Cebu to Boracay on a Motorcycle

We have been riding as a family for almost 3 years now. We have been to the different islands of Visayas which includes our home province Cebu (obviously) to Camotes Islands and the Bantayan Islands, to Bohol, Leyte, even Samar and of course, the island of Negros. The one big island in Visayas that we haven't visited yet is the island of Panay located on the western part of Visayas. Panay has the famous Iloilo City that attracts you to visit however, 2 kilometers away from the west tip of Panay Island is 2014 the world's most beautiful island, Boracay, according to CN Traveler.

Wait! Cebu to Boracay on a Honda Scoopy? Yup, you read that right. So how did we get there? Was it expensive? Was it cheaper than plane? You can watch the video below for a brief summary on how we did it or continue reading and check out our itinerary and expenses.

Family Ride to Mindanao - The Return Back Home

As I have stated on my last blog, we were going to leave Mindanao on October 5, 2015. Our ship's schedule was 3:30AM, an Aleson Ship. We woke up with the alarm screaming at 2:30AM. Our bags were all packed the night before. But it was raining. We didn't have time to wait because if we did, we might miss our sail. So we wrapped ourselves with our raincoats and prepared Mesha. That time, we rode in the rain (with raincoats).

I bid goodbye to my uncle, his family were still asleep. On our way, we didn't bother to take photos because the rain was a bit hard. The ride was a little difficult because it was raining hard and the road was dark. Even my all weather headlight couldn't make it through so our pace was slow. We reached the port at 3:05AM. I immediately paid the CPA and then went aboard the ship. There were only a few people in the ship.

Family Ride to Mindanao - Our Last Day

St. James Church right at the
Relief Map of Mindanao.

It was a Sunday. We woke up and the weather was drizzling. We planned to roam around Dapitan City, finally. We were about to have breakfast when the rain poured in. It was too strong to tolerate. We have been to a lot of rides with minor to medium drizzles but if it's already rain, no way were we going to ride. An hour or two has passed and still it was pouring rain. After 3 hours, we lost hope of having a good visit to Dapitan City. We slowly changed clothes and just watch TV and continue on talking with my relatives. It looked like our final day of vacation in Mindanao was ruined.

At around 10AM, the rain suddenly stopped and when we looked at the window, it was actually sunny outside although still wet, obviously. Apparently, we were given a chance to explore Dapitan City for half a day. It actually turned out just right that it rained because it gave us time to bond with my relatives and we had a good time talking.

So, we changed clothes immediately and prepared to ride off to Dapitan City. My uncle asked if we could leave after lunch but we insisted that we leave already and just have lunch at Dapitan City. We were running out of time, hehe.

Family Ride to Mindanao - The Nuptial

As I have already stated, the main reason why we went to Mindanao was because we were invited to attend the Church Nuptial of our club President Micmic Hernando. I was also tasked to take photos although I didn't do it professionally. I only did a good friend a favor, hehe.

The weather was great. At 7AM, we woke up and prepared. The wedding was to be held at 10AM. After we prepared ourselves, me and my ladies went to Sta. Filomina to join the other Scooperos. We planned to have our Scoopys washed along the way and we found a lot of carwash service area on our way to Roxas but most of them were self-service. We were already dressed up so we didn't want to do the washing ourselves so we kept on finding the one where it's not self service.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to take photos on our journey at that point because we were literally running out of time, hahahah! So after our Scoopys were cleaned up, we rode immediately to Roxas Cathedral. Fortunately, we were just in time before the wedding started. At the Cathedral, I immediately "went to work".

Our Scoopys were all lined up beside the Cathedral, ready to convoy the wedding march to the reception area.

Family Ride to Mindanao - The First Day

When we arrived at the port of Dapitan City at around 8AM, we  were very excited to roam around this historic city. I heard a lot of good reviews of this city online. Our itinerary was to go to Dipolog City first, at my uncles house and drop our bags there. After that, we can proceed to roam around Dapitan City.

Breakfast at Jollibee in front of their weird rotunda.

On our way to Dipolog, we coincidentally met with Micmic Hernando (the groom). His bride Jade invited us to lunch at their house together with the coming Scooperos (2 Cebu Scoopy Club Riders). These 2 Scooperos have resources so they didn't take the long way round. We thought that Jade lives in Dipolog City only so we didn't think twice of accepting. Dipolog and Dapitan City is just 15 minutes apart. We later found out that Jade actually lives in Roxas, Zamboanga del Norte.

