Oh wow — this is my first post for 2025.
I’ve been meaning to update this blog, but since the year started, life’s been non-stop — getaways, events, concerts, work, and freelance gigs.. just life piling up. Honestly, it’s the freelance work that’s been keeping me busiest and most stressed. It’s been overwhelming at times, but I’m grateful for it all. Still, I kind of wish I could take a vacation from my vacation.

So, this post is about our first trip of the year to Siquijor. It’s already been four months, and I don’t remember all the details, so here are the highlights I still recall.

⟡ January 20 – 25

• Our flight to Dumaguete was in the evening. It was our first time taking a late flight for a trip, and we actually booked an early flight back home, which should have been the other way around. Oh well. On the bright side, we enjoyed a nice dinner at Lantaw Native Restaurant and had a quiet evening at Pantawan People’s Park.
• Woke up early the next day to catch the sunrise right in front of the lodge we stayed at. It was a quiet, lovely morning before we headed to the port en route to Siquijor.
• We stayed at Winyanz Tambayan Tourist Inn. It was tucked away from the main road, perched on a cliff with ocean and sunset views. It was peaceful and private, which we loved.
• Really enjoyed riding around on the motorbike, just mindlessly going from one place to another. We managed to circle the whole island.
• Finally met Simon, one of my longtime Tumblr friends. He owns Twenty4 Café, with two branches in Lazi. We loved the food. I was hoping to bring home their homemade hot sauce, but sadly, it wasn’t available at the time.
• We visited Mt. Bandilaan Island View Tower, got a full 360° view of Siquijor and even saw nearby islands. The view from Bucafe was also beautiful.
• Siquijor is packed with waterfalls. We visited Cabugsayan, Cambugahay, and Lugnason. I especially enjoyed Cambugahay. We climbed up to the upper tier, which was quieter and less crowded. The water was so refreshing. Later on, I found out it’s the same area where people now do the “fairy walk” trend. Glad we got to enjoy it before it got too popular.
• Tried the basic free diving experience offered at our inn. The owner himself taught us. Asis and I struggled to dive at first because of the buoyancy, but we finally managed to go underwater. Such a feat. We even saw a couple of turtles and swam with them.
• Just adding this one last story — it really stressed us out, but it’s also unforgettable. While Asis was taking a dip at Paliton Beach, his phone somehow went missing, and I was the one watching our stuff. We were the only tourists around since it was still early, with just a few locals nearby. In our panic, we ended up wrongly accusing someone who was near me at the time, which we deeply regretted. Not an excuse, but we were freaking out. We reported it to the barangay hall in San Juan and even went to the police station to file a report. It was nerve-wracking. It was almost noon, and we were supposed to check out of our inn, which was 30 minutes away. We also had tickets for the last OceanJet trip back to Dumaguete. We still had a few hours left and weren’t losing hope. Thankfully, the phone was still connected to the Bluetooth speaker we were using, so we went back to the beach twice. The first time, the speaker connected, but we still couldn’t find the phone. By then, the place was packed with tourists, so we grabbed late lunch first. Afterwards, we returned, and the speaker connected again. This time, a local noticed us looking around and came over. She apologised, saying her daughter had picked up the phone and was playing with it. We were just so, so thankful to get it back. What a crazy day. Even now, Asis never fails to bring it up whenever we talk about the trip. We tried to return and apologise to the person we wrongly accused, but she was no longer there. Still feel bad about it.

And that’s the highlights of our trip. Siquijor is such a beautiful island. Less commercialised and thankfully, not too overpriced yet.