Sumilon Island

I have been wanting to checkout Sumilon Island ever since I heard about it which was a very long time ago. It was just too pricey for a college student to go to. When our second daughter turned 2 months old we decided it was time to take a family trip. Our requirements: easy beach access, sandy shoreline, easy to go to, quiet, hot and cold shower. Going to a nice quiet sandy beach usually entails a plane ride, a road trip and a boat ride. We settled with the shortest road trip we could find.


Sumilon sounded perfect.

view from ANY spot

GETTING THERE
Sumilon Island is an island off the coast of Oslob, Cebu. It is a four hour drive from Mactan-a drive we did not want to take with a 4-year old child and a 2 month old baby. I knew that it is also accessible from Dumaguete as it is in between these two major islands. so I did some inquiries. Upon inquiring we were happy to hear that it is only a 15 minute drive from Dumaguete's Sibulan Airport and a 30 minute private boat ride. And so arrangements were made. I have to mention though that the resort's transportation service costs 5,000 ONE WAY. We took it anyway since we got a really good deal on room rates from Asiatravel. 


One can go to the island without the resort's service. From Mactan you can hire a cab which would cost about 2,500. You can also take a bus to Oslob. There will be a short boat ride after that. Going on your own from Dumaguete will need you to get to Tampi in Amlan, which is 30 mins from  the airport. From there you take a ferry to Oslob, Cebu and then take the resort's boat to the island. 


THE RESORT
Island
The small island is surrounded by beautiful turquoise waters. You can walk around the island in 45 minutes. There is a nice and long sandbar at its edge. On the other side there is a shady beach with a playground. There is also medium sized mangrove lake on this beach. Aside from the sandbar, the beaches are rocky and good for snorkeling. There are huge fishes even in the  shallow waters. I imagine this place would be perfect for diving.  It's a really nice island with a lot to offer.

the quiet end of the rocky beach

Rooms

The island only has 11 rooms. Their rooms are HUGE. The rooms face the sea but are not on the beach.  The bathrooms are huge as well. The rooms are ok, although dated, they are clean enough. 

I wish I had taken photos of the room!

Restaurant

Their menu choices are limited but reasonably priced. The serving is pretty big. There is only one restaurant on the island. 

Amenities/Activities

There are so many things you can do at the resort:

• hiking to the light house and Yamashita cave
• snorkeling on the marine sanctuary
• enjoying the pool and the several mini pools
• hanging out at the sand bar
• kayaking or rafting on the lake
• fish feeding

we discovered they had walking sticks available AFTER our hike!

small light house

there were flags on the trail

small and lit Yamashita cave

the path to the sandbar

the infinity pool (I couldn't find my better photos but it was pretty!)

baby pools

During peak season they offer different activities scheduled every night like bonfire nights, star gazing night, even bingo night. This truly is a family friendly place.

Service

Two thumbs up! Our room is a bit of a walk from the restaurant but they always brought our orders with a huge smile.

Over all we enjoy our stay, very much so. But I do have to admit that the place did not meet my expectations. I thought it would be a secluded resort. I was disappointed to learn that it was an island very often visited by day trippers both from Dumaguete and Cebu. At one point there was a whole batch of college students who occupied the lower beach for a school celebration. Even the sandbar had day trippers, which did not go through the resort. I later learned that the sandbar is not owned by the resort. It is owned by the government and will cost about 10php per head for entrance. 

Despite that it was relaxing and again, the excellent service helped. We also enjoyed hiking and our four year old enjoy going in the Yamashita cave. We stayed for about 3 nights and felt that maybe an extra night would have been perfect.

We spent the afternoon in Dumaguete to visit my grandmother before heading back to Manila. We didn't have enough time to pass by Handumanan, my favorite handicraft store, but we did have enough time to pass by Sans Rival!





We would probably go back to Sumilon, but only if it were a day trip from Dumaguete! 8o)

not liking the dip

our growing family