Cebu / Bantayan Island Trip : Day 3 : Paradise Beach & Ogtong Cave Resort

Good morning Bantayan Island!!! Our experience yesterday was great and we looked forward to our Island hopping this day.

me in our tent and our rented motorbike

We prepared our stuff for our Island Hopping. Our contact person arranged the boat for us. 

the busy fishermen in the morning. 

low tide

We were planning to visit another popular island - Virgin Island. However, our contact person could not find a boat that fits the amount we have agreed on, P600. They say for this amount, we can only rent a small boat. And to get to Virgin Island, we need a bigger boat to get on with the strong waves but of course, it costs more. 

Hubby and I agreed to take a small boat and proceed to a different beach (tipid mode!).

Paradise Beach.

Paradise Beach is a paradise. Not as popular as Virgin Island though but the sand is white, water is blue and calm. This beach is located in Bantayan Island.

Entrance Fee: P50

No restroom here yet. So if you wanna weewee, do it in a survival way. :)
No accommodation either!

From Santa Fe, you can reach this beach by road.

We really had a peaceful idle time here, a very different experience compared to my previous trips. Every time I am on a trip, I want to make the most of the time. Kaya every day, there are planned activities.  I realized doing nothing can be fun!!! We just lay down and savored the wind!!

We went back to Sugar Beach just in time for lunch. The resort sells seafoods. It's already packed and pretty expensive. If you want to buy cheaper seafood, wait for the fishermen around 6am while they dock on the shore after fishing then buy food directly from them.

The resort can cook food for you for P45 per meal. We purchased pusit for adobo and fish to fry. I was so hungry that noon and when they served the food, there were only 2 fried fish. Bee and I knew they were 3 when they showed it to us before we bought it. I told the staff about it, but they only said it's really just 2! Whatever!  To my hunger that time, I just let it go and finished the food!! It was funny remembering about it now. It was petty but then it was about honesty, right?!?

After lunch, I prepared for a shower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shower Shower Shower....

I haven't had any shower yet and the last time was yesterday before we left for Bantayan Island.

I chose not to swim in Paradise beach as I'd rather lie down and not move. And I just couldn't take a shower in Sugar beach. Since we were only camping, we were left to use their shared restroom compared to rooms which have their own. Well, that's understandable...

Honestly, I know I've seen and been to the worst comfort/shower room in my life, but this one in Sugar beach topped it all. I tried to convince myself several times that I can bear with it but every time I face their shower room, my gut is saying NOOOO!! It was really filthy!!!!!!

It was a dilemma for me. Really. I told Bee about it and of course he understood. Had it been their shower rooms are bearable, we could have stayed another night camping here in Sugar Beach Resort. For my own selfish sake (because Bee could stand these filthy showers), we opted to transfer to another resort.

Kaya lang we ran out of cash! The remaining cash in our pocket was for our transpo back to Cebu proper and some change. We can withdraw from the bank. Unfortunately, the only ATM machine that was told to us that's located in Bantayan proper could not dispense money.And it was a Sunday!!! There was news that another ATM machine will arrive and be installed in Santa Fe the next week. But we can't wait till next week!! Our flight is the next day!!!!!!!!!

Our last option is to use our credit card. We checked out other resorts and see who can accommodate credit card payment. Good thing Ogtong Cave Resort does!!

Ogtong Cave Resort

We filled out forms and when they tried to swipe the credit card, they were getting an error message. Well, it couldn't be my card, that is for sure! The staff said it's normal, it's just their connection and that they will just try it again the next morning, before we check out. I thought, they better get payment from the card or else, we won't be able to pay!!

We also checked out Sta. Fe Beach Club but we didn't like the seaweeds and the strong waves. We also didn't like the view of the port.

Our room for the night.

The Underground Cave

Swimming in Octong Cave is now exclusive to those who are checked in. Though the resort is open for walk in guests, they are not allowed to swim in the cave.

Since there aren't anyone swimming, the cave felt creepy.. We only dipped in the cold water for a while and headed to swim to their pool.

Cave opens at 8:00am and closes at 6:00pm.

stairs that leads to the cave

this is the view from the bottom of the stairs. So its really just a small portion of water underneath this tiny cave. They put a light at the far end as a warning to not go beyond it.

Same as the cave, the pool opens at 8am and closes at 6pm. Walk-in guests can only swim here and the beach.

The resort follows strict swimming attire.



After few swims in the pool, we went to the beach and we were soooo amazed by the view!!!! It's heaven meets earth!!!!

that's Ogtong Cave Resort

super low tide

It was a great day!! And I had a pretty nice and clean shower!!


Cebu / Bantayan Island Trip: Day 1
Cebu / Bantayan Island Trip: Day 2
Cebu / Bantayan Island Trip: Day 3
Cebu / Bantayan Island Trip: Day 4