To continue with our Leyte adventure, we woke up at 2 am that day to head to Kalanggaman Island which was the highlight of our trip. The car that we rented would pick us up at 2:30 am, good thing I already prepared my OOTD the night before. (jk lang sa ootd)
Since it was still dark and there would be no view, we all slept through the car ride and woke up as the sun rises. We drove through zigzag roads to get to our destination and had witness Leyte sunrise at the highest point of the hi-way going to Palompon. It was beautiful.
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| Maubay na aga, Leyte! Our view enroute to Palompon, Leyte |
It was a three-hour ride going to the town of Palompon, Leyte. Kalanggaman Island is located in Palompon and is an hour-boat ride from Palompon town proper. Before going to Kalanggaman, Jel, had kept in touch with the local tourism office in order to reserve a slot for our tour. The tourism office of Palompon has been regulating the number of tourist to protect the island from too much crown. That's why it would be more wise to secure a reservation first before heading to Palompon.
Upon arrival, we head to the tourist registration paid a total of Php 225 for both the environmental fee and entrance fee. Jel and Mark went to the wet market to buy goods for our lunch. After all the registration process and buying food for lunch, we found ourselves inside the boat going to Kalanggaman. We were the last passenger aboard the boat. Fare to rent a boat is Php 3,000 roundtrip.
(Backstory: Dahil practical kami at masyado mahal ang Php 3,000, we asked the tourism officer if we could share boat with other tourists. Pwede naman 'yun basta may makakasabay. We had a shared boat ride and we only paid Php 300 each roundtrip.)
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| Boat to Kalanggaman Island |
It was an hour boat ride from the port to Kalanggaman Island. The water was calm and we saw flying fishes along the way. I remember taking so many photos of the island because it was picturesque as we approach and wala ako magawa haha.
We safely arrived and my first thought was - Ang liit lang pala ng island and you can stroll the entire island for less than 30 mins lang siguro. They have clean restrooms, cottages for rent and grilling stations. We did not rent a cottage because we were only staying for few hours and would leave after lunch. Good thing, there were tables and chairs available for use and they were FREE. We just placed our tables under a tree and there goes the island life. The Kalanggaman is perfect for photoshoot talaga especially the sandbar.
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| Welcome to the Island. Kalanggaman Island marker at the back but I was being brilliant I covered it. |
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| Island life - there were many life guard huts |
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| The sand bar when we arrived (the low tide was just starting). Look at those cute clouds. |
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| Jel and Mark preparing our food |
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| Habang kami ni Yna ay uma-aura lang hahaha! Landscape selfie |
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| Portait selfie |
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| Pak! Very Marimar |
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| Photo of our food. It was good. Thanks to Mark and Jel |
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| We went swimming. The water was so clear. Just for your information, swimming at the sides of the sand bar is PROHIBITED because of rip tides. |
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| Photo of the sandbar |
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| Group photo and you can see the long stretch of sandbar at the back. Worth it! |
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| We met fellow travelers at the sandbar. Meeting new people is one of the reasons why I travel |
After all the photo ops, we ride the boat back to Palompon and drove back towards Tacloban. We also stopped by beautiful churches along the way. It took us more than three hours on our way back because we had several stops. We arrived at McArthur Monument just before sunset. There's no entrance and there were many locals strolling and chilling as aside from the monument, it is also a park with view of the sea.
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| Stay curious. Pink skies. |
A trip at Eastern Visayas won't be complete without experiencing San Juanico Bridge. We decided to have our dinner at a restaurant in Samar so that we would be able to pass by the bridge. We didn't have a chance to take a photo at the bridge because it was already dark when we drove to the restaurant. But still, we were able to experience passing by the longest bridge in the Philippines.
We had our dinner at Pasqualino’s Ristorante which is popular for their Italian Cuisine. The ambiance was good at the restaurant. It is overlooking the bridge and the strait. I just wished we went earlier because it was too dark to enjoy the view.
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| This would have been our view. :( (credits to: Google - Travel Trilogy - http://www.traveltrilogy.com/2013/10/pasqualinos-ristoranti-italiano.html ) |
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| Groufie <3 |
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| Pizza and other food that I don't remember na basta Italian |
After dinner, we head to our inn and prepared for our flight back to Manila the next morning. Bye weekend!
Read the first part of our trip, itinerary and budget here: http://herwanderjournal.blogspot.com/2017/05/tacloban-and-kalanggaman-island-diy.html
Thanks for reading.
Love,
C
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