Binucot Beach in Ferrol, Romblon (Tablas Island)

October 25-27, 2013

This trip was abruptly "planned" by my father. I did not expect any physical activity other than beach bumming and that was exactly what happened.

We left the bustling Ortigas CBD at around 5:15pm and we arrived at the Batangas Port at around 6:30pm. Yes, my dad is a race car driver. Haha. By the way, we passed through 3 Toll gates, SLEX (214php), SLEX extension (25php) and STAR Tollway (67php). In summation, it cost us 306Php before we reached the port. You may leave your car at the port and it costs 23php per 2 hours, 155php for 24 hours and 6php per hour after 24 hours.

If through public transport, you may reach the port by riding either Jam/Alps buses from the Kamuning/Cubao Area in Quezon City with signage of "Batangas Pier" and "Calabarzon" which is via Star Tollway so it is faster than those buses that passes through Lipa City. Both bus terminals are along EDSA highway and they are not hard to find. Due to the recent bus ban in Manila, I am not familiar anymore if the bus stations in Taft are still under operation or if you have to go to Coastal to ride a bus to the port. What I am sure of is that those along Quezon City are still fully operational and I guess the interval of bus trips are pretty near each other (30mins or so) so you can hop in the bus anytime and the conductor will just give you your tickets as you ride along. I don't think they allow advance booking. It's a first come, first serve seat allocation. As far as I can remember, tickets cost 170php but for a safer budget, make it 200php. Normal travel time is 2-2.5 hours.

Upon arriving at the Batangas Port, we paid the necessary terminal fee-Environmental User Fee (50 pesos) and the Terminal Fee (30 pesos). We secured our tickets ahead of time by buying it online at the 2Go site. Choose the Batangas-Odiongan Route, pay your purchase and you're good to go. Estimated travel time is 6hours. When we entered the port, we had to check in where they will check your ticket, call the person's name as written in the ticket and then take a picture of you. After checking in, we just stayed at the waiting area. The port was pretty jammed pack due to the upcoming local elections. There are lots of food carts around if you get hungry and there is also a 7-eleven downstairs if you need some last minute shopping.

It was around 8pm when we queued up to board the ship. It was interesting that they had this process where you have to put down all your things on the floor, step back around a meter away from it then a K-9 will sniff through your things if you have any harmful/illegal things inside.

After that, we finally boarded the ship. The inside of the ferry was pretty nice. It was clean and looks new. The only problem I encountered was that some of the beds did not have any number on them and it caused confusion not only to the passengers but also to the staff. We can not determine whether we were on our rightful beds as indicated in our tickets. Eventually, we all just settled and took the bed as long as everybody had their own. We did not care anymore if it was the allocated bed for us or not.

Once settled, we rented some linens/beddings. You have to present a valid ID to avail of the linens otherwise, deposit 100bucks. After getting the linens, we claimed our FREE meal at the deck of the ship. I was surprised that there was a mobile and a bar at the ship deck. It was pretty much a party place. It would be pretty awesome if I had some of my friends with me and we would drink there while cruising on the ship.

The bed where we slept

After getting our meals, we went back to our beds and distributed the food to our family members. For me, the food was pretty palatable. But of course, do not expect it to taste really good. It's just your normal cabin food.

When it was around 10pm, the ship finally left the port. I tried to get some sleep unfortunately, some people were too insensitive. Some were talking and laughing loudly and some were playing the radio a little louder than it should be. The only remedy to this was my own headset. I put it on and after a little while, I fell asleep.

It was around 4am when we were awaken by the announcement that the ship was already arriving Poctoy Port in Odiongan. So it took us approximately 6 hours to reach our destination. I quickly removed the linens from my bed and gave it to my brother for him to give it back to the linen area. When we were all ready to go, we disembarked the ship at around 4:30am.

Upon setting foot at Romblon, I noticed that my father's employees were already waiting for us. We rode the pick up and it was approximately a 45-minute drive from the the port in Odiongan to Ferrol. According to my blogger friend, Josiah Sicad, you may opt to ride the jeep which costs 28php. Alternatively, you may hire a motorcycle/"single" as they call it to reach Ferrol. I am just not sure how much it costs.