So off we went our way to Dapitan City when our stomachs were screaming for food. We tried to roam around Dipolog City first if we could find a good place to have breakfast. After about 10 minutes of roaming around, my daughter chimed in that we just eat at Jollibee. Of course, I tried to object because it's not like Jollibee is in Dipolog only, hehe. But admittedly, we were already hungry at that time so we ate at Jollibee.

Family Ride to Mindanao - The Departure

I was born in Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental in Mindanao. I reside in Cebu for almost all my life and still is. When I was young, we frequently visited my hometown and my relatives in the nearby towns but now, I can't remember when was the last time that I visited my hometown. I was still too young back then that I only have vague memories of my visits.

I would have liked to visit it some time but due to circumstances and maybe a lack of a major reason to go back and visit, I wasn't able to. Hey, I don't have much resources to fulfill it either and besides, I couldn't exactly remember where and how to get there (lame excuse, I know, lolz).

Bags are packed. One large and the small one at the top box.
Weather was not quite nice but still okay.
I have also checked Mesha's condition the day before
and she's newly oiled.

Months ago, I was invited by Cebu Scoopy Club's President Michael Stephen Hernando to attend their wedding in Roxas, Zamboanga del Norte in Mindanao. I figured now I have a good reason to step on the island where I was born and maybe go and ride a sidetrip to my hometown although it was unlikely because Bonifacio is far from Roxas but who knows, right?

So I prepared an itinerary for the ride. Since, this was a long ride, I wouldn't want to experience it all by myself and so I planned to bring along my wife and daughter with me, typically, hahahah. So even though our budget was quite limited because we have just moved in to our new house, I decided to proceed and just put up a very conservative itinerary.

Scootering the Magnificent Bohol - Day 4 (Last Day)

Scootering Bohol
throwback around Bohol in 3 minutes... #scooteringbohol #throwback
Posted by Marjun Tacder on Friday, June 19, 2015

August 24, 2014. Our last day in Bohol. I couldn't believe that time passed us by so quickly. It was like only yesterday that we just arrived in Bohol. We could extend and have another go round at the beaches of Panglao Island but we found out our budget won't let us do it. Hahaha! But we can still do more on this day before heading back to Cebu. So without further blah-blah, let's start with the first trip of the last day of Bohol, the Mag-aso Falls in Antequera, Bohol.

Scootering the Magnificent Bohol - Day 3

Scootering Bohol
throwback around Bohol in 3 minutes... #scooteringbohol #throwback
Posted by Marjun Tacder on Friday, June 19, 2015

August 23, 2014. Around 5:30 in the morning, we woke up and talk a little bit about the details for our activity for the day, the Bohol Island Loop. This loop excludes Panglao Island since we have already looped that. Hehehe! The details of the plan was actually quite short, as usual. Have breakfast and lunch where ever the situation suggests. Hahaha! I can't find more words for introduction now so let's get started. Lolz!

Scootering the Magnificent Bohol - Day 2

Scootering Bohol
throwback around Bohol in 3 minutes... #scooteringbohol #throwback
Posted by Marjun Tacder on Friday, June 19, 2015

August 22, 2014. Our plan for the day was to take the countryside tour. No, we were not going to pay for those countryside tour packages because we have Mesha (our Honda Scoopy). Hehehe. But we needed a map. I had a map in my phone but I would prefer a  tourist map. Unfortunately, we were not able to secure it the day before (August 21, 2014) because it was a holiday and the tourism office was closed and then on this day, we were planning to go early so the tourism office was still closed at that time. But you know what? Part of having a great adventure is to look for it. To heck with the tourism map, let's scoot Bohol's countryside tour without it. Read on. :)

Scootering the Magnificent Bohol - Day 1

Scootering Bohol
throwback around Bohol in 3 minutes... #scooteringbohol #throwback
Posted by Marjun Tacder on Friday, June 19, 2015

We have long wanted to visit Bohol and tour around the island using our very own Mesha, our Honda Scoopy. A week before, once we learned that August 21 was a holiday (a Thursday), I immediately filed for a leave for August 22 (Friday) so that we can have Bohol from August 21 to 24 (Sunday). I also informed my daughter's teacher that she won't be coming to class on August 22. Hehe. August 25 was another holiday but we opted to make it a rest day. So that would give us 4 days and 3 nights in  the magnificent island of Bohol. Let's proceed with the details and read on. :)

Cebu Loop - Molobolo Spring

After a grueling ride from Bogo to Tuburan via Daan Bantayan, we finally reached our relaxation destination: Molobolo Spring. I heard a lot of good things about this spring but as we all know, we never really know how good a place until we tried it ourselves. And yes, this spring got my 2 thumbs up. :)

Cebu Loop - Bogo City to Tuburan via Daanbantayan

This is the second part of our Cebu Loop Series. This ride was probably the longest with us on the road. We learned a couple of things on this ride.

