Quest for the True North

I heart Cebu

Filed under beach, travel

I just got back from Nailon Beach Resort, which is in the suburbs of Bogo City, four hours north of Cebu City.

It’s not a white-sand beach like the other beaches in Cebu that I’ve gone to, but the resort is pretty enough to lift one’s spirits. I stayed in a room by the beach. The room opens into a balcony where you could sit and talk the whole night with the sea in front of you. It’s perfect if you have a special someone with you.

more pictures here 

Anyway, it’s one beach down on my list. I drew up a list earlier this year of places in Cebu that I would like to see.

Among others I’ve gone to Olango Island, famous for the migratory birds it protects, and Malapascua Island, famous for its dive spots and white beach. Malapascua is the less developed version of Boracay. In fact, people call it “little Boracay.”

These are the remaining Cebu beaches on my list:

1. Bantayan Island - Bantayan is perhaps the most popular out-of-town seaside destination among Cebuanos. I’ve been meaning to go there ever since I don’t know when, but every time a group organizes a trip to Bantayan (I never go places on my own. That would be lonely), something always comes up and I am left behind.

3. Badian Island - Just heard about this island from officemates. I thought it would merit a visit.

4. Moalboal - My officemates went there on a whim a few months ago, and I hear the beach is pretty. I forgot the reason why I wasn’t with them. I was probably cramming a deliverable.

5. Catmon - I heard about Catmon from my housemate who has a backpacker boyfriend. I usually tag along as the official third wheel during out-of-town trips, but they forgot about me when they went to Catmon.

6. Plantation Bay - We are going there on the 24th. Yipee!

6. Bohol - I’ve been to Bohol, but I didn’t get to see the place as a tourist. I was there in 2002 to visit my father’s relatives in Tagbilaran and Panglao, but all I got to see was the city.

I want to go to the beaches of Panglao, especially the famous Balicasag Island, where my paternal grandmother is from. I want see the Chocolate Hills and Hinagdanan Cave. I want to eat lunch on the floating restaurant in the Loboc River. I want to pet a tarsier.

I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to live in Cebu. There is so much to discover and experience, from the beaches to the food to shopping to the centuries-old churches. Every weekend (well, almost), I head off to some random beach or place or town, and yet after close to 21 months, I find that there is still so much to see.

I don’t scrimp on my travels because that would defeat the purpose of why I earn. I try to do well at my job because I want to earn, and I want to earn because I want to have something to spend while I’m young. Besides, you don’t have to spend so much on trips. I’ve gone to the northernmost tip of Cebu on the back of a motorcycle, and then slept in the sand when I got there. That was already perfect for me.