We arrived at the Villa Michaela/ Binucot Sunset Cove Resort at around 5:30 in the morning. Unfortunately, the room that we were supposed to stay in was occupied by a foreigner. I guess the owner did not fully understood my father's intent to stay at the place. He even paid in advance just to show that he is serious on booking the place, it was disappointing. Instead, we were given a cabana where we will wait for the current guest to check out at 2pm.

The cabana where we stayed. It's actually just good for 2-3 persons.

It seems like it was built for lovers because there was no cover for the shower/cr

Some of the huts that you can rent when staying at the place

Since the sun was already saying hello to us, we just opted to walk in the beach than be sad over the incident. The morning water was so enticing! It was a really nice place and was just so pristine. No one was around but us and some friendly dogs. Actually during our whole stay there, the only foot prints that I saw in the beach were the ones from us and those from the stray dogs. I swear, you can count the number of people walking along the beach and I love it that way. It's like we found our very own cove, our own paradise.

 I regret not taking a panorama of the Binucot beach but these two pictures here however shows the stretch of the cove. Notice that the water was also very calm. Very conducive for relaxation/meditation.

The hill on the right that looks like a turtle. See its head and shell? and The islet on the right

This was the nearer view of the islet on the right

We walked to the end of the cove on the right and noticed that there were a lot of shells which goes to show that the beach was untouched. My mother was beaming with glee when she saw the shells. She even collected a handful of them not fearing the DENR. She pointed out that DENR there was not yet strict unlike in other popular islands like Boracay. True enough, she was able to take home a BUCKET of shells! They say there used to be a Marine Sanctuary on that side of the beach however, after putting up the turtle pen the turtles did not come back :(

The abundant shells, my playful mom and me. Yes, we had matching jackets. haha.

Notice that the islet was full of limestones.

After looking around and some photo-ops, we went back to the resort. Oh! I almost forgot that only Smart Communications has signal on this part of the country. In order to get a Globe signal, you have to walk to the right side of the cove until you reach the end of it just like what we did. But when you get to the mainland in Ferrol, you will get a better signal of Globe. For Suncellular, I only got a proper signal when I was in Odiongan.

When we arrived at the resort, Pandesal were given to us by my father's employees (they are really efficient) and we had our breakfast by the beach. The owner of the resort came to us and offered the main house for us to stay in that costs the same price than wait for the foreigner to check out of the cottage.

I guess this was the cottage where we were supposed to stay at

 My father agreed and so the owner started to clean up and ready the place for us. It was around 8am when we finished having our breakfast. My mom thought of preparing our lunch and dinner but the public market nearest to Ferrol was in Odiongan (1hr away) and opens at 10am only. According to the folks there, not many people buy from public markets. In short, business there was not booming. Instead, people go from house to house to sell their products or in Filipino, naglalako. While waiting for 2 more hours, my mother walked again to the other side of the cove while I fell asleep in the kubo on the beachfront.

I woke up to the sound of a car's engine to find out that it was again my father's employees who came back to fetch my mom to buy our food. I was also informed that the place where we will stay in was also ready so we transferred our things there.

This was the main house where we stayed

The shells were so abundant in that place that each step of the stairs were adorned by it.

It was pretty cozy inside and I could really feel that I was in a rest house. It's the ambiance of the place I guess however, there was no cover but just walls again for the CR upstairs. It was a good thing that there was a covered CR downstairs. Given that it is the main house or where the owner of the place actually resides, there was a sala with TV, dining table, router for Wi-Fi connection and a kitchen. The disappointment earlier was now replaced with satisfaction.

They provided us with two queen size beds upstairs but there were 5 of us who will share the bed. Good thing we brought our own air bed so that only two people would have to share in a bed. I lied on one of the beds and again, I fell asleep. I guess I was tired from all the traveling to Binucot Beach. It was very sunny outside and you would expect that it would be hot inside the house, but that was not the case. There was no need for electric fans because you can feel the natural cool wind. There must be something in the structure of the house that makes it cool inside. I woke up at around 1pm and found out that my siblings were also sleeping in the room and that my parents were still not yet back from the town proper.

I felt the need to take a bath since I haven't had one since I got here and when I finished, it was raining! Crazy weather is crazy. Good thing I brought my umbrella. Our lunch was being served at the pavilion in front of the resort. My father was back but not my mother.  After eating, it was still raining so I went back to the main house and did some things in the laptop.

