The Secret Beauty of Roxas City that Never Reached Your Screen Until Today

Roxas_Main copyOver the weekend, the gang went to the remotest part of Roxas City for some Aswang Hunting Spree seafood overloading while fulfilling a wanderlust adventure.

Roxas City welcomed us with a fair weather and sunny sky. While the staff of San Antonio Resort drove us straight to their beautiful place. You can read my review about this spectacular resort by visiting “San Antonio Resort: Great & Affordable Place To Stay in Roxas City“

The room was not yet prepared so we opted for our lunch first at the Seafood Court. It wasn’t a good experience. We think we were ripped off and were taken advantage of our price idiocy.

From an overpriced Kilawin to the switching of large prawns to smaller ones and double priced soft drinks – this all contributed to a not so good dining experience.

However, what the place lacks in fair business practice it makes up with its undiscovered beauty and some helpful people we met along the way. (Which truly restored our faith in Humanity!)

Originally, the plan was to visit the nature endowed beauty of Isla de Gigantes in Carles, Iloilo. But this didn’t materialize due to the boat’s availability and our flight schedule.

Instead, we pull out a quick research to find some alternatives and came across Olotayan Island. The problem is there are only few blogs about the place or even about Roxas City. So we hope this will be part of your online resources.

As mentioned a while ago, we were blessed to meet helpful people along the way. The resort’s guard gave us information on where to eat and all the tricycle fare to everywhere. While Mang Ruel, who became our driver, tour guide and navigator brought us to some key places of the city using his tricycle.

From San Antonio Resort, we rode Kuya Ruel’s tricycle going to Punta Cogon in 15mins. Punta Cogon is a small fishing village near Olotayan Island which exports delicious crab to Manila & neighboring Asian countries.  According to our guide, compared to Port Banika, Punta Cogon is nearer when intending to visit Olotayan Island. Through Kuya Roel’s interpersonal skill, we found a chartered boat for the Island Hopping in Olotayan.

While waiting for the boat man, Mang Naldo who owns the boat gave us a tour inside their Crab Selling Center, we were lucky to witness the actual operation and tanks containing gigantic crabs weighing at least a kilo per piece. It costs around 200 – 300 per kilo.

The boat ride from Punta Cogon to Sawang, Olotayan took less than 20 minutes. Olotayan is known for their marine diversity and colorful corals. Too bad! We didnt find those colorful corals and Nemos  as it was high tide when we visited. So instead we enjoyed the landscape and the nearby ruins of a German owned rest house.

According to Mang Fernando, our boat man. The once was glorious rest house seated on the cliff met its demise when Typhoon Frank hit the province. The typhoon brought havoc to its path and destroyed the entire structure. Six years later, it created a surreal backdrop for every photo ops.

Our final destination is Magatalihan Island. Characterized by its spectacular large rock formations welcoming its visitors, the island also consists of a white strip of pebbles and lush greeneries against a royal blue sky – a picturesque scene of an uninhibited island.

After camwhoring, we spent the rest of the time, swimming and floating on its tranquil waters.

Capping the morning’s itinerary we went back to the Crab Selling Center to have our crab fix for late lunch. We bought two kilos of crabs and had the resort prepared it for us for a fee amounting to Php300.00.

You can contact Kuya Ruel at +63 9306 458 854 for City Tour around Roxas City using his tricycle and pre arrange the boat rental to Olotayan Island via Punta Cogon.