Siquijor Island

Friday morning we woke up early, grabbed our bags and headed to catch the 7:00am boat ride to Siquijor island.  The boat ride was only about an hour and a half long.  

As soon as we got there, we rented 3 scooters.  Maddie and Faith hopped on with me, Reed and Lillian with Yet-yet, and Rix and the Ryskamp luggage with Angie.  We were heading to a beach resort, Salagdoong, on the other side of the island.  The ride there was beautiful and we had fun laughing and telling stories.  When we got there, I was speechless!  The sand was so white, and the water was so blue!  Well, I guess the water was so clear--it just looked so blue!

One of my favorite moments was Faith telling me all about how it was going to be jumping off of the cliff!  I was cracking up!  She was so animated about it!  She was going to show me how it was done, and then decided to let me go first, and then she ended up not even jumping off?!  Haha!

We spent the day jumping off the cliffs, snorkeling, eating, and I even enjoyed some time reading my book on the beach :)

That night Yet-yet and I grilled some pork chops, and they turned out delicious thanks to Yet-yet's marinade.

We stayed in a hotel room right there off the beach.  I didn't take any pictures of it.  It was nothing fancy, but the location was perfect!    

The next morning we just enjoyed being a little lazy and then we ran into the nearest town, Maria to try and find some breakfast.  Some people ate at a cantin (little food stop), and I grabbed some fruit and bread from the public market.  

After breakfast we headed back and Angie and the kids swam for a little bit longer while I read and Yet-yet listened to music.  We checked out around 11:00, and then we were off to the next stop, Cambugahay Falls.  

This place was unlike any place I'd ever been before!  It was SO beautiful and SO much fun!  The rope swing was a blast!  The guys would push us up higher off the ground so that we could gain more momentum, and then we'd fly out over the natural pool and drop into the water.  It was great!  Everyone tried the rope swing, and I lost count of how many times I went.  Then you could jump off of the waterfall, and that was fun too!  The waterfall was just the right height--not too high to freak me out (like the one at Salagdoong, haha), and the water was so nice!  We spent quite a bit of time there and enjoyed every second of it!  

I also got to enjoy a fresh, young coconut.  First I drank out the juice, then I went back and he cut it in half for me and I ate the meat out of it.  So yummy!  I am loving all the coconut here and will be so bummed to not be able to have fresh coconut whenever I want :( 

We left there and headed to our last stop, the Mystic Tree and Fish Spa.  It was a pretty neat tree, and the fish spa was nice.  

When we left there we were all starving!  So, we drove and drove until we found a nice little outdoor restaurant.  I had this yummy fish!  It was just what I needed after a long, fun day.  

After lunch/dinner we raced back to the port to catch the 6:00pm boat back to Dumaguete.  We got there right on time and ended our wonderful visit to Siquijor.  It was probably my favorite trip we've had here in the Philippines.  The kids all got along, the sun was warm, the water was so beautiful, the places we went were fun--everything just seemed so surreal.  I am so blessed to be here and experience some of the more beautiful places in this world.  

Oh, and here's the video :)