My co-worker John and I motorbiked all over Bantayan Island. There were very few cars, trucks, buses, and no cabs (only motor-tricycles), making this a prime spot to rent a motorbike.

Over the course of a day we easily went from Santa Fe up to Kota Park at the tip of Madridejos, back down to Bantayan proper, and back over to Santa Fe.

It wasn’t a great beach day due to a typhoon rolling through, so it was definitely a day for motorbikes. The waves were so bad all of the ferries back to Cebu were cancelled that day.

We thought we were going to Madridejos. However, given it had recently rained and there was a woman coming the opposite way taking it slow over the road that was now just mud and puddles, I slowed down. John missed these cues and the next thing I heard was a slide as motorbike hit pavement. I hit the brake and skid a little bit myself without tipping over.

I turned around and saw John getting up from the ground. One of the plastic hand-guards tore off from the bike, but he was ok though very muddy. I’m sure he was glad one of my first reactions was to take a photograph.

After a slight recovery we managed to bike into a very close town which, much to our surprise, ended up being Bantayan. Somehow we missed a turnoff. And with that our misdirection and misfortune ended.

The owner of a guesthouse very graciously let John shower and wash the bike, and even got her son to show us where we could repair the damaged bike.

And again we were on the road. There was enough cloud cover that it was a perfect temperature especially with the generated wind from the open air. This time we took all the right turns, and when we asked one of the locals “which way is Madridejos?” — we were already there! I suppose it was a little smaller than we expected.

After buying a new pair of pants we went to the end of the city and the end of the island — Kota Park.

It had a decent beach with a pier extending far; low tide exposing the rocky coral.

It was easy to spot the tourists – us and a group from Manila. It’s always easy to tell if someone’s from Manila based simply on the way they dress.

Whereas the locals were gathering small shells and crabs along the exposed coral.

Or just enjoying the time outside.

At the end of the pier was a colorful building with multiple stories, supplying a great view and a little fun.

It was about an hour back to Bantayan proper where we were able to visit the wharf and the market just before night fell.

Yep, someone lives on that tiny island right there. But this is a boating island with plenty of fishing, which wasn’t too successful that day due to the typhoon, but fishermen were out from around 11pm to 1am collecting fish that looked like miniature blowfish.

So late one camera was out of batteries and I couldn’t take a proper photo with the other. It was time to sit on the beach watching the stars — we had a boat ride the next day at 4am.