The last time I've been in La Carlota Negros Occidental, my mother's home town and I grew up for almost 6 years (from 1990-1996) was 2006. For almost 8 years, finally! I'm back!
I had a lot of childhood memories in that place. I bonded with my Lola (which I am certified Lola's girl) :) Last holy week of 2014, we decided to visit my Lola, she's already 84 years old and very very strong :) We arrived last Maundy Thursday, rest until Good Friday to observed the essence of Holy week :) We decided to go to Sagay City, particularly in Carbin Reef. I did research beforehand and booked our tour in Sagay City Tourism office for the tour. :)
We left La Carlota at 6am last April 19. We took a Ceres Bus to Bacolod. Since the road was under repair, we took 1.5 hours to Bacolod, instead 45 mins normally :)
When we arrived in South Terminal in Bacolod, we head to North Terminal going to Sagay City. :) We travel 3 hours to Sagay.
Hello Sagay! :)
We look for fast food or carinderia nearby to buy additional food. :) Rode a tricycle going to Old Sagay, jump off point to Carbin Reef.
We arrived in port at 10:30am, head to Tourism office, paid the boat rental, fees and snorkeling gears and the staff introduced us to our designated boatman, Kuya MJ :)
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| Old Sagay Port :) |
Kuya MJ asked a favor politely if we can dropped by his cousins and parties to Molocaboc Island. We agreed :)
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| Mangroves in Molocaboc Island |
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| A bahay kubo in Molocaboc Island Port :) |
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| View of Carbin Reef :) |
We changed our clothes and took our lunch before swimming since it's already lunch time :)
Start of SWIMMINNNGGGGG!!
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| P 300 rental fee of our cottage :) |
At 2pm, we decided to do snorkel :) We expect that a boat will take us to the snorkel area but in our surprise, no :) Gear up with life jacket and snorkel mask, we will going to swim from the shore to the snorkeling area :) Yoh! hahahaha! A foreigner, name Kity (or Katy) asked me if she can join us since we have our guide :) I agreed :) Since the wave is kinda strong, even I am a swimmer, it's hard to kick and swim. Our guide, told us to grabbed each others hand and he will lead us :) I saw a very big clams for the first time :) Sea urchins, starfish and different kinds of fish!
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| With kity :) |
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| Wacky shot! |
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| The sand is not that fine but it's ok :) |
We just enjoy the whole afternoon, picture taking and swimming :) We left the Carbin Reef at 4pm :) Washed up in the shower area behind the Museo Pambata in Old Sagay Port. The facilities is not that good but they mentioned that they will going to work out the shower facilities :)
Arrived in Bacolod at 7pm and head to SM Bacolod to have a dinner. We choose Deco's :)
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| The authentic La Paz Batchoy :) |
See? I just emailed them back and told them to work out only the shower facilities but the rest are very organized and well maintained :)
KUDOS to the City Goverment and Tourism Office of Sagay City. More power and continue to be a role model to the other tourism office all over the Philippines for sustaining and maintaining the natural beauty of Carbin Reef :)
How to get there:
From Bacolod, hail a cab going to North Bus Terminal. Then ride a bus going to Escalante (two-way) then tell the conductor to drop you off to Sagay City. When you reach Sagay City, ride a yellow tricycle and tell the driver you are going to Carbin Reef. :)
Travel Buddies: Jing and Marvin
That beach looks amazing. Have not been there. I guess I really have to include that in my list.
ReplyDeleteIt is :) You should include it to your list. The Carbin reef is protected by the City government that's why the beauty of beach is preserve :)
DeleteIs it safe to leave your things in cottage when you guys go for snorkel?
ReplyDeleteHI Van :) Thank you for dropping by:) There's a local staffs in the island to assist you. They are willing to look for your things. Based on our experience, it's safe :) But for your security, might as well have one of your companion look over your stuff :)
Deletehi po ate :) i love your blog coz it shows the itinerary and expenses hehe .. and ohh by the way what camera are u using ? i saw in your pctures that u have canon dslr :) just wnna know whats the model and also what site are u using to edit your photos ?? hehe
ReplyDeleteHi Lindy! Thank you! :)
DeleteI am using Canon 1000d model when im taking photos when travelling. Some of my photos posted here was also taken from Nikon coolpix digicam of my sister. And I edit my photos using adobe photoshop cs6. :)