I was so glad when my former colleagues had invited me to go to Kalanggaman for their last hurray for summer of 2015. Of course, I was thrilled because I’ve been reading a lot of good reviews about the islet.
We gathered at Pier 4 in Cebu around 8PM. And we left the port via Medallion going to Palompon Port around 10:30PM. During our sea trip, we had a little chit chat but since I was so tired, I decided to go to sleep. I didn’t know that for almost three hours, most of my former colleagues couldn’t sleep because there was no air from the sea, and with that, you know what I mean, we were at the Economy area, it was freakin’ hot. 🙂
We arrived in Palompon at 2am. The sea was so calm, no wind, and when I looked at the twinkling reflections of the stars on the sea, I knew that the weather was gonna be scorching.
Since we arrived so early, we went to their Market, had a Puto and Tsokolate. Even most of us were still sleepy, but we had no choice but to look for a place where we can put our stuff and hit the hay because it was still three in the morning. Some of us had roamed around the place until they found the Eco Tourism Office. We were happy when they told us their discovery and we marched like scavengers to that building from Palompon’s Market so that we could take a rest.
While we were waiting for the sunrise, I decided to go to their Church, not to attend the first mass, but for photo op, while the others went back to the Market to buy Lechon and condiment.
When I went back, Guests/Visitors/Tourist had flocked already the building. Since our Boatman was a NO SHOW, we decided to settle our entrance and boat fees at the Reception Area. The boat was big enough for the eleven of us, so our strategy so that we could pay less for the boat rent was to invite other guests to join us…mission accomplished. So our trip to Kalanggaman from Palompon began. For almost an hour, there’s nothing to see except for a deep blue sea. So everyone was hushed and took a quick nap.
But the moment we saw the white islet ahead of us, the enthusiasm leveled up. Sands were white, sea waters were blue and clear. The beach is perfect! Welcome to Kalanggaman Islet!
Kalanggaman is a small island paradise with a land area of about two hectares situated between north of Cebu and Leyte. Belonging to the town of Palompon, Leyte, it is about an hour ride by boat either from Palompon or Villaba,Leyte. What makes this island unique is that it has two sand bars , one which protrudes towards the east and the other at the southern end. The eastern sand bar stretches for more than 200 meters into the sea, while the other one is only half as long which is submerged under water during high tides.
It was Sunday when we went there and the Islet was packed of Tourists, well, it was summer and people just want to escape the city life.
We had our breakfast, thanks to my former colleagues because everything was already prepared. I just paid two hundred pesos for food and we had lechon, lukot, puso, grilled, fried chicken, soft drinks, fruits and many more, FIESTA TALAGA PAGKASAMA KO SILA PAG MAY OUTING!
After our breakfast, I just enjoyed taking photos around the islet. When we went to that picture-perfect white sandbar, in which, it is the most beautiful part of the island, I remembered the White Island in Camiguin. Surprisingly, I’d met a lot of familiar faces… civil friends, casual friends, social networking friends and even my former enemies. hahaha.
During lunch time, I just decided to stay in our cottage because the scorching heat of the sun was really killing me. While most of the tourists were at the beach. Since the island has no electricity, so what you can do in there is the typical beach activities like kayaking, beach bumming, playing volleyball or cards, snorkeling or if that selfie-ing is also an activity now because I can see a lot of tourists carrying that selfie stick who enjoyed taking photos of themselves, okay, be it then…but in my mind, what a drag!
Around 4PM, we packed our stuff including our trash and left Kalanggaman Islet. As we go distant, I felt blue while looking at the islet getting smaller. I thought that Kalanggaman Islet is a Maldives-ish Sandbank. How I wish that ten or twenty years from now, the local government of Leyte would be able to preserve its exquisiteness because Kalanggaman Islet is one of the best islands in the Philippines that has a perfect beach, vibrant underwater paradise and panoramic view that surely most of the visitors would love to visit again.
I am very thankful to my former colleagues, Mommy Ann, Luchie, Alxend, Twinklet, Arianne and Dianne for tagging me along with them. Truly, it was an indelible and budget friendly summer escapade. Till next summer!
For more updates please like my Facebook Fanpage https://www.facebook.com/thequirkyflong.
Be Queer and Be Quirky!
Flongology 