Second Time in Jomalig Island

It was the summer of 2017 when I first visited Jomalig. I was a struggling travel writer then, too stressed with my day job and full of doubt.

You know when you’re stressed with work and some personal issues, your vision and sense of meaning can sometimes become blurry, to the point that you’re starting to doubt and even not acknowledge what you’re capable of.

I was anxious, unsure if I can continue blogging while hustling with my day job. I needed peace, I needed a break.

Jomalig gave me that. I’ve found the peace that I was looking for. The island somehow reassured me to just continue what I do, to not give up writing despite the increasing demand of my current work at that time, the job that pays the bills.

Now I am back in Jomalig as a renewed and a lot happier person. I just quit my job and now a full-time travel blogger.

I couldn’t contain my excitement as our boat was slowly approaching Jomalig. I could see the glistening golden sand from afar. After two days of exploring the islands of  Burdeos and Polillo, Jomalig was indeed a good finale of the entire island-hopping experience.

Our boat first docked at Salibungot beach, the island’s main beach, the popular golden beach of Jomalig. It was such an awesome feeling to be back. If my fellow travelers went straight to the “We Love Jomalig” sign, Eloi and I knew exactly where to go. Being on the island for the second time, we already knew which is the best spot in the long stretch of Salibungot.

We went in the opposite direction towards the edge of the beach before turning left going to the series of resorts on the island. It didn’t fail us. The view was stunning and we were the only people there. We just enjoyed our time walking on the long stretch of golden sand and took a lot of pictures.

This is just one of our happy videos. Please forgive us for calling those trees as pine trees LOL! We realized that those are actually NOT pine trees, (sorry tao lang LOL) but you know we had fun.

After about an hour, we again boarded the boat and traveled straight to our resort. In our second time in Jomalig, we stayed at Jojomalig Resort. It was also a nice accommodation for those who are planning to visit the island. They have small Kubo rooms as well as tent pitching.

We would love to stay again at SPIR resort, but our guide Ojen, coordinated the group’s stay at Jojomalig.

I then set up our tent at the spot facing the beach. It was a  good spot. Look! I remember telling myself we’d definitely enjoy our second visit.

That afternoon, Eloi and I decided to walk on the beach like we used to do during our first visit. We passed through some resorts, pointing out some changes that we noticed until we reach the farthest part where SPIR resort is located.

It was nice seeing SPIR beach resort again. There were a lot of improvements. We saw more kubo accommodation and there were more guests unlike during our time. Though we didn’t stay there on our second visit, I was just overjoyed to see SPIR again. That resort is special for me, for us. I remember one afternoon during our first visit, we were sitting on the sand in front of SPIR, waiting for the sunset. I was telling myself that time that whatever challenges that I face, I can surpass it. This sadness, this storm, this too shall pass, and it did.

There was a group of friends playing volleyball inside the resort. Over the years and after numerous messages that I received from readers about this Jomalig story, asking more assistance about their travel, if they’re in need of a resort, I consistently refer them to SPIR. Now, I am happy how the resort has grown. I am always happy to support local business and local tourism.

Full Travel Guide: Jomalig Island DIY Travel Guide

 

During the night, It was another good lambanog inuman session with my new friends. It is always nice to meet new friends during our travels. Ojen and his team actually brought one huge container of lambanog going to Jomalig so it was another unli lambanog for all of us.

One thing that I really love about Eloi is how she lets me enjoy this kind of moment. I think she also knew that it’s rare that I get to experience this inuman so when I do, she just lets me enjoy it. So for boys out there, do not ruin that trust okay? Don’t do anything stupid and behave. Well, for us it was a lot of fun, clean fun with new set of friends.

The next morning was the time for the habal habal tour. You know we’ve already tried that during our first visit so we decided to just stay at the beach and chill. You can read our habal habal tour experience in this same blog post. I guess maybe one of our purposes why we were there was to convince my fellow travelers that they must try the habal-habal tour, it’s one of the best experiences that they have to do in Jomalig.

So since most of our new friends were having their island tour, we just explored the beach again. Kerby, our new friend, suggested that we visit this small kubo on the beach and we did. It was indeed instagramable.

It’s actually just a usual normal kubo but being located in the beautiful beach of Jomalig then coupled with minimum photography skills, photo can can be too awesome.

Eloi did a lot of poses, and here are just some of the best shots.

If you’re planning to look for this spot when you travel to Jomalig, this is located along with the resorts near Jojomalig, Kadena resort, etc. You can easily locate it. This is the only kubo along the beach.

Read the blog post: 15 Best Beaches in Quezon

I am aware that after Jomalig was featured by KMJS or Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho, a lot of travelers have suddenly become interested in this remote 5-hour boat ride island from the mainland Quezon. This recent holy week, the island has experienced the largest flock of tourists in its history. Many travelers were stranded for hours at the port.

I am in a way happy that Jomalig is now getting the attention that it deserves, but I do hope that travelers will take good care of this island paradise. We owe it to our children, to our next generation to let them still experience this raw beauty of nature. I will definitely be back in Jomalig. I guess this might be a yearly tradition for me to be back? I’m sorry but I just love this island so much.