Romblon

Day 1 –New Island

Up very early this morning as we had to catch the ferry across to the next island of Romblon.  We had been told that it left the dock at 7.00, but it could also leave when they felt like it so we would be better getting on it around 6.30.

So after a quick shower we headed off to the ferry, bought our tickets and shortly after we were on our way.  The journey itself was only around an hour and it was a pleasant crossing and we soon found ourselves pulling into a Pretty little harbour and town.

 

Once disembarked, we headed to a place called Romblon Deli which we had seen in our guide book that it  did good full English breakfast’s, which was run by an ex-pat who had good tourist info for the island.   We found it after a quick search, sat down and ordered two English Breakfasts, which when they arrived were the best weve had on our travels so far and included the works even a herby sausage.  Although there were other things to consider on the menu, as shown below!!

After breakfast we thought it might be an idea to sort out some accommodation for the night and headed in a direction where we thought some were, found one and booked for the night.  It was no great shakes but it would do.

We then decided to go and explore the island so we wanted to find a scooter/bike, the first place we found did big-boys bikes again, but they wanted us to pay an extortionate £ 5-00! For 24 hours, we only needed it for half a day and they would not come down on the price.  So we went in search of another place to hire a bike but after wandering around the town for a while finding nothing we had no option but to go back with our tails between our legs and hire a bike for 24 hours.

Jumping on a trial bike again we headed along the coast road in search of various bays that were marked on the map.  We passed the first one and continued to enjoy the scenery and little villages as we rode by, but after an hour and a half we thought that we had gone too far and may have missed the beaches we were looking for (I think I may have mentioned the Philippines appear to have a shortage of sign writers!!).

 

Doubling back a number of times we eventually found ourselves at San Pedro Beach and being a bit saddle sore we sat down and had a beer and a couple of sandwiches.  We also checked out the beach which was very pretty, we took some snaps and then decided to find another of the bays.

The second bay we visited was Tiambon Beach which again was a very white sandy pretty beach which we stopped at for a while and had a shallow swim as it appear our friends the sea urchins were knocking around a bit further out.

 

Our early start was starting to catch up with us so around 4.00 we rode back to the hotel and decided to have a rest for a bit before going out in the evening.

In the evening we returned to the Romblon Deli for dinner and I was more than happy to be tucking into a genuine Aberdeen angus cheese & bacon beef burger!!  Unfortunately for Shell the pie & mash was off the menu for the night so she had to make do with a Chicken Thai Green Curry.

After we had eaten we stayed and had a few beers and we were joined by David (the owner) who hailed from up north somewhere (Manchester?) but had lived on Romblon for over 18 years and was a bit of an entrepreneur and was very interesting.  He told us some places to visit on the island and filled us in on local life and politics.  We were also joined by Tim who was a farmer from Norfolk who had quite a young Philipinno girlfriend (of 3 months) and he spent all his free time in Romblon and was looking to buy land and build a property.  Finally we were joined by Adriane, a French guy who was travelling for 3 weeks in the Philipinnes and was by himself.

So we spent the rest of the evening there talking and drinking until closing time which was 9.30pm!!  Apparently there is a bit of a curfew in Romblon town with nothing much staying open after 10.00, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel for the night.

Day 2 – Rest Day

We got up the next morning and headed to the rooftop terrace to find out if breakfast was worth buying (not included in room price!), but decided it wasn’t and just opted for a mug of coffee each.

The day before we had visited a bar/restaurant that we though wasn’t open but Dave & Tim had told us that it was, so we thought since we had the bike we would make use of it and check it out again.  A short bike ride later and we found ourselves sitting in a lovely little beach restaurant (Blue Marlin Beach Resort) having breakfast overlooking the sea with a brilliant view, unfortunately their rooms were fully booked.

 

After breakfast we went to check out another hotel that we had been told by David was better than ours and pretty reasonable so we checked it out and managed to secure it for the same price. .

W then returned the bike back to the shop. Unfortunately there was no point in keeping it on as Shell had developed some kind of rib/muscle strain that meant riding the bike was painful for her.

The bike dropped off we returned to our hotel and packed, checked out and wheeled or luggage down the road a bit to the new hotel.  The room here was a lot bigger, had a TV and we had a window overlooking the harbour.

As Shell was in pain and we were both a bit travel weary we spent the rest of the day resting, catching up with the blog and watching a film.

In the evening we thought we should try somewhere else to eat and actually found a Japanese restaurant a couple of doors along from the Romblon Deli.  The food wasn’t too bad and we stayed there and had a few beers before returning back to the hotel for the night.

Day 3 – Another Rest Day!!

For a change it was not bloody cockerels that woke us up early it was builders, it appeared that they were either building an extension or something new next door and it seems as though it is OK  here to start hammering away at around 6am in the morning!!

