Here in the Philippines, island-hopping in October may not be the best idea. Why? Well, it's that time of the year when typhoons start to come one after the other. To be more precise that's August to December.
But I guess, we got lucky during this sea adventure (Yup! As promised! 😁). So how did I end up on an island-hopping activity in October?
Let's find out!
Strategic Planning
Work has always brought me to different places and at times, I do have a say in which places work will take me. This trip for example.
Every October our National Sales Strategic Planning takes place and I'm the organizer (since 2016). I'm always thrilled to plan the entire event from the accommodation, food, venue of the meeting, program and yes a day off for our very hardworking managers. It has always been a long-standing tradition that after an intense, mindblowing 2-day planning that runs more than 12 hrs per day our managers get to chill and enjoy a day at sea. This event is the reason why I was able to travel to El Nido, Coron, Camiguin, and Bohol all for free.
The year we stayed in Cebu
The year was 2018. My boss wanted the planning to take place in Siquijor or Siargao. But after calling the largest hotels and resorts in these two beautiful islands, negative, none of them could cater to our needs. At the last minute, we decided to stay in Cebu and just book in one of the best hotels, Jpark Island Resort and Waterpark.
We did island hopping in both El Nido and Coron and a land tour in Bohol. But in Cebu, it's difficult to decide where to go since most of the event attendees were from Cebu. And we couldn't go up North or down South because, sadly, we only have one day.
That's how I ended up choosing an island-hopping activity in Mactan Island, Cebu.
Tres Marias
I arranged the tour and luckily we got a huge boat (too huge in fact) for all of us. That day we were scheduled to visit three islands, namely: Caohagan, Nalusuan, and Pandanon Island.
As what our VP for Sales and Marketing wished, all the Sales Managers, Marketing Managers, and Warehouse/Operations Managers felt like they forgot how death-dying the two previous days had been. Now, it's time to chill, relax and let the waves carry their hearts for that entire day.
The boatmen told us that we were visiting Pandanon Island first since it's the farthest. We let them decide, we've done a lot of decisions during our meetings! Enough is enough.
Later on, I learned that Pandanon Island is no longer part of Cebu; it is part of the Province of Bohol. This explains why we need to travel far for roughly two hours. Pandanon is just a few meters away from Jetafe in fact we can see Bohol from Pandanon.
After almost two hours of navigating through Olango Channel, we finally saw the island from afar and even from a distance, the island looked excessively inviting. I'm just glad the weather's on our side that day or else we won't be able to enjoy as much as we did.
Then after a few effortless maneuvers, we finally arrived on the island.
Look who's excited to set foot in Pandanon? Non-other than our Sales Managers from Cebu and Manila. 😂
When we arrived, I had to settle all payments (Php 150 or $3 entrance fee to the island) while everyone else found refuge from the heat of the sun in our assigned cottage.
And of course, they waited for me before eating lunch. Here's a cute groupie taken before we devoured what our boatmen prepared for us which is still part of the tour package. We don't seem like workmates, do we? We look like college friends having the best time of our lives! 😂
Time to explore
Pandanon Island is surprisingly beautiful. Fine white sand everywhere you look and pristine cerulean blue ocean surrounding the island made all of us stop for a while and just appreciate every droplet of this body of water. How could this treasure exists here for years without me knowing it until the day of our visit? It sure looked great in photos but seeing it with my own eyes were beyond gifts I deserve. Guess all I could utter those moments were "Wow! This is awesome!"
We're done eating which means we now have the energy to rock Pandanon! And look at these four men; they're game in anything as always. Been with this bunch for years and they're just spontaneous and fun to be with. No dull moments I should say.
And the next photos made me forget they're all strict managers in their own rights; now they're just loosening up and taking advantage of the trip. I'm glad they did.
The managers left because they'd rather chill under the shades of the Nipa hut assigned to us for the rest of our stay. But the girls stayed and enjoyed more of the October sun, willing to take in more of the heat we don't normally experience inside the office every single day.
Here are some of the photos of us enjoying our time in the sands of Pandanon:
It was also my first travel outside of Cebu since my appendectomy, so my excitement and happiness were over the top as the next photos couldn't cover up. 😂
Extended Stay
We were supposed to visit two more islands nearer Mactan but after seeing Pandanon and learning that this was the biggest in terms of land area and the nicest white sandbar, they told me they're good here and we'll just stay here until we decide it's time to go home. Of course, the traveler in me was a bit sad. I wanted to complete the island hopping but as an organizer, what people wanted is what I wanted as well. If they're happy here, I'm obliged to comply.
So from 3 hours max stay we stayed there the entire day. On this note, we were able to explore more of the island and that means more photos:
Grateful for our extended stay for we discovered this part of the island that looked like a ruin or an unfinished infra, not sure tho. But it did call our attention and we responded to it with a camera on our hands haha
And there's this small chapel facing the ocean like it's protecting the entire island from all kinds of danger.
I was just waiting for the signal from our managers to go back to our hotel and after hearing from our boatmen that the ride back will be a bit longer than due to bigger waves and stronger winds, we departed before the sun could go down.
I could clearly remember how everyone fell soundly asleep on the boat on our return trip. This told me one thing; they're exhausted to the bones from the day's activities and that means they enjoyed. As an organizer, I just wanted to deliver what my boss wants from me and this time all he wanted is to make everyone happy and relax. I did deliver thanks to the cooperative weather, the amazing tour operator and to our managers who never showed signs of spoilsports! haha
That's all for today, see you in my next adventure. 😁
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Seems like you guys had a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing! :)
We did have a great time in the island @freebirdkhushboo! It's hard not to when it's just naturally beautiful. 🏝️😁
It looks great, I hope you enjoyed it!
Hey there @nicolasbernada!I enjoyed every bit of this trip, especially because everything was free! Perks of work hehe