Kalanggaman Island: The Oasis to The Visayan Sea

Going to Kalanggaman Island was never part of our plan, we were invited to a fiesta there in Bogo City, Cebu by a family friend. Our original plan was to go to Capitancillo since it was nearer to Bogo City but then my mom said no because my dad said we'll go to Kalanggaman Island. My sisters and I, the rebels that we are, secretly planned to go to Capitancillo but then we don't know anyone who can offer us a boat ride to Capitancillo; we eventually surrendered, it was a lost cause. We set sail from Bogo to Kalanggaman which was said to take about 2 and a half hours boat ride but we rode in a huge fishing boat which then sailed the island for only an hour or so. It wasn't a rocky boat ride though since we went there as early as we can at around 7 in the morning.

While on the boat, and in the middle of Cebu and Leyte, we spotted a couple of dolphins showing us their fin tips—although I don’t have a picture of it because they just rise suddenly and occasionally and, besides, they were not part of the trip, I didn’t come prepared ha ha ha. They come in couples or at least that’s what I saw. It wasn’t really much of like an actual dolphin sighting like what you mostly do in those dolphin sighting tourist spots, they’re just there doing their dolphin stuffs.

Nearing the island, you can tell from below, down under the sea, that this island has got some white-sand-game-on for real. The water was crystal clear and sky blue, you can spot a couple of sharks swimming down there—kidding, there are no sharks or at least that is what I know. And then when we set foot on the shore… Kalanggaman Island is, hands down, breathtaking. It is just completely beautiful and calm. It reminded me of Pandanon Island’s “Puntod” but without inhabitants. I was surprised how the sun wasn’t that hot at that moment—it was around 12 o’clock then.

Kalanggaman island has lots of trees which give shades to come-and-goers and when you get to the sand bar, it definitely is bare naked down there that gives the sands their time to shine. One of the bad reps of Kalanggaman Island is that its sands under water are so soft that when you step on them it suddenly depresses which causes fatal accidents to occur.  A tip that you certainly can’t ignore: pay attention to anyone who can’t swim—even the closest shore there has a deep slope, in our dialect it is called “cantil” which means sands under water suddenly dives into a deeper slope than expected.

At the tip of the sand bar, you will not be allowed to swim in there—and you will get occasional calls or whistles from the patroller—because rip tides mostly occur in that part of the island, which is the last thing you’d want to be caught up in to. It is scary as hell, not that I’ve experienced it but it’s because I’ve read about it. Summary: Rip tides are the rapid movement of water where if you’re located anywhere in it, you will feel like you’ve been pulled away from the shore and into the deep; one way to get out of it will be to either swim parallel to the shore or remain calm and afloat until you feel like you’re not under the current anymore. And if you feel like a little dare devil-ish: Oh God be with you, lost soul.

The island has cottages for rent where you can sleep over for the night or just lounge for the day

White sand beach on the other side

What I like about Kalanggaman Island is that it has two different sides: pristine white sand beaches and a rocky shore, which is really the best of both worlds.

Rocky side of the island

Beach Crawlers

My niece Summer Aisla

Just a random branch I decided to photograph

I will sound so stupid right now but when I took this photo, I felt like I was some kind of this National Geographic photographer out to tell a story of the wild through photos. It's never bad to dream, eh? It is just a dead crab though.

Really picturesque

An oasis to the Visayan sea.

Another random palm tree I decided to photograph

And yet another random tree branch I decided to photograph.

Manual anchor lifters

These are for the gasoline

Catch of the day: Swakis

My Feet.

The best part of an adventure is arriving and departing. We departed the island at around 2 in the afternoon, which was really a surprise for us because we expected rough seas since it is already in the afternoon but what we experienced instead is flat-ironed waters. It is so calm that I decided to take a photo of the reflection of one of the stabilizers of our banca.

Kalanggaman Island remained untouched as of now, and I wish it will still be untouched in the following years. It is one of the beauts the Philippines has to offer and it doesn't deserve just one visit, it deserves a couple more. I don't know if it is a diver's paradise but it certainly is good for snorkeling.