So having risen pretty early once again we headed to the Romblon Deli for breakfast before returning back to our hotel.

 

Sometimes this travelling malarkey catches up with you and we were both still a bit tired (Shell’s side still hurt), so we decided to have another quiet day.  Once again catching up with the blogging, a bit of reading and a bit of TV.

In the evening we again returned to the Romblon Deli to have some food and drinks and once again we were joined by the owner Dave, Tim & his girlfriend were also there but there seemed to be a bit of local tension going on between him and Dave and he ended up moving next door.  So we sat there chatting to Dave and he was kind enough to invite us to his Good Friday party at his house the following evening.

After a  the Deli closed, we headed next door to have a quick drink with Tim and His girlfriend Rose, a nice German guy who also lived in Romblom with his Filipino wife, plus a fella from Oz, managing to extend the curfew to 10:30

Day 4 – Easter Party!!

Once again we were woken early by the builders so we got up and went to the usual place for breakfast.

 

Today we thought we really had to do something to make up for the last two rest days so we planned to take a walk to Bon Bon beach, which we were unable to locate on our bike ride the first day.  However firstly we had to find some beverages to take to Dave’s party later that day, after quite a search we eventually found a shop that sold beers, we bought a few and took them back to our hotel before heading off on our walk.

We walked for around a mile or so and then came to The Blue Marlin Resort so we thought we would stop there for a drink as it was such a nice spot and only around the corner from Bon Bon beach.

Once we sat down we found that Tim and Rose were there so once again we got chatting and had another drink that led onto a few more (as usual).  Tim then disappeared off to go and get his Jetski, but Shell and I stayed there enjoying the view.

We then saw Tim bombing across the sea on his Jetski and after a while he then came and moored up alongside the restaurant. When he headed out again Shel asked if she could go too and off they went. All of a sudden Shell was a blur disappearing into the distance behind some outlying islands, she returned about ½ hour later having ‘loved it’.  Shell had also asked Tim if I could go out with him too (she had noticed my sulky face when she left), but he insisted that I took it out myself with his Rose on the back to point out where the rocks were!!!  

I headed out nervously as this was an expensive piece of brand new kit and I didn’t want to damage it (and I hadn’t ridden one for about 20 years).  But once out the shallows I started to open it up and I could see why Shell had been exhilarated as this Jetski went like the proverbial off of a shovel!! (According to Tim it can do 100kmph which he did when Shel was on the back).  We bombed along seeing all the stunning little bays, islands and coves from the sea, only slowing down when Rose pointed out shallow water and rocks, it was brilliant.  It was fortunate that Rose was with me as on the way back I was going along and eventually I said to her that I could not see the restaurant and she pointed out that we had passed it a while back!!  So I turned round and headed back to the restaurant.  It was really nice of Tim to let us have a play with his toy as normally back home that would have set us back £40 - £50 and not with so much stunning scenery either!

 

Once back on dry land we had a couple more beers before heading back to the hotel, luckily enough we had also been speaking to the Resort owner (A South African) who was going to David’s party (it’s a pretty small community) so he offer us a lift back which we gratefully accepted – we never quite made Bon Bon beach!

Back at the hotel we decided to pack as we had to get up early to catch a boat in the morning and as we were going to a party we thought we may not feel like doing it first thing!  We finished packing and got changed and then headed for the party.

We had to get a Tuk Tuk to David’s house which was up quite a steep hill and this thing struggled but just about made it.  When we got to the house we then recognised quite a few of the locals that we had seen or chatted too over the last few days (including French Adriane), we almost felt part of the community!  The house was really cool, a large colonial affair set back in the tree on a hill overlooking Romblon town with a brilliant view from the top floor.

Most people sat around table in the back whilst the kids that were there gave the Karaoke a bashing upstairs.  We had a few beers and chatted to the people we knew and then we were told it was time for food and David’s wife, Tessa had put on a fantastic spread which everyone tucked into.

After food was eaten and a couple more beers sunk Shell started to ball rolling for the adults to start taking over the Karaoke, unfortunately I was first up with one of my usual’s ‘White Wedding’ by Billy Idol, then a few of the other got up and did their turn.  Amazingly enough after trying to cajole me into doing another, Shell decided she would do a number, ‘These boots are made for walking’ although she seemed to be concentrating more on the choreography than the singing!

 

We then returned to the garden for a couple more drinks before people started drifting home, fortunately Shell managed to secure us and Adriane a lift back down the hill with one of our new Romblon friends, so we said our goodbye’s and thanks to David and Tessa and jumped in the car.

Once back near our hotel we had another quick drink with Adriane in the Romblon Deli before going to bed for the night.