Discovering Sicogon and Gigantes, Iloilo, Philippines

I decided to let my younger brother dentist Onyx, tag along my recent travel as birthday gift.

D: “I’m going to Sicogon. Wanna come?”

O: “Where is that?”

D: “No idea! Hahaha!”

So here’s what we found out:

Sicogon is one of the islands at the northernmost tip of Iloilo. Used to be a popular destination for the rich and famous back in the 70’s until Martial Law when development stopped and Boracay Island was gaining popularity.

Day 1. Arrival at Huni Resort at around 4PM. Huni is a boutique hotel by the Ayala Group one of the two accommodations available for tourists at Sicogon. The other one is Balay Kogon and there’s an on-going construction for a hostel-type not yet open for operations.

Huni has a warm swimming pool and pool side bar. Perfect for happy hour!

Day 2. Gigantes Islands Boat Tour

It is highly recommended to have an arranged tour for a hassle-free and fun boat ride experience while discovering the islands. For us, it was through Las Islas Travel and Tours avaialble through online booking at lasislas.ph

Request for tour guide Alfred “Red”. He was very accomodating and very knowledgable of the place.

Tangke Saltwater Lagoon

I thought this kind of beauty can only be seen in Palawan. Well well well, Iloilo has it’s own wonders waiting to be discovered!

Cabugao Island

Also known as the selfie island as all tourists must have their mandatory selfies at the cliff overlooking the back-to-back beach called MarujaFlora.

Bantigue Island/Sandbar

We had lunch here where you can have unlimited fresh scallops!!! For only Php 1.00 per piece! Our tour also included an extravagant buffet that included fresh prawns, crabs, scallops, oysters, and lechon baboy!

Tinagong Dagat

Also known as “Little Boracay” as its sand is as powdery fine as Boracay’s White Beach. This was the best swimming area during our entire trip.

Day 3. Sicogon Island Boat Tour

This was a more chillax boat tour since we are just circling the same island. Less boat ride more swimming! Drone shots c/o my brother Onyx.

Tumaquin Islet

An uninhabited islet, interestingly connected to the main island of Sicogon by a sandbar, walkable during low tides. During high tides, cliff diving can be done as well.

Photo showing Sicogon Island and Tumaquin Islet connected by a sandbar.

Long Beach

We had lunch here. This is the best area for swimming in Sicogon Island. Balay Kogon is also located here where we had the beach favorite Halo-halo for snacks.

Other sites/activities we missed due to lack of time: Cliff diving at Tumaquin, Bawang Cove, Gasang Cove and guided trek to Mt. Opao.

Day 4. Travel back home.

I had a great time at Sicogon and Gigantes Islands. Maybe also because of the great company I had, my brother Onyx, and the power couple from Gensan Dr. Phillips and MM Chua-Arias.

The whole trip was arranged by TriBelle Travel and Tours tribelletravelandtours@gmail.com

+63 906 634 3510

How to get there:

We came from General Santos City, so we flew via Philippine Airlines to Iloilo City then private van to Bancal Port at Carles Iloilo. Normally travel time is around 2.5 – 3 hours but for us we took our time during lunch at Midway Restaurant so traveling time was a bit longer.

Bancal Port to Sicogon is around 1 hour boat ride.

Sicogon jetty port to Huni Resort is just 5 minutes away, van provided by the resort.

Other Options:

Manila-Sicogon via Airswift flight schedule M-W-Sat. Yes, Sicogon island has it’s own airstrip! So it’s very accessible for tourists from Manila, more accesible in fact than most island destinations.

Or Any Domestic Airport to Iloilo or Roxas City then land trip to Bancal Port then boat ride to Sicogon. Roxas – Carles is a shorter drive but unfortunately no direct flight for us coming from Gensan.

Tips:

Pack light, lots of transfers especially for those coming from Iloilo or Roxas City
Book a guided island hopping tour before hand. lasislas.ph
No signal for Smart and Sun but hotel wifi was fast enough.
No nightlife entertainment yet, i should have brought my bluetooth karaoke mic, and just do Youtube Karaoke.

It was nice discovering something fresh and unadulterated. You may consider Sicogon on your next travel adventure!

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