Friday, March 8, 2013

Breathtaking Sambawan Island, Biliran

I was still in Manila when I learned about Biliran Island and Agta as a resort. My cousin who is a dive master gave me his business card and when I reached home, I started googling Biliran and checked their website.

Looking at the marvelous photos of the island made me drool and vowed to see and reach it at once. When I reached Agta, I asked my cousin... When do I get to see that beautiful chain of islands, the one with land bridges and more, that I saw in the magazine? He replied... You are going to see it on the last day of your trek (but of course, my last day is a flight back to Manila).

And so the day to see the beautiful island finally arrived. I woke up and it was raining! Good heavens! I thought the plan to see the island is aborted. My cousins started preparing things, they plan to scuba dive despite the rain. We left at 10:00 in the morning and we still need to travel by land to reach the nearest port. I started to pray. I gotta see the island in a very fine weather with sunlight.

My cousins started to unload their scuba paraphernalia from our SUV. I started taking pictures. The rain wont stop, and so my prayer. I wasn't thinking of our safety while sailing on the boat, it was the change of weather that I want for some miracle to happen. We can't sail that fast since the waves were also strong, so it took us 2 hours to reach Sambawan. The medium to heavy rain blocked the awesome view of Sambawan from afar. I only saw silhouettes of hills. Five minutes before reaching the shore of the island, the sun came out! What an answered prayer of mine.

I know for a fact that my point and shoot digicam has limited capabilities if the weather is not sunny.

My cousins rested for a few minutes then off they sailed behind the island and started to dive. Me? I started taking photos, breath taking photos, awesome photos! Do I still need to describe the island? My pictures here can speak more than a thousand words.

If you have been to Coron and El Nido of Palawan  or even Batanes in the north of the Philippines. Sambawan Island deserve to be in the top five of the most breath taking islands in this archipelago. Talk about string of stony islets, white-coral beach, crystal waters, rich marine life, coral gardens and dolphins wading from a far.

I took 300 pictures of this island and you know that I can't put them all here. Simply stunning and I would definitely come back.

If you want to experience Sambawan Island at its best? Contact dive master Melo at www.agtabeachresort.com for scuba diving or snorkeling.

I am also extending my thanks to Charmaine and Santi for their underwater photos, Aunt Darling and Uncle Edgar for being awesome hosts and mostly to my Dad for making this trip possible.