Pinamalayan to Sibale: a deserted paradise for the willing adventurer
10.05.2015
If you've been following my story, you'll know Sibale had caught my attention due to the lack of information I could find on the island. I managed to make it onto the island (as described in my last entry)
I did manage to make it to Sibale, and I'll tell you how on this page. But first, let me give you the executive summary:
If you are looking for a beautiful, untouched, deserted island - this is it. However, you'll have to give up the luxuries you'd enjoy in more established places.
And now, the details.
How to get to Sibale
As of May 2015, the daily Roro boat from Pinamalayan to Sibale leaves at 11am.
From Sibale, it returns every day to Pinamalayan at 6am.
My forty-five minutes in Pinamalayan were far more eventful than my 20 hours in the Dangay area. Walking along the ocean, I came across a group of around twenty children who stopped swimming to gawk at me. They yelled, mainly in English and asked me where I was going, if I was alone, what my name was, if I had a boyfriend. A few of them asked if I had any money for them.
As I walked around the area, I got the impression foreigners don't pass by Pinamalayan often. Adults asked me similar questions to the children (but did not ask for money). Everyone was chatty and curious. I exchanged emails with a man named Henry, who asked if I could answer his questions about Europe, and had breakfast with a friendly, older woman near the Roro port who sold local snacks made out of corn and sugar, which I stocked up on before heading back to the boat.
Company: n/a - individual Roro boat;
Cost: 150 PHP
Length: 2-3 hours (allow for 3.5, since the boat will stop to drop off cargo)
According to this article, Montenegro Shipping Lines will soon start a FastCraft route between Pinamalayan and several of the outlying islands. Current Roro boats currently cover these routes, along with Marinduque.
Roro boats are not for everyone and are by no means a luxurious form of travel. They can be overcrowded and smelly, especially if you sit inside, where most passengers squeeze in so as to stay in the shade. I enjoy sitting on the wings outside, scenic and generally relaxing albeit very hot - if you choose this option, make sure you have plenty of water with you, as three hours under strong sun will not be pleasant if you get dehydrated. Among cargo and passengers, I shared the first ferry with live roosters and goats. On this boat I had the company of live chicks and a pig. That having been said, Roro boats get you to your destination without a giant detour, my main requirement for this trip.
On the boat, I got chatting to a woman named Sally, who worked for the municipal government. She told me there'd been a government initiative to promote Sibale as a destination for eco-tourism, but that it had been put on the back burner for a while since preserving the island is so important. I'm guessing lack of adequate funding and resources also have something to do with it.
Selling Sibale to the average tourist could prove difficult - first of all, there is no quick or particularly comfortable way of getting there. From my understanding, you have to get there by going to Pinamalayan or one of the other islands dotted around Romblon, and then by Roro boat. This could change if the FastCraft route mentioned above comes into effect, but it would still be from Pinamalayan, a bit of a trek to get for the time-sensitive traveler.
Next, the lack of accommodation is a problem. It is not possible to book accommodation online and although information suggests that there are several home stays available on the island, as far as I know there are no phone numbers listed anywhere to help arrange accommodation ahead of time. There are no resorts or hotels. Apparently, a Chinese guy used to own a resort on the island, but chose to close it and open another in Boracay. Everyone I spoke to who had been to the island was either a Sibale native, or a someone who was friends with one and had gone to visit them.
Sally joked with me, saying maybe one day I'd write something about the island, and foreign tourists would come to visit.
When I first got on the Roro boat, I figured that I'd arrange accommodation upon arrival, as I usually do. I thought the reason for there being so little information on Sibale was because hotels / home stays just weren't online - not because they didn't exist. Regardless, I wasn't worried - I figured if I couldn't find a place to stay, I'd knock on people's houses and offer cash to sleep on the floor for a few hours, and then depart the next day. In my experience, Filipinos have always been extremely warm.
When I told Sally my plan, she laughed. She told me there are no hotels or home stays, just one guest house with two rooms, owned by a friend of hers. She called him from the boat to see if he had a room.
The rooms were above a little restaurant called TDL Foodhouse, and luck would have it that its main chef was on the Roro boat with me. This is not so much due to luck, but to the size of the island - it wouldn't surprise me if TDL is the only restaurant there. Sally asked the chef if he could take me and my bag there safely, and the chef happily agreed. I tried to offer them my snacks and cash as a thank you, but they politely declined. Sally told me I better save what cash I had, because there are no ATMs on the island.
When I got to TDL, I met Enyet, the owner of the restaurant and the rooms. He told me I was in luck - one of the two rooms was available. The rooms are certainly not for everyone. They are tiny and hot, and that's with the fan on. You have to try be asleep before 22:30, because that's when the electricity turns off. The hours for electricity are 5 to 7:30am, and 17:30 - 22:30. If you keep a light on in the rooms, bugs will find their way in. The bathroom is downstairs and shared, with no running water (yes, that means showering using a bucket).
That having been said, most of this didn't bother me. I will admit I nearly choked every night at my own ridiculous use of bug spray in the small setting, but the room is clean and Enyet is incredibly kind and caring. The room costs around £2 a night.
Read about the stay here.
