To Be or Not To Be in Tubigon, Bohol - that was the question on our first attempt to visit the place. That day, clouds were heavy and we (me, my son Hann and my sister) were running late for the early boat schedule from Cebu City.
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| It's a submarine! It's a banana boat! No, it's MV Starcraft |
It wasn't meant to be. Defeated, we retreat to SM and drown ourselves with Leona's cakes.
The next day, the weather cooperated and we were in the boarding gates of Pier 3 by 9AM, Tubigon tickets in our hands.
Cebu-Tubigon Daily Trips
MV Starcrafts Trip Schedule:
CEBU-Tubigon TUBIGON-Cebu 5:45 AM 6:25 AM 6:30 AM 7:00AM 7:00 AM 7:45 AM 7:50 AM 8:30 AM 8:30 AM 9:20 AM 9:10 AM 10:30 AM 10:30 AM 11:00 AM 11:10 AM 12:30 PM 12:30 PM 1:30 PM 1:15 PM 2:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:00 PM 4:30 PM 5:45 PM 5:30 PM 6:45 PM 6:45 PM 7:45 PM
MV Starcrafts Fare Table:
*Some vessels may only have 2-class divisons (economy/business)
Regular Student Senior Citizen Child ECONOMY 200 170 160 150 TOURIST 220 187 176 165 BUSINESS 280 238 224 140
MV Lite Ferries/Lite Jet Trip Schedule:
CEBU-Tubigon TUBIGON-Cebu 5:30 AM 6:45 AM 8:45 AM 10:15AM 11:45 AM 1:15 PM 2:45 PM 5:15 PM
MV Lite Ferries/Lite Jet Fare Table:
Regular Student Senior Citizen Child (3-11 yrs) 220 187 176 110
When in Cebu, the possibility of visiting Bohol is always on the sidelines of the itinerary. It's accessible by fastcraft - something easily more convenient than visiting, say, Bantayan or Camotes.
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| Passenger terminal |
The popular route is through Tagbilaran, a 2-hour ride that takes passengers to the touristy capital of the province. Since I've already done that, and we want to scrimp on expenses, we decided to try the alternative.
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| boarding the fast craft |
Also known as the backdoor to Bohol, Tubigon is only 1 hour away from Cebu City. What used to be just a 45 minute commute is now extended to prevent coral reef damage caused by the boat's strong underwater pressure.
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| just the 3 of us |
I clocked our trip and sure enough, we arrive in photo finish time.
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| do I see a galleon ship? looks so big beside those islands |
Tubigon port is located in the modest town center. It thrives more on cargo than tourists. Our passenger vessel looked like a child's toy amidst large cargo ships loaded with copra and consumer goods.
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| in deep thought: "are we there yet, mommy?" |
From there, we start our day-long tour of Bohol's off-the-beaten track destinations (itinerary here).
I had a bad experience riding on M/V Starcraft with the purser and another male staff who do not respect women, esp. the older ones.
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