Since a number of my friends were asking me about the tour arrangements, I'm sharing them to you here. :)
One thing you should note when traveling to Batanes is that everything there is always as per reservation. We ended up eating our first meal there at a school canteen because no one would serve us food. Also, booking a tour guide in advance is a must. Doing it as spontaneous as what Toni and Coco did in their movie, "You're My Boss", is almost impossible. My dad was thinking of renting motorcycles and we would drive ourselves to the attractions but when we arrived there, even the hotel could not provide a van for rental because we didn't book for it when we reserved our rooms. We were lucky a guide was at the lobby and heard our conversation. She volunteered his husband to drive us around and to book everything we need for our trip. That couple is our Batanes savior.
This is how we spent our 2 days. Actually, three but all we did on the third day is have breakfast, shop for pasalubong and fly out of Batanes.
Day 1 --- photos here
7:30am arrive at Basco Airport -- most flights, if not all, leave and arrive the airport in the morning
8:00am check in at the hotel
8:30am breakfast at the school canteen
9:00am Vayang Rolling Hills
9:30am play with vakul at Basco Lighthouse in Naidi Hills
9:50am dropped by the hotel to freshen up before going South
10:15am Valugan Boulders Beach
10:35am Dipnaysupuan Tunnel
10:50am PAGASA Weather Chuchu
11:10am Tukon Church
11:35am Tayid Lighthouse
12:30pm lunch at Marlboro Country, and hope to stay there forever --- photos here
2:40pm Honesty store
3:00pm Boat Shelter Port
3:25pm Chawa Viewdeck
5:20pm back to hotel to prepare for dinner
6:30pm dinner at Pension Ivatan
8:15pm back at hotel, because my sister and I walked our way there
Day 2 --- photos here
7:00am meet at Ivana Port
7:40am arrive at Sabtang Port and have breakfast
8:10am register at Tourism Office
8:20am walking tour at Savidug Village
8:40am Old Beaterio and St. Thomas Chapel (part of the walking tour)
8:50am back to the car
9:00am Tinyan Viewpoint
9:45am Chamantad Cove -- only a few tourists go down from the viewpoint to go to the cove
10:15am walking tour Chavayan Village
10:30am Chavayan Beach (part of the walking tour)
10:40am back to the car
11:30am Mahayaw Arch and lunch at Morong Beach
12:40pm Sabtang Port
1:30pm Ivana Port
2:10pm swimming at a beach in Uyugan
3:00pm walk to The Local's Pool
3:30pm The Local's Pool --- photos here
4:10pm walk back to the beach in Uyugan, collecting swaki and clams
5:00pm freshen up at the beach
5:35pm snacks at Paulvana's -- serving Ivatan Specialties venez, uvod, and lunes
6:30pm dinner at Amboy Hometel
8:00pm back to hotel
Day 3
4:40am check out at hotel
5:50am check in at airport
6:00am have breakfast at a nearby canteen and shop at the souvenir shop
7:20am fly out of Batanes
8:30am arrival at NAIA -- you can go back to work or attend school after lunch
There you go! You can now plan your trip to Batanes. And here are some contacts that may help you..
Batanes Seaside Lodge
+63 927 788 5508
+63 999 992 4977
Phoebe Horcajo - our wonderful tour guide
+63 949 652 7545
That was quite a lot to read. Here's a video summarizing the amazing experience we had in Batanes. Enjoy!
