Adventure Accounting

Note: I do not write paid posts for Travel Factor. I am just a travel enthusiast who loves to join their trips. Item Cost Terminal Fee 200.00 Airfare (bought in Jan 2011) 1,334.00 TF Package Rate 6,500.00 Pasalubong (yema, pastillas) 400.00 Cheesecake and Coffee 100.00 Mineral Water 80.00 TOTAL 8,614.00

At last! We landed in our modern home in this Mindoro trip – Sikatuna Beach Hotel. The first few hours were spent dusting off the sand from our stuff and bathing in freshwater. Our last real shower was more than 72 hours ago so there’s a certain degree of grime that the saltwater cannot wash off. I volunteered to shower last so that I can take my time. Aaaahhh, showering never felt so good!!! I have a whole new respect for freshwater. Dinner!

It was a fairly easy walk going to the lighthouse. It was drizzling lightly but it wasn’t strong enough to stop us. Climbing the top of the lighthouse is another adventure. If you are not really into heights, you might chicken out while climbing. You can look at the sights of the island even when climbing the stairs.

Clarification: Apo Reef is in Mindoro. Apo Island is in Dumaguete. They are different places. I woke up at around 4:30 am. I had a relatively fitful sleep. First thing to do was to wash my face and brush my teeth. Oh right, there’s no freshwater supply yet – they import the freshwater from the mainland. I used my drinking water again. No worries, I was becoming an expert in budgeting the use of limited freshwater. Apo Reef is a three-hour ride away from Pandan Island. I plugged in my earphones and got some shuteye. Which was a disadvantage because I missed the sunrise.

Pandan Island is located in the west coast of Occidental Mindoro. It is a less popular paradise among tourists. While waiting at the beach lounge, we played with their friendly pet:

I practically had no idea about Mindoro except that it houses Puerto Galera. I know that Puerto Galera is in the northern part of Oriental Mindoro. I had no idea about the other paradise islands of Occidental Mindoro - Pandan Island and Apo Reef. I noticed that the Manila-San Jose flights are on sale most of the time. Knowing that Travelfactor has a trip in this region, I booked flights going to San Jose, Mindoro. San Jose airport: This was my 6th trip with Travelfactor but it was the first time that I booked a plane ticket alone for a trip. I prayed hard that the trip would push through so that the tickets won’t go to waste. They actually have another UBBE trip the following trip and I also have tickets for that. I booked via Cebupacific’s piso fare for Php 97.20 for an RT ticket. The seatsale back then was uber cheap. But I need an extra day-off if I use those tix so I just booked another set of roundtrip plane tickets via Airphils which cost me Php 1,334. Not that cheap, but good en...