Camotes Island: A Not-So-Hidden Paradise

It was Thursday evening. A high school friend, who I have been hanging out lately, asked me if I can come with her on her upcoming Cebu trip. At that time, I was bombarded with online projects. I asked her where exactly in Cebu will she be staying and she told me  'Camotes Island.' I google it immediately and much to my surprise, the island is a paradise.

She's supposed to travel with two of her colleagues, but they backed out due to work and other responsibilities. Awed with google image results of the island, I sent her a message telling her that I'll think about it. That night, I have conflicting thoughts and emotions. I wanted to go but I was thinking of my work. Can I still enjoy the place while being busy with online projects? And oh, the finances. I was waiting for the pay of my online projects that time. I set a deadline for myself to decide: Friday.

Friday came and I just found out that the flight to Cebu will be the following day (Saturday) at around 8am. Therefore, I need to decide ASAP.

I checked my bank account and the pay has arrived.
I worked my ass off to finish whatever pending tasks I have. Although I didn't manage to finish all of them, but at least, I have slash off 50% of the tasks in my to-do list. The ending? I said YES.

Even with doubts and hesitations, I packed my bag that night and prepared myself for an adventure.
This gonna be good...

How to get there: 
It was almost 10am when we reached the city of Cebu. We had a quick lunch in SM, board a van heading to Danao Port (P50). From Danao port, we immediately rode a trike to reach the port itself. The schedule for the roro trip to Camotes is this: 10 am, 12 noon, and last trip is 5:30 pm. So just imagine the things that we have to go through in order to catch the 12 noon trip. We ran, rushed to buy the roro tickets (P200 + environmental fee of P5) - parang nasa Amazing Race lamang.

We were relieved when we made it, just 5 minutes before its scheduled trip.

sea sick!

The situation in the roro isn't good.
It was raining that time and we find ourselves nauseous in the middle of the trip. Yes, we were seasick.

To find comfort, we went out of the airconditioned room. The open area of the roro helped. But I still feel nauseous that time. I kept on exclaiming to myself, Camotes, you should be worth it. 

The nausea and headache we felt that time came to a temporary stop when we've finally had a glimpse of the island. That moment was priceless. It's like seeing an oasis in the middle of a desert.

We prepared our bags, got off the roro, immediately hired a motorcycle and give the driver instructions to take us to Santiago Bay, our home-to-be for 2 days in the island.

And our adventure begun...