DUMAGUETE & MANJUYOD SANDBAR

City of Dumaguete

(Manjuyod sandbar @ Bais City)

Welcome to the beautiful city of motorbikes! Nah... that's just a joke (half meant though. LOL). Half meant because according to a friend of mine way back my college days who lives in Dumaguete, you're most famous when riding a motorbike than a luxurious car. Anyway, let's jump to a proper introduction of the place. This is a city in the Philippine province of Negros Oriental.

Silliman University is the most famous & biggest University (oldest too if I'm not mistaken) in Dumaguete.

 










The famous Rizal Boulevard!

A basic means of trasportation in the City is a tricycle. Now here's what impressed me a lot, all of their tricycles have trash bin attached to them. I asked one driver and he told me that it's a city requirement to promote cleanliness in their city. If they violate this rule, they will be paying a fine of 200 Php (ugh! I wish every city in the Philippines would do this).

Dumaguete is a very accessible place to go for people living in Cebu especially for those living in the Southern part of Cebu as it is only a 30 minute ferryboat ride away (from Santander-Sibulan port). There are other options as well as mentioned in my previous post about Siquijor. If you're not a big fan of sea travel and have a bigger budget, you can opt for an air travel which lands straight to Sibulan airport. Now, let's go to the highlight of our Negros escapade.

Manjuyod Sandbar at BAIS City!

In my previous blog, the Siquijor Island trip, I hinted about this post so here you go. I hope this post may be of any help for your future Negros Oriental exploitation. On the second and last day of our year end trip we decided to visit the well-famed Manjuyod Sandbar!

 The cottages for rent at the Sandbar.

An island from afar.

Approaching the sandbar! Isn't it AWEmazing?? :D

The dark part is deep while the clear part is where the sandbar appears when the tide recedes.


I hope you are somehow enthralled and are now itching to visit these places we've been the soonest! My apologies if I don't have an actual picture of the sandbar (but there are plenty of it in google images. LOL). The sandbar only appears when the tide retreats, and it is best catch early in the morning according to the boatmen who accompanied us. We were a tad late for it and arrived at around 10 in the morning, but hey, the view is still breathtaking mind you and best for those who are not good swimmers like me (LAUGHS). It is because the seawater that conceals the sandbar is only waist deep, and I don't know if it goes any deeper than that.

For every places that I visit I can't help but praise GOD for all his magnificent creations that He made available for us to enjoy!

GETTING THERE:

From Dumaguete, we catch a bus ride (Ceres Liner) going to Bais City. The trip took us an hour to finally get there. Upon arriving at the center of Bais City where there market is located (where we purchased our lunch) we then catch a tricycle ride that took us to Capiñahan Wharf (it is the starting point for motorboats that will take you to Manjuyod Sandbar).

We have already booked in advance so our boat was waiting for us at the wharf instantly. The motorboat ride took about 15-20 minutes and it was a bit rocky ride due to the amihan (northeast wind) season. After staying at the sandbar for few hours (we had our lunch at the boat because they have this little grilling area) we were set off back again to Dumaguete City.

It was another hour or less travel going back to Dumaguete and we arrived at around 4 P.M., it gave us a little time to go to this famous cafe that sells Dumaguete's famous delicacy called silvanas to buy “pasalubong”.

We then proceeded to our hotel (Harold's Mansion) to pack our things and get ready for our trip going back to Cebu. This time we chose a different route to savor the adventure. We opt for the ferryboat ride at Sibulan Port. Sibulan port is minutes away from Dumaguete city and a tricycle took us there. The ride was bumpy, but I find it enjoyable (LOL). It was about 25-30 minutes before we arrived at Lilo-an Port in Santander and a bus going to Cebu City is waiting there.

Expenses:

Dumaguete to Bais bus fare: 51 Php (one way only)

Tricycle fare from Bais center to Capiñahan wharf: 20 Php (one way only)

Motorboat whole day rent: 3,000 Php (good for 15 pax only)

Ferryboat fare: 62 Php

Terminal fee: 10 Php

Bus fare: 175 Php (Santander port to Cebu City bus terminal)

P.S.

As for the motorboat going to Manjuyod sandbar, had we arrived earlier we could have visited other places such as Talabong Mangrove forest, and also did the dolphin watching. The dolphin watching by the way is seasonal, and during our visit it wasn't available due to the amihan season. It is said that during this season dolphins migrate to other place(s). You may contact this number for reservation (035) 402 8338, and then someone will get back to you or give you the direct contact number of the person that will meet you.

Tips:

• My personal opinion is to go there during summer because the weather is perfect.
• You may give the boatmen a heads up if you are planning to prepare food at the boat.