We planned to go to the view I wanted to see at 8am. So fortunate of me again that one of my uncles own 2 (or 3?) motorized boats and that’s his source of living.  He volunteered to bring us to Sambawan Island.

We had breakfast then immediately took a 20-30seater motorized boat to Sambawan Island. We were 10 in the boat. Supposed to be entrance to island was 50Php each person but I think we got it cheaper because they know my uncles there. Normal cottage rental is 500Php.

We excitedly boarded the boat and after 20-30 minutes of enduring the wavy trip, we got to the beautiful island of Sambawan. Sand there wasn’t fine but white and the water was crystal clear you can see all the formations, coral reefs and fishes, you wouldn’t anymore need to snorkel. Haha good for me because I don’t know how to swim.

We arrived quite early and because of that, we owned the island for a few hours! People started coming after lunch, and when I say people, its only 2 other groups which meant, there were only about 20 people in one island. Indeed, its undiscovered, and that fact added to its beauty!=D

Hue of the sea water was few shades of blue. It was so enticing, it made me want to make use of my limited swimming skills but of course, I didn’t do it , for I still wanted to live more days! (I managed to play with water though)=D

I immediately ran to the best vantage point of the island, atop the light house! According to my uncles, the lighthouse ,as well as the trail going up were relatively new. We were lucky to be able to see and use these.

The lighthouse was on top a small islet or hill? It’s  high up it looked like a hill. According to my uncles, when the tide is high, the entire island would look like there’s 4 islets and when the tide’s low, there were only 2. We witnessed the latter. Rock formations and boulders were nicely formed around the island.

The view on top was amazing. I couldn’t believe I was able to see it!

We walked around the island's sandy plains as well as the rocky parts, swam, ate (a lot) and took lots and lots of photos.

At around 2pm, we boarded the boat again to continue our journey to other places. We saw and took some photos at that buga (huge rock formation or coral) at the middle of the sea.  Then, we headed to Napo Beach resort, the one and only proper accommodation within Maripipi Island  with swimming pool (using sea water) but there’s a number of homestays. There’s nothing much in that resort.

We then headed to Viga Spring. It’s the main source of water in the area. There were three levels. Level 1: for drinking level 2: bathing level 3: washing of clothes (and pets as I witnessed).  According to my uncle, legend says that Viga spring’s being guarded by a fairy. Local government tried to set up water system within the area where in water from the spring would be distributed to each households using more advanced water system, but this project failed. They all believed that the fairy prevented the success of this project because she or he wanted people to visit her every day.

We took a quick dip into the very cold water of Viga spring. Wow! I was really freezing. My uncles used spring water to let some of our drinks chill a little bit.

After this, we headed home.

Boat from Maripipi to Sambawan Island 500-800Php (depends on your arrangement)  [Jun Buaco: 09169454846]

Entrance to Sambawan Island: based on research,  50Php (we got some discount because of my uncle)

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Reminder:

Bring your own food and drinks because as of writing, they don’t sell it there.

No public boat services on Sundays, you could hire a private one if there’s a need for you to get to Kawayan/Naval.