It was sundown and my brother and mother were inviting me to take a walk in the beach or swim. I finished my presentation and off I went with them. The view of the sunset there was really nice. I guess that's why the resort called itself,  "sunset cove" for that very reason.

My father and younger brother kayaking

I wanted to go snorkling but it was low tide and it was late so I thought I will just do it tomorrow. After playing in the beach, we went back and waited for our food to be delivered by yet again, my father's employees. Hehe. They came, we ate our dinner, I washed the dishes and then we went to sleep. The problem with the place was that since there were no electric fans, mosquitoes were everywhere.  I had to cover up my whole body with my pashmina. The next morning, I woke up with a sore upper lip. I'm not sure why but I'm guessing since the mosquitoes can not bite in to any part of my body, they chose my face specifically my lips! The soreness was very obvious and I was bothered it wouldn't go away but just like any other mosquito bites, it faded.


I wanted to do some snorkling in the mangroves area which is located on the left side of the beach but I guess I woke up a little too late. It was around 7am but the sea was already on low tide.

 

Mangroves

Aside from that you have to go through a lot of sea urchins to get to the spot where there would possibly be many fishes. There were no school of fish on the beach front of the resort.

Maybe this was the sea grass that sea turtles used to graze on

Instead of snorkling, I just walked along the beach again while waiting for a Globe signal.  While walking, I saw this duyan and I tried it out.

This was my view from the duyan. It was so relaxing there.

After a while, I realized that we might leave in an hour so I had to get ready.

This was my last photo of the place before I went back to the resort

When it was around 11am, we paid the accommodation fee and off we went to visit my mother's friend in Odiongan.

A picture of us at the resort

The rough road you have to endure before reaching this paradise

 Before going to my mother's friend, we had a stop over at my father's house which he has been renting for some time now. I saw that in front of it was a beach so I hurriedly explored it. It was low tide again and it appears that a sandbar was in the middle. I went there hoping I could find some marine life but I guess it was scarce in that place. Ferrol was nevertheless beautiful.

We first had to buy our tickets but the ticketing booths open at 1pm so we just stayed at the house of my mother's friend and then my father instructed his ever reliable employees to buy the tickets for us. My mother's churchmate was very warm and welcoming.  She and her husband served us food and it was like fiesta! They also told us that people here in Romblon are very easy to get along with. When it was nearing our time to board the ship, we bid good bye to them and went to Poctoy Port.

Upon arriving there, we saw that some souvenir shops were open. We looked around and bought some. It was interesting what things they have made out of marble. But I also thought that maybe there will come a time when marble will really become scarce and expensive.

Lots of marble products in the port

When it was around 4pm, we boarded the ship. Unlike 2Go Ferry, the Montenegro Ship was old and smells old too. So I suggest ride 2Go because their facilities are way, way better. Also the travel time for Montenegro Ships is 9hours as compared to 2Go which is just 6hours. The time difference is due to the former's old engine. Also, you cannot buy tickets from Montenegro ahead of time. You have to buy it from their ticketing office on the same day you are going to ride their ship. Only 2Go offers online selling of tickets.

Montenegro Lines

Terminal Fee is 15php

When I was at the ship, I noticed that these kids were swimming beside it. Turns out, you have to throw a coin to them and then they will dive to get it. It was fun throwing coins to them, seeing them scramble for it and do it all over again. Haha.

Back at our cabin, there were many women who were going around, selling food. I bought a fried chicken and rice from them which costs 60php. Surprisingly, the chicken tasted good. According to my father, it was native chicken. He also secured linens for us by depositing 100php for each linen.

When it was around 5pm, the ship left the port. The ride was pretty scary because the ship made sounds like it was going to sink or be torn apart anytime.

After 9hours, we finally reached Batangas port. We disembarked and our ride back home was already waiting for us.

Alternatively, you may ride a bus that goes to Manila/Cubao from the port. They are all just waiting there at the parking area in front.







Other useful information:
"Motenegro-Shipping Line" proceed daily except Tuesday, "Super-Shuttle RORO" every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and brand new on schedule is the "2 Go" Tuesdays and Fridays. All shipping lines proceed between Batangas and Odiongan) From: Binucot Beach FB page