whether high tide or low tide, the water still reaches these cliffs so fishes, big and small are free to hide somewhere under it. We decided to forget the swimming part and instead the children will need some fishing rods  to go fishing. Besides sharks may just be under those cliffs so it is not safe to just jump off the cliff and go swimming.

Our next stop was the public beach located in Santiago. The beach is free for swimming but the structures are for rent. It is managed by the government and is very affordable. The sand is white and finely powdered. The beach can definitely lure every tourist to take a dip and enjoy the water.

We almost decided to take a long stop here but then we wanted to check first the Mangudlong Beach Resort which is also one of the beaches in Santiago. The sun was so fierce at us when we reached it so the children decided to swim at Timubo Cave. Besides the entrance fee was so discouraging knowing that we could swam that same sea for free at the public beach. Of course, before we left we all posed for a perfect photo.

I observed that most part of the island's shoreline are cliffs that endlessly stretches along it's coast. So the story I heard that boats are the means of transportation there was for real. Passengers can just stand anywhere along the shore as boats can easily pick them up and drop them wherever coast they wanted. It was just like a commuter in a city waiting for a taxi along the road. The Santiago's beach is the only exception I guess because the boat may not be able to dock there during low tide.

But that should be long time ago before the RORO was implemented. RORO ship provides a safer means of transportation to and from the island. Tourist and even natives prefer the ferry boat rides pushing those small boats out of business. In fact the jeep that we hired was bought from the proceeds of those small boats. The owner was wise enough to convert his sea investments to land transport when the former proved to be hopeless.