Isla de Gigantes: An Adventure of Gigantic Proportions

The northern part of Iloilo is where the best beaches are. Our trip to Isla Gigantes in Carles Iloilo is made possible with the help of Maane and Christian. There are 18 of us plus Christian and his 3 friends. I did not count them in because the 4 of them stayed at a different house, the used a different boat so basically they were a different group.

Isla Gigantes is not a beach resort. It is an island with 3 Baranggays, I think. We knew about this as we had several meetings before actually coming there. This is why we prepared for the “worst”. We thought there’d be no potable water there, we thought there would be no electricity there, we even thought there would be no “people”  there.

Imagine our disappointment when we arrived at a small fishing village with houses, sari-sari stores and the like. It’s not really disappointment but more like a relief. There was potable water, there are generators and there are people there, lots Of them.

Maane’s cousin Small served as our guide. He met up with us at the Estancia Fishing Port. Everyone of us were in our “summer clothes”. By summer clothes I mean shorts, t-shirt, slippers, tank tops and the like. Imagine our surprise when we saw Small was coming our way in Black Polo Shirt, Jeans and Rubber Shoes. Either he was overdressed or we were undressed.

From Estancia Fishing Port, the boat ride took about 2 hours. By the time we got there, I was badly burned. The Sun in Northern Iloilo is probably more cruel as compared to the Sun in the city.

We stayed at Maane’s Uncle’s House. They had a small kubo at the back of their house, we left our belongings there. We had tents so sleeping would be no problem at all. We are free to pitch our tents at the shore. Other than storage purposes, we used the house of Maane’s uncle for bathing, his kitchen for cooking and the like.

Summer season in the island is synonymous to El Nino, fresh water is scarce but hospitality isn’t. Neighbors with wells and water pumps allowed us to bathe in their place. They even let us use their bathrooms. There’s this one woman who would even pump water for us. Of course, we declined her offer.

If you know someone from this place, bugging the living daylights of him or her to take you to this place is worth it. If you do not know anyone in there, it is best to go to Carles as there are a lot of resorts in there. They offer island-hopping tours. If you really want to camp like we did, it is best to befriend Maane or Christian.