Apo Island : Wanna swim with turtles ?

Be awake with the sun at 6am, get out of your bed, walk five minutes to reach the marine protected area, swim with the turtles in the ocean and then, get back for breakfast before 9am. That like a perfect day start for me, and that’s like taht a day start in the beautiful Apo Island.

Apo Island is a small Island not so far from the coast of Negros Island. You will reach it in 30 minutes by boat. Once you arrive you will discover a whole new world. The island is really small and a paradise for snorkeling and diving because of the preserved environment : coral and many species of fish.

In Apo Island, the time doesn’t count the same way that it seems to be anywhere else in Philippines. You do have electricity few hours a day, in the evening from 6pm to 9pm. In most of the places you do not have Wifi (I only saw Wifi in the Resort on the pier). It is a perfect place to relax, to loose the notion of time and living with the sun far away from Philippines touristic places. You may feel lost somewhere in the see, which is one of my favorite feeling since I am traveling.

But the most amazing here is the opportunity you have to swim with the turtles who are living in this area. There is five turtle species around the island, they are feeding close to the beach. I could have spend few hours to watch them and I am feeling really blessed at this time.

To reach Apo Island, there is few boat from Dumaguete. Boats are located in Malatapay pier (and no from Dumaguete pier). I don't have the schedule of the day but as I saw you will find few boats on the morning and few on the afternoon. So you can organize a day trip if you don't want to stay overnight in Apo Island.

There is only few accommodations on Apo island but if you can deal with a basic level of comfort, you will find a place to sleep. I stayed at H&H guesthouse and I enjoyed it but my friends decided to try the Liberty Lodge resort and they had a really nice room too.

H&H Guesthouse – 300PHP for one double room. A local guesthouse built in wood around trees. There you will be mixed with the local people from Apo village and sleeping with the noise of wind in the wood and be awaken by birds. The comfort is really basic (no shower, only water in a big bowl) and there is not that much intimacy but even in the more expensive resort on the pier the access to the water is the same. I liked this lovely place. I had the feeling to be a member of the fisherman village for few days and that’s exactly what I like to feel when traveling.

If you wanna stay in an upper level of comfort, the liberty lodge resort in face of the pier offers double room with 3 meal per day for 2000PHP. Drinks are not included. The level of intimacy is better but don’t expect a proper shower, The good point is that they included the food. Otherwise the offers a restaurant service but in low season I guess they do not have that much food and they only cook for their guest. Outsider like me can still have access to the restaurant but with a limited offer.