Want to know what it feels like to swim with sea turtles? Apo Island is the perfect place to experience it. This volcanic island covers 12 hectares and is located at the southeastern tip of Negros Oriental. It is famous for having one of the best marine sanctuaries in the world, attracting both local and international diving enthusiasts. Keep in mind, electricity is available for only three hours a day, and there’s no Wi-Fi except at one hotel.
On our second day in Negros Oriental, we visited Apo Island early in the morning. We left Harold’s Mansion at 5:30 a.m. to have a quick breakfast at McDonald’s before heading to the Ceres terminal for the municipality of Zamboanguita.
How to Get There?
From Dumaguete City, take a trike to their Ceres Bus Terminal. Ask the ‘konduktors‘ for the bus to Zamboanguita and tell them that you’ll stop at Malatapay Market. The fare is 50 pesos from Dumaguete City and 25 pesos to Dumaguete.
Once you reach Malatapay Market, go ask if where’s the wharf to Apo Island or you can follow the ‘only‘ road where the signage is pointing to.
What are the expenses?
boat rentals:
2000 pesos – 4 pax
3000 pesos – 8 pax
entrance:
100 pesos for those who doesn’t live in negros
25 pesos for those who lives negros
Please note that the number of passengers per boat must be observed for safety reasons. Due to strong waves on the way to and from the island, overloading the boat is highly unsafe.
The photo above shows the boat we rented. Although it should have cost 2,500 pesos since it’s a 5-passenger boat, they only charged us 2,000 pesos because there were only three of us. As you can see in the photo, the boat isn’t very big, which was a little scary since Apo Island is known for its big waves. That’s also one of the reasons we decided to go early in the morning, hoping the waves would be smaller, but that wasn’t the case that day, as we still encountered some big waves. Phewwww!
We rented some snorkeling gears like booties, life jacket and goggles. Each gears rental will cost you 100 pesos.
Now we’re ready for snorkeling….. with the pawikans!
It was quite exciting because this was our first experience swimming with pawikans. There were 3–5 sea turtles swimming with us. So, how was our experience? Check out the underwater photos below!
The experience was mind-boggling, I tell you! You don’t really need to go to the middle of the sea to see them, since they’re just swimming near the shore while looking for food. They’re already used to people. We had some difficulties while snorkeling because of the big waves, so as a solution, the locals have this (see photo below).
Where to eat?
You can ask for the locals to cook for you depending on your request. Well of course, it’s not for free. Or you can also visit the hotel’s restaurant.
We didn’t stay on the island for long because we were more concerned about the big waves if we stayed until the afternoon. As the locals say, the waves get bigger around that time.
So before leaving, I just had to snap a quick pic with Apo Island’s famous rock. lol
The waves from the island to Zamboanguita were indeed bigger and scarier. My mom even grabbed a life jacket just in case, but since the boatman said it was fine and normal, we tried to stay calm and pretend there were no waves. Lol. It was scary but fun, though.
Apo Island from the wharf.
