Siquijor Day 1: Getting to the Mystical Island

Good things to come!

Our long-awaited Siquijor trip started at 4AM at the South Bus Terminal on February 9, 2013.

Well, that was the plan, anyway!

I did get to the bus terminal before the agreed-upon time. The rest, however, had to make a mad dash to get there fast so we don't miss the bus that was scheduled to leave by 4 in the morning, or once full. By the time I got there, more than half the seats were already occupied. Caj had just picked Ariel up and they were already on the highway, but Fred was still about 15 minutes away.

I got restless waiting so I decided to get some coffee from the Dunkin Donuts near the entrance of the terminal to take my mind off worrying about whether we'd make this bus or have to wait for the next one - wrong move. I couldn't sleep a wink the entire ride!

Caj and Ariel finally came, and we decided to board the bus and save a seat for Fred after making arrangements with the conductor to only start off once our friend had arrived. I'm a bit embarrased to say that we caused quite a commotion in the bus while trying to direct Fred to where we were parked. When he finally arrived and boarded the bus, this guy sitting on a lone seat by the door commented on how the person we were waiting for was like a girl for moving so slow.

That was both rude to Fred, and discriminatory to girls! I get that we were late, ok? :P

Once we settled on our seats (none of us got to sit together), the bus finally went on its way. I was sitting beside this guy who got off at Carcar, so I moved to the window seat he vacated, and got Caj to transfer to my seat so we could sit together - much better than having to sit with strangers!

Sleeping seatmate LOL

The movie playing on the TV monitors was an old Jet Li martial arts movie about some conflicts between the Chinese and the Japanese. We didn't really pay a lot of attention to it - Caj dozed off after a few minutes, while I was busy updating my status on Facebook (new Ceres bus with wifi FTW!). Since a majority of the passengers were sleeping, or at least had their eyes shut, I had the free wi-fi all to myself! Ha! :D

Crescent light on a very round moon

In between browsing the internet through my phone and occasionally watching Jet Li bust some moves on the TV monitor, I looked out the window to see the towns that we were passing through. At some point, I noticed how round the moon was that early morn. It was really just this crescent, but you could see the circular outline of the entire moon in that particular setting. That was the first time I saw it like that and I tried taking a picture but it was just too impossible. Lol. :P

I couldn't sleep no matter how hard I tried! That's saying something because I only got at least a couple of hours of sleep the day before, and was pretty tired and drowsy during the 3 and a half hours I spent at work before going on undertime for this trip. So I can definitely vouch for the strength of that Dunkin Donuts brew!

We arrived in the town of Santander at around 7:15AM, and got off at the Liloan port. The next ferry boat to Sibulan was scheduled at 8AM, so we each bought tickets at the counter, and then went inside the terminal to settle on some seats and wait for boarding. I was finally able to give Fred the chocolates and keychain (I forgot one of them at home!) from Demilabs from waaayyyyy back in September. I didn't get an opportunity to give it to him before, and it was a good thing that I didn't forget to pack the sweets coz they were set to expire in a few days. Haha! Sorry, Dems. T_T

Waiting for the boat - Let's get it on!

When the boat arrived from Sibulan, we witnessed the mad dash to the air conditioned bus waiting for passengers outside the terminal building. Feeling pumped up, we had our own mini-dash to the boat when the doors were finally opened to let us out onto the port. The sea was restless that morning, as is usual in this part of Cebu, and getting and walking on the ramp to the boat was quite challenging. Once you got on the boat, there was also the need to maintain balance as it was rocking quite hard even when stagnant.


Before boarding :)

Tañon Strait crossing!

We sat on the right side of the ferry boat, which was the sunny side but we figured it wouldn't be so once the boat turned around to make its way to Negros - and it did.

Getting our dose of Vitamin D :P

About 20 minutes later, we docked at the Sibulan port on Negros Oriental, and got a trike to take us to Dumaguete for Php 120.

Sibulan

We could have just taken a jeep like most passengers, but we were short on time as it was already nearing 8:30 AM and we had to catch the 9AM boat to Siquijor. The trip lasted around 15 minutes and we got off at the Port of Dumaguete, found the building where we could buy tickets for the ferry boat to Siquijor, and promptly proceeded to the port to board. Seat numbers were given right before boarding and written on the tickets by the ticket inspector who checked the available sets on his master list.

Ticket prices :)

The chocolates from Demilabs from months ago!! Haha!

Inside the Delta ferry to Siquijor - A VERY ROCKY RIDE!

I guess they were still refueling since we were on the boat for at least 15 minutes before we finally sailed off.

If the waves were restless when we crossed the Tañon Strait to get to Sibulan from Liloan, then they were just mad when we were making our way to the island of Siquijor from Dumaguete. It was all I could do NOT to barf. Yet, amidst the waves and bouts of nausea, I still could not get some shut eye. It was getting frustrating as I felt I would be tired out while touring the island in the afternoon from lack of rest (this thankfully wasn't the case haha).

Less than an hour later, we arrived at the port of Siquijor, Siquijor.

Off the boat!

Siquijor!

FINALLY! Welcome to the Mystical Island! ^_^