First is that, the road from Hagnaya (or Bogo?) to Daan Bantayan has the longest straight road that I have ever tried. I mean, literally, the road was mostly straight. Kind of like road for drag racing. If you are not in a good mood to ride or drive in this road, you'll feel sleepy. A really long stretch. We didn't take a turn when we reached junctions because we wanted to reach the northern most part of Daan Bantayan but after a couple of kilometers of straight roads, we were finally greeted with rough roads. We tried to continue for a kilometer or so but after seeing that this type of road is slowing us down significantly, we opted to go back down that straight cement road again. OMG, that straight road was really tiring. No twisties to let you enjoy. I am not a speed freak.

Cebu Loop - Mandaue City to Bogo City

Welcome to our Cebu Loop Series. This is the first part of a total of 8 blog posts. The original plan was really a Northern Cebu Loop because we have already done our Southern Cebu Loop last Holy Week vacaction. But along the way, we managed to change our course and do a whole Cebu Island Loop (on coastal roads) instead.

Cebu Loop - Introduction

As a Filipino rider, the ultimate riding experience would be a Philippine Loop. I have read about the budget needed and also watched the videos of this couple who did it using big bikes. But before I do that and I don't even know how soon can I do the Philippine Loop, I will do Cebu Loop first. The original plan was actually just a northern Cebu Loop because we already did the southern Cebu Loop in the Holy Week of 2014 but we changed plan once we got to Molobolo Spring. I was challenged by my wife to just continue and do the Cebu Loop halfway of our northern loop. I have managed to group the whole loop by 8, separated by 8 facebook albums. Hopefully I can find the time to blog about each part. :)

But to see the whole Cebu Loop in 10 minutes, watch my humble video below:

Ride Safe! Ride Scoopy! Godspeed!

Our First Ever Family Long Ride

130 kilometers on the road but actually,
it was more like 150 km.

This ride happened in March 22, 2014. That day was supposed to be an EB (Eyeball) ride with the Cebu MCP members to Felixberto in Balamban. Everybody was busy I supposed so it didn't pushed through on the last minute. We also didn't properly setup the schedule and everyone didn't really confirm 100%. So, what happened was a memorable family ride with my wife and daughter.

The ride started from Mandaue City, then to the Transcentral Highway to Adventure Cafe, up to Balamban Town proper Gaisano Balamban, down south to Toledo City, turned to Naga City to the east, Minglanilla, drop by at Tubod Flowing Water then back to Mandaue City via SRP. Around 150 kilometers on the road, our first time as a family. The Dumaguete City ride was only me and my wife. I left my daughter under my cousin's care.

With that, let's start the story which I would tell in pictures. Captions are provided. :)

Cebu South Loop - Visita Iglesia

This is the 10th and last part of our Summer Vacation 2014 Series:

Part 1 - Failed Camotes Islands Vacation
Part 2 - Mesmerizing Barili (Palalong)
Part 3 - Failed Moalboal Vacation (2nd Time Failed)
Part 4 - Exciting Kawasan Falls in Badian
Part 5 - Peace and "Alegre" in Alegria
Part 6 - Southernmost Cebu Road Trips
Part 7 - Summer Splash at Tingko Beach in Alcoy
Part 8 - Riverstone Castle in Argao
Part 9 - Argao Nature Park (2nd Time Around)
Part 10 - Visita Iglesia (7 Churches Visit)

This is the end of our series, Holy Week Summer Vacation and we did the infamous tradition of Visita Iglesia. Visita Iglesia or the Seven Churches Visitation is a pious Roman Catholic Lenten tradition by attempting to visit seven churches or religious sites. It is traditionally done on a Holy Thursday but it is also popularly practiced on the Pasko sa Pagkabanhaw or Easter Sunday. Although, take note that Easter Sunday is not part of the Holy Week.

With that said, let me begin the story of our journey. We were still in Sumaguan, Argao and we planned to go back to the town proper to visit the first church.

1st Church: St. Michael the Archangel Parish Church in Argao.

