Cresta de Gallo: the best beach in Romblon!
The Philippines is a well-known home to wonderful views of mountain tops and beautiful islands and beaches. That’s basically one of the reasons why I want to travel my country first before going outside. Pinas is such a beautiful place, and I haven’t seen even half of it yet. Good thing this year’s summer trip, I got to explore another interesting province of PH – Romblon. And guess what – I finally got to swim the waters of Cresta de Gallo as well!
Hey there! My name’s May and you can view more about me here. I travel a lot for both work and leisure. Thanks to being an auditor and a content creator and, of course, to my love for travel, I barely feel I’m actually at work when traveling. And if I’m actually off work, I usually am with friends or family, discovering places and trying out new food. I’m juggling three jobs – the two mentioned + being a single mom. You think it’s easy? Of course not! But what glues me together is my passion and love for these three. More about my story here.
I love sharing what I know and how I do things, so if you haven’t read these yet, visit the following pages to view:
- how I take and edit my blog photos + what devices and apps I use;
- how I plan my travels;
- how I treat my sunburns (from the mildest to the wildest!); and
- what do I get from traveling, by the way?
About Cresta de Gallo
Cresta de Gallo is one of those tourist spots in Romblon that are too famous to skip. I was like “I visited Romblon last summer!” and people were like ” Oh, did you went to Cresta de Gallo?” Not because they’ve been there already, but they often see pictures of it all around the internet. And I don’t blame them – travelling to Romblon is not a walk in the park, and you need more than one week to fully enjoy the main islands!
This undisturbed paradise can be reached between 30 to 45-minute boat ride from the main island. Similar to most beaches in the Philippines, the water is crystal clear that it seems like reaching the bottom of the ocean is so easy. You can actually see corals and rocks and even fishes clearly up from your boat ride. Fine, white sand runs from all sides of the island. What I love most? The beach is not crowded even during the summer!
Where to stay near Cresta de Gallo
I’m not really sure if they already offer overnight stays now within the Cresta de Gallo island, or if it is okay to pitch a tent there for a night. But since we were targeting another spot in Sibuyan we decided to check in at the main island instead. Guess what – we only had one night in Sibuyan and luckily, we got a nice home at The Boathouse.
For P3,000 we got three rooms good for nine persons, plus we got two private bathrooms all for ourselves! Well, we actually got the whole place to ourselves that day. Thanks again, Ate Laarni! You guys can contact her anytime you wish to stay in Sibuyan. And she can arrange for your tours and island hopping, too! Reach her at +639179366223.
How to get to Cresta de Gallo
When I first posted on IG and Facebook, many of my friends were asking, “how to get there? That’s via roro, right?” Most of them were not aware that there is more or less than an hour direct flight from Manila to Tablas via Tugdan Airport. From Tablas, book a ferry ride to Romblon, Romblon.
If you have more time, less budget, and brave enough to sail the seas at night (hehe the thought of being a pirate in my past life hits me sometimes) you can take the ferry like we did. 2Go Travels offers daily trip from Batangas Port to Romblon Port. Better check their site for the updated schedules and rates, and book online. The trip is 6-7 hours long. From the port is 2 24-30-minute ride via tricycle which you can hire/rent for around Php200 per trip (at least as of May 2019.)
From anywhere in Romblon, hire a tricycle to drop you at Romblon Port. (If you’re traveling in the afternoon, I suggest you try the ihaw ihaw just right beside the gate of the Romblon Port!) Book a trip to Cajidiocan Port via Navios Shipping Lines or other lines available, as trip schedules are usually moving.
Our Cresta de Gallo experience
We needed to get to the Romblon port at 2am to catch the first trip to Cajidiocan. We got there at 7am, got our breakfast at the port, and we went ahead to Azagra Port where our boatman suggested as our meeting place.
We finally got there at around noon! I don’t know what happened during our travel time, as I was mostly asleep. Lol. Oh, and a friendly tip: shop and cook meals for lunch and also bring snacks and drinks as there are no stores in Cresta de Gallo island. There’s no place to recharge your devices as well, though you can try ask the people there. Network signal is also poor so you don’t have any choice but to enjoy the island, hang out with your friends, and swim around!
We stayed there for at least three or four hours (and I realized just now where I got my sunburn) just swimming and resting and taking pictures and laughing and eating. Our favorite part is when we’re having a dip on the side of our boat, planning our next trip. Lol.
It’s just super nice to just hang out with your friends (and not just in a bar our wherever) and I really am looking forward to have the same bonding time with my Mnemo!
Forget my shot, I’m not a pro. But really, this sand bar is the highlight of the island, and I know everyone who witnesses this kind of beauty will never say it’s boring. Even when I was just reading different articles and stories when we were just building our itinerary. OMG WE GOTTA GET THERE! you know that special feeling when you’re just in a beautiful beach in the middle of the ocean…and yeah. Oh, another tip: bring your hammock if you’re travelling here!
And a waterproof camera or camera case because, man, that crystal clear sea needs to be documented and kept so we can have something beautiful to show to our grandchildren. I really wish we stop polluting the oceans and start taking care of them more.
Wrap-up
I don’t really have a bucket list, even when I try listing interesting places online (excuse me if you’ve seen that), and I don’t also have my favorites (I mean, not until now!). I and my friends are thinking of revisiting Cresta de Gallo more than once, wanna join?
Looking for more places to visit? Need someone to travel with? Waiting for someone to be your food buddy? Wait no more and just stay connected! Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I also am on VSCO and Zomato, in case you’re curious or interested to join me in my travels and food reviews. Or let’s chat via email through connect@themhayonnaise.com.
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dannymellema
I agree, Cresta de Gallo was superb, more than perfect and if lucky, an island all for yourself. But Romblon was absolutely amazing too. Bon-bon beach and bang-ug island were breathtaking in my opinion. But besides these, the people on the Romblon islands made it worth visiting.
Great post btw, very informative for those wishing to go there.
themhayonnaise
Thank you so much! Glad you liked my article! ❤️ yen, been to Bonbon beach as well. I liked Cresta better, tbh. Maybe because crowd was less compared to Bonbon’s. ❤️
dannymellema
Oh I preferred Cresta too, but I meant that Romblon also has a really big appeal because of its beauties.
themhayonnaise
Yes! We plan to get back there soon. <3
dannymellema
Ahh, I wish it was me to go back! Enjoy!!