Have you ever been to a paradise? Because I’ve been to Carnaza Island, and that place is the closest to utopia I’ve been in my life.
It was June 2021 when my eyes were blessed and dazzled with the astonishing creation that is Carnaza.
At first, I was hesitant to go because it has been raining nonstop due to a typhoon. My parents didn’t even want me to go, it was so far from home. And the mode of transportation to the island—as my parents would say—was dangerous.
But I was glad I did go anyway. That 3-day stay in Daanbantayan’s hidden paradise was one of the highlights of my year. And the journey was quite safe!
Although, if you are afraid of sailing in a pump boat for more or less two hours, you may think it is dangerous. But there were life jackets on the pump boat; it’s reassuring to me like that. Besides, the boatmen won’t allow sailing if they think it’s remotely unsafe.
Traveling to Carnaza
In a nutshell, the entire travel time was exhausting. We had to go to North Bus Terminal at 4 am and ride a bus that’ll take us to Tapilon port. That bus ride was roughly 5 hours! If you live at the heart of Cebu and want to catch the first boat going to the island at 10:00 am, you got to start the itinerary early.
When we reached Tapilon, we rode a tricycle that’ll take us to where the boats are, and each paid 40 pesos fare.
No matter how much I want to make the travel info as detailed as possible, I can’t remember the little things we had to do to get there. But I definitely remember how the island made me feel the whole time I was there. That, I can paint a clear picture in your head. I’ll paste an external blog link with a detailed itinerary at the end of this write-up to compensate for my poor memory.
Arriving in Carnaza
After a seemingly endless trip, it was around 1pm when we arrived at our magical destination. It would have been earlier if our boat propeller didn’t break and the boatmen had to install the reserved propeller.
We were so hungry that we hurriedly set up our tents and prepared our lunch without appreciating the wonder before our eyes. But as soon as we finished eating our lunch, we began to feel excited about the crystal clear water, fine white sand, and untouched beauty of the island.
Staying in Carnaza Island
When you are so burned out at work and, you spend a little time in Carnaza, it makes you wish it wouldn’t end at all. I wanted the time to stop and allow me to savor every bit of heaven I had found.
The cell reception was close to nothing unless you are a Smart sim user. But if you genuinely want to disconnect from the city’s hustle and bustle, just recharge; the poor signal is even an added value. It makes you forget about all the things you left outside paradise. Life is even simpler, with no trace of the catastrophe brought by the pandemic.
A pro tip when traveling to Carnaza, bring all essentials and make sure it covers your entire trip. We had to bring a butane stove, rice, utensils, cooking pan and spices, snacks, drinks, and more. Although you can buy fresh seafood during the day, it isn’t always available especially, during rainy seasons.
There’s a convenience store within the premise for your other needs, though.
Another tip is not to leave your food outside, even though you have a table! A dog snatched some of the food we put on the table in a plastic bag. We were too drunk and wasted to keep everything inside our tents. It sounds funny now, but we were mad when we found out about our lost stuff.
Unlike other people who visit Carnaza, we didn’t tour around the adjacent islands. We settled with taking selfies on the picturesque wide helipad they had in place. When we went up there, we saw the entire Carnaza from a different breathtaking angle. We stayed there for a while and devoured the magnificent overlapping blue and green water embracing the island.
Then we headed to go get our tans by literally swimming the entire day. There’s something so earthly about just floating on the water. It felt like your senses were one with nature. The sound of the subtle waves, the slight breeze, the singing birds, everything makes you feel at home and at peace.
Do you know what the best part of deciding to stay three days on the island is? Most people leave the place on Sunday. We almost felt like we had the whole heaven to ourselves!
We had plenty of time to swim and talk about how difficult life had been as young adults. The island saw us stripped and vulnerable, but it comforted us, offered us our one chance at magical escape.
I personally regret not waking up early on our second day on the island. Since I didn’t get to see the sunrise, I was hoping the sunset was going to be pretty. But it was just okay, I guess.
I thought I’d never experience a golden moment at Carnaza. But the island thought to give us a hard, painful goodbye by bragging about its beauty on our last day…
Leaving Carnaza Island
I can’t overstate how painful it was to leave the jewel of Daanbantayan and go back to reality. But I guess I’d always have this time-lapse recording to remember the island by. My first Carnaza Island sunrise—my magical beginning and captivating goodbye.
Till our horizons meet again.
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