Cebu South Loop - Argao Nature Park

This is the 9th part of our Summer Vacation 2014 Series:

Part 1 - Failed Camotes Islands Vacation
Part 2 - Mesmerizing Barili (Palalong)
Part 3 - Failed Moalboal Vacation (2nd Time Failed)
Part 4 - Exciting Kawasan Falls in Badian
Part 5 - Peace and "Alegre" in Alegria
Part 6 - Southernmost Cebu Road Trips
Part 7 - Summer Splash at Tingko Beach in Alcoy
Part 8 - Riverstone Castle in Argao
Part 9 - Argao Nature Park (2nd Time Around)
Part 10 - Visita Iglesia (7 Churches Visit)

It was still early in the afternoon. We planned to go up the mountains in Argao. No, not for adventure but to visit some of my wife's relatives who lives there and we would also spend our night there instead of spending some bucks on a pension house. We stayed in a pension house on a Good Friday from Alcoy because it was already a little late and we haven't informed any of my wife's relatives that we would be in Argao in that day and that we would stay on their houses because again, that was unplanned. lolz!

So, we planned to chill a little bit and killed some time in Argao Nature Park. As the title said, it was already our 2nd time there. I haven't blogged the first one because I don't think I was actively blogging at that time. And as far as I can remember, that was also on a Holy Week.

The lake in the Argao Nature Park.

Cebu South Loop - Argao's Riverstone Castle

This is the 8th part of our Summer Vacation 2014 Series:

Part 1 - Failed Camotes Islands Vacation
Part 2 - Mesmerizing Barili (Palalong)
Part 3 - Failed Moalboal Vacation (2nd Time Failed)
Part 4 - Exciting Kawasan Falls in Badian
Part 5 - Peace and "Alegre" in Alegria
Part 6 - Southernmost Cebu Road Trips
Part 7 - Summer Splash at Tingko Beach in Alcoy
Part 8 - Riverstone Castle in Argao
Part 9 - Argao Nature Park (2nd Time Around)
Part 10 - Visita Iglesia (7 Churches Visit)

On a Black Saturday early morning, I texted my cousin how they were doing. They were still in Tingko Beach in Alcoy and we were already in Argao (Abella's Pension House). They were enjoying the sunrise as well as the morning swim in the beach. For us, since we were already in the hometown of my wife, we visited a few of her relatives there in the morning. Then in the afternoon, we decided to check out the Riverstone Castle.

The reception and parking area of the Riverstone Castle.

Cebu South Loop - Alcoy's Tingko Beach

This is the 7th part of our Summer Vacation 2014 Series:

Part 1 - Failed Camotes Islands Vacation
Part 2 - Mesmerizing Barili (Palalong)
Part 3 - Failed Moalboal Vacation (2nd Time Failed)
Part 4 - Exciting Kawasan Falls in Badian
Part 5 - Peace and "Alegre" in Alegria
Part 6 - Southernmost Cebu Road Trips
Part 7 - Summer Splash at Tingko Beach in Alcoy
Part 8 - Riverstone Castle in Argao
Part 9 - Argao Nature Park (2nd Time Around)
Part 10 - Visita Iglesia (7 Churches Visit)

After a long trip from Alegria (Batong Malunhaw) to the southernmost part of Cebu in Santander going northward to Alcoy, we finally reached Antig Tingko Beach in Alcoy. The nice white sand beach where foreigners and locals come together to beat the summer heat.

Cebu South Loop - The Southernmost Towns

This is the 6th part of our Summer Vacation 2014 Series:

Part 1 - Failed Camotes Islands Vacation
Part 2 - Mesmerizing Barili (Palalong)
Part 3 - Failed Moalboal Vacation (2nd Time Failed)
Part 4 - Exciting Kawasan Falls in Badian
Part 5 - Peace and "Alegre" in Alegria
Part 6 - Southernmost Cebu Road Trips
Part 7 - Summer Splash at Tingko Beach in Alcoy
Part 8 - Riverstone Castle in Argao
Part 9 - Argao Nature Park (2nd Time Around)
Part 10 - Visita Iglesia (7 Churches Visit)

We left Batong Malunhaw and started the road trip to Alcoy via Bato and Santander. We heard Alcoy's beaches were really nice. The roads were really good and most of them were in the coastline so great views on the way as well. So that was a really good round trip south of Cebu. These were the southernmost area of Cebu and it was our first time and it was Good Friday.

Let the photos tell the story of our ride.

Alegria's Heritage Park