Romblon Island: Some Travel Guides

Here are some guides if you're planning to go to Romblon Island.

Getting there:

• Take JAM Transit bus going to Batangas Port. They have two bus stations. One is located along Taft Avenue, Pasay City, Manila and the other one is located along EDSA near Kamuning. You may call them for more information at +632 5414409/9247712/8314390. Fare would cost you more than 200 pesos.
• At Batangas Port, you may buy your tickets either to Romblon Island or to Odiongan Island (if they do not have trip directly to Romblon Island) at Montenegro Lines counter. One way regular fair to Odiongan is close to 700 pesos. Check out their website for trip schedule : http://www.montenegrolines.com.ph/.
  
• If you happned to buy a ticket to Odiongan, you will have to take the bus to San Agustin and get down at the port at San Agustin. And then, take another Montenegro owned boat going to Romblon Island.

Local Transportation:

Once in Romblon, the available means of transportation is tricycle, and boat, if you need to go to smaller islands.

Where to eat:

The most famous restaurant is "The Port" right across the port. They serve Filipino cuisine (sadly, they seldom sell seafoods, as the catch are usually sold to merchants and shipped to other parts of the country). Their best seller is Bulalo (beef).

There are also a number of restaurants surrounding the park (which is also across the port).

Romblon Plaza Hotel likewise serves food at their penthouse.

Hotels:

The biggest hotel in town is Romblon Plaza Hotel located at the town proper. You may contact them at 63 5500 5072269/5072277, 5072169, 5072488.

Places to Go:

I would recommend you visit the following places:

From Romblon town proper, you may just hire a tricycle to take you to the following:
1. Baranggay Dos - this is where the marble "factories" are.
2. Calabugo light house , and beach
3. Agpanabat light house , caves and Pawikan Conservation Center
4. San Pedro beach resorts - hire a tricycle but its a bit costly. They may charge between 200 pesos per trip. Ask them to come back for you on the day when you want to go back to the town proper.
5. Agnay fish sanctuary

From Romblon port, take a boat to the following :
1. Cobrador Island
2. Alad Island

Day 3: Cobrador Island: A Small Piece of Paradise

October 22, 2008. I would describe the 30 minute boat ride to Cobrador Island in one word: scary. I am not used to travelling by sea (which may sound weird to some as I live in a country with 7100 or so islands). More so, I am not used to riding a bangka (local term for a small boat). And I will never get used to big waves.

We used the bangka owned by SIKAT, the organization who hired me to write stories for their website. Along with 5 community leaders, and 3 SIKAT staff, we headed to Alad island first where we dropped off the community leaders, for their meeting with the Alad community. Then we headed for Cobrador.

It was the perfect sight: blue waters, green mountains and reefs. Except that the waves got bigger on our way from Alad to Cobrador. I had to hold as tight as I can, as my companions, who are so used to travelling by sea, were laughing at me :-(.

But, the sight of Cobrador made me lose whatever fear I had. Cobrador can easily be one of the beautiful islands in the country. I cannot believe tourists havent discovered this yet.

The island can boast of its fine, white sand, and very clean water comparable with Boracay, or even more beautiful in the sense that it is not crowded and they do not face waste problems as Boracay does. It is blessed with reefs, and beautiful rock formations on one side of the island. It is more like a combination of Palawan and Boracay. It was breath-taking.

More importantly,the place is blessed with happy, welcoming and forever smiling people.We went to meet with the officers of the organization and the baranggay officials. The head of a baranggay and the council was then in a meeting with another non government organization and they asked my brother to join in. While waiting for him, I roamed the island.

What can I say. I loved the view.Wind was blowing in my face. The sound of the waves almost lulled me to sleep.

One thing caught my attention, though, as I was walking around. The big jars. Most of the houses have this really big jars outside their houses, with a pipe connected to the gutter of the house. And they call this rain collector.

Apparently, the people of Cobrador, had to depend on the rain even for their drinking water. They do not have water system. They even only have a generator for their electricity at night. And this Rain Collector is a big help to them as it helps them gather rain water. It is the first time I have seen such a thing. It is the first time I have been to a place where people have no access to basic thing such as water. It's a good thing a non-government organization gave them a grant to have Rain Collectors built.

We had lunch there together with the leaders of the community. It was fun, just interacting with them. And the grilled pork was good.

I had the interview afterwards. And then it was time to leave the island.

As much as I would love for Cobrador to be just the way it is, and not become another Boracay, I wish there is a way to bring some kind of progress in the community especially in the delivery of the basic services. I wish there is a way to balance progress and environmental conservation.

But more importantly, I wish to be back :-).