A Trip Down South

Last 23rd of May, 2010, we decided to push thru with another road trip … another road trip, a step closer to complete our aim of touring the whole Negros island.  We’ve been thru the road to Dumaguete, thru Negros’ north road going South of San Carlos to Dumaguete City, travelling as far as Siaton to one of its best resorts - Antulang.

Now, its time to go South on the Occidental side … our destination? Sipalay!!

The trip started early … 4:30am we hit the road aiming to arrive in Sipalay early to maximize the day.  It was an overnight vacation, and we had to travel back to Bacolod before noon the following day.  It was a straight 3.5-hr drive to Sipalay, no stopovers, no rest.

The night before the trip, the family had a discussion and decided to stay at one of the resorts in the Punta Ballo beach area.  There is also a Sugar Beach front of about 1km of white sand beach lined with resorts just before the Punta Ballo beach front­.  There was no specific reason why we decided to select a resort in Punta Ballo beach front, it was just a group decision.

We eyed the Artistic Diving resort, because of its good accommodation and amenities and planned to get a room there – at least that was the plan.  Arrived at the resort at about 9am and, not much of a surprise, there was no vacancy =(  Hhhmmm … the hassle of unplanned vacations – or a less planned one in this case.  Most of the neighboring resorts are fully booked as well and we need to wait till 1pm to get accommodation.  We decided to transfer to a nearby resort, the Robinson Cruse resort.  We booked one of their large family houses that has 2 bedrooms (both have air conditioning), a dining and sala areas and a private bathroom.  It was a bargain for the price of P2500/night – includes accommodation for 4 persons.  An additional P200 per person in excess of the 4 - the excess fee comes with a free mattress and beddings.  The Artistic Diving resort offers the same price for about the same accommodation package - less one air conditioned room;  for the same price their package includes 2 rooms, one air conditioned and another that comes with an electric fan.

Clean room, good accommodation and friendly staff … it was a good decision to take the Robinson Cruse room. 

While the staff prepared the room, we couldn’t wait to take a dip in the pristine white sand beach.  We took our snorkeling gears and headed out to the beach.  Just about 20-30 meters from the shore you can see fishes – schools and individuals – but not many corals.  It was relatively shallow along this distance.

Early afternoon, after we settled our belongings in the room, we decided to take a boat ride along the coast line.  Boat ride costs P600 for the first hour and P200 each succeeding hour.  We went to a snorkeling site near Campomanes Bay.  Great coral population, colorful fishes, anemones and star fishes everywhere.  An hour spent snorkeling passed by quickly.  We dropped by Campomanes Bay resort for a few minutes before heading back to the resort.  Campomanes Bay changed a lot since we went there back in our college days.  The live corals near the shoreline were gone.  All that was left were seaweeds and dead corals and some rocks and a few fishes swimming about.  Very disappointing, how a small port can degrade the shore’s beauty in a short span of a decade.

We spent the rest of the afternoon taking pictures and touring the beach front.  The white sand beach is not as fine as Boracay’s; then again it is a good thing that its not.  I’ve learned from our Carbin Reef trip that the finer the sand, the less live coral population surrounds the area.  The coarser, “coral-like” sand in Sipalay means a healthy population of coral life in the surrounding area – definitely a good thing.

Below are shots taken with my cheap IR filter.

 

 

One of the best moments one shouldn’t miss when in Sipalay is the gorgeous sunset.  Here are  the shots I took during sunset – timeless souvenirs.

 

Sunset shots in Sepia and Monochrome respectively.

 

Battered with previous day’s activities – swimming, snorkeling, strolling and picture taking – we woke up late the next day.  We took our late breakfast after swimming in the resort’s pool.  The accommodation includes an access to the resort’s pool by the way.  After a hefty breakfast we took some more pictures of the resort and the coast line and prepared our things for travel.

 

On our way back, we stopped by Mila’s restaurant in Hinigaran for a pasalubong stopover.  Mila’s restaurant is known for its delicious toasted bibingka – the best in Negros.

It was a short trip but definitely one of the best … made more special spent with my loved ones.

There are more sites to see, more places to go. One day at a time as the saying goes … in time, every nook and cranny of this Eden island we will explore.  ’till next time …

More photos on my facebook album … enjoy

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~ by valtok on May 27, 2010.