25-Nov-2019
Journeys around the archipelago of the Philippines tend to be, well, complex is one way to describe it (messy is another). This was one such. Here's what to do if you want to replicate it.
1. If you've metamorphosed back into a raging carb-addict (PT, not the other Tern), start the day with mango pancakes. Like their banana-centred cousins, these are chunks of fruit wrapped in pancakes. Fabulous.
2. Do your farewell walk round the neighbourhood and down to the beach.
3. Pack.
4. Have lunch back at Ayan's. For something really delicious (and law-abiding), have the banana-flower balls and the sangkutan (chicken cooked with coconut milk and green papaya). Don't forget to have a last cup of Ayan's hot chocolate...
5. Watch a huge storm come up out of nowhere, huff and puff mightily, and then calm right back down again.
6. Gratefully accept your hosts' offer of a lift to Larena, your departure port, since the tricycle they tried to organize had suddenly backed out.
7. Collect your tickets to Lilo-an from the Maayo Shipping window down by the port (PHP 200 per person). Pay yet another port fee (PHP 17 per person). And retire to the Portside Cafe for the best cup of coffee you'll have had since Dumaguete.
8. Board your ship (this is a fairly casual affair). It leaves at 17.00, and the journey takes two hours.
This may or may not be the actual vessel we travelled on, but it was the boat on the same route two days before, and looks awfully similar. PT likes to be accurate about these things...
The little shrine on the boat
9. If, like us, you're not a fan of night buses, and don't like arriving places in the wee small hours, book in at the R&L Transient Inn, a comfortable little motel just a few steps from the jetty where the boat docks.
10. After checking in, head back down the road to one of a range of local eateries, which offer a variety of cheap and tasty fish, meat, and vegetable dishes.
11. Repeat this step for breakfast the next day.
Lilo-an CBD
12. Catch a tricycle to Bato bus terminal. (Buses are not allowed to service this stretch of road during the daytime -- go figure -- so you need a trike... Locals pay PHP 25 each, but as a foreigner you won't get that price -- which in a sense is fair enough, because foreigners usually have girt big rucksacks that take up the space that other passengers could squeeze into. You will be asked for lots more, but drivers will settle for PHP 50 per person.)
13. At Bato bus terminal, ask for the bus to Moalboal. This trip costs PHP 102 per person, takes two hours, and is very scenic, as you follow the coast. There are lots of bright blue views, a few interesting old churches, and in the Alegria district especially, there are some lovely carved houses.
14. Once at Moalboal, repeat the haggling-with-the-trike-driver thing to get to Panagsama Beach. Again, PHP 50 per person should do it.
15. Check in somewhere. (We're at the Savedra Beach Bungalows, which we really like. Not a high price-tag, but they're very well equipped, and right by the sea.)
The view from our deck
16. Pop over to the French Coffee Shop for a jolly good cup of coffee and a snack (because your early breakfast has worn off a bit by now).
Panagsama Beach's high street is unabashedly tourist-oriented...
17. Then go and find what you're here for, which is SARDINES! More on that later.