Qing Travels: Kalanggaman Island

I am not familiar with the name Kalanggaman Island and I don’t have any idea about it. It was just I bump into it when I read an article of Northern Cebu and it was always in tandem with Malapascua Island. Knowing it was in part of Leyte, it was just 2hrs boat ride from Malapascua Island. One of the reasons why I stayed in Malapascua is to avail a tour to Kalanggaman, I was so stoked with all the photos in Instagram and on the internet, and it was a wanderlust indeed. I search for Malapascua-Kalanggaman Tour and I found one facebook page that has good review and decided to direct message the page. It replied in a short time and have a deal of P800 with free lunch for the entire tour, it was so cheap for me and reserved one slot for the tour. The owner of the page is Kuya Ramil and all I can say is he is the best tour organizer. He called me before my flight for updates and told me that he will book me for habal-habal, P30 only but another rate is P20 (Kuya Roy) so I can have a service from Malapascua beachfront to Thresher Cove.

I met him when I arrived in Malapascua and pay P300 before the tour the next day. After my whole day in Malapascua and got the sleep I needed (because I slept around 6:30pm), I woke up 7am in the morning, the call time is 9am for the Kalanggaman tour, it was raining. It’s freaking raining! I was worried that the tour will be canceled but I still have big hopes it will stop when the tour starts. So, I had coffee for breakfast because it was too early for me to eat (I always have a late breakfast). Then I prep and get ready even though it’s raining, then Kuya Ramil called and booked me again to Kuya Roy for habal-habal service and confirmed me that the tour is not canceled. He also said that morning rain is normal in Malapascua, it made me happy. I checked out to Thresher Cove and went to beachfront for the assembly of the tour.

In the boat, I saw the three people I met in Maya port and catch up. Since we have the same itinerary, which is after the Kalanggaman Tour we will be going to Bantayan, they already booked a boat for us going to Bantayan. We also met one solo traveler who is working in Canada as a nurse and convinced her to go to Bantayan with us. It was a long 2hrs boat travel, it wasn’t boring because we have shared a lot of things and travel while sailing going to Kalanggaman. The rain has stopped and the sun rises so high, it was a good day! The waves going to the island is kinda rough, most of the time the waves are so strong and many passengers got splashed by the waves and get wet/ As the boat got near, the island is getting bigger and everyone gets excited including me of course.

Okay, touchdown to Kalanggaman Island! It was so pretty and it feels like all the photos I was just seeing in the web came to life. Yes! It was really like in all the photos you see on the internet. I was so stoked and so thankful that I came across to an article I just read out of searching. The water is turquoise, the sand is white and the sandbar is long. It was a gem floating in the middle of the ocean. After appreciating and get wowed by the island, it’s time to explore it. It was one of the mission I want to do, to explore the whole island. Yes, you can explore it because the island is quite small. We started going to the end of the sandbar and continue walking on the other side. The other side has a lot of stone and the water current is strong so it was not allowed to swim on that side. As you continue to its south you will see a tree house and in the middle there is resort which is not open and I don’t even know if it still in operation. There, you can see wooden tent houses where two person can sleep. They said you can rent one if you would like to have an overnight stay on the island, but be advised that there is no available electricity. I think that will be a great experience! One thing that is good about the island is that it still not commercialized and it still off beaten, but there is one thing I don't like is that comfort rooms are not clean and water is also from the beach, make sure that you are prepared with tissue or wet wipes. We finished the whole island exactly when it is time for our buffet lunch. It was a good lunch, they serve pork bbq, grilled fish, unlimited rice, grilled chicken, pancit, soft drink for beverage and watermelon for dessert. Then, after lunch we still have time so we stayed near our boat, I just chill and relax and do some realization. It was a great “me time” for me.

Even though I don’t want to end the tour, it was “call it a day” time. At around 2pm it is time to say goodbye to the island. It was again a 2hrs boat travel but this time the ocean a bit calm and had a good travel. Everyone is so tired but still happy with the experience, we arrived at Malapascua at around 4pm and the two people we met have decided to go to Bantayan with us. While waiting for them to check out with their hotel I stayed at the beachfront and enjoy the sunset. And that was the end of my Kalanggaman Island tour. Now, off to Bantayan Island!

Your stray kid,

Qing