Bojo River Cruise and Hermit's Cove Travel Guide 2016

Bojo River Cruise and Hermit's Cove - Aloguinsan Cebu

So I've heard about an affordable 'El Nido-ish' haven near Cebu! Hmmn. Okay, I was curious and didn't have any plans for the weekend so we decided to go there for a visit.

How to go to Bojo River from Cebu:

It's best to go to South Bus terminal at 5AM for the earliest trip. After 7AM, there might be no bus going directly to Aloguinsan anymore so you may need to take another route and take a bus going to Toledo or Pinamungahan instead. 

You just need to let the conductor/driver know that you will be going to Bojo River and they should know where to drop you off. It's near the market where a lot of people are getting off anyway. From the drop-off area or market, you can ride a habal-habal going to Bojo River.

Upon arriving at the reception, we were welcomed by their staff and had a short briefing.  We then started to wear the life vest and embark ourselves inside the small banca. As we were having our little voyage, the guide was mentioning names of the mangroves and bits of information about the history. All I can remember was the "saging-saging" mangroves.

At the end of the river is the Tañon Strait where you can get off the boat and take some pictures. You can swim into the water as well. It took us approximately 1 hour to finish the cruise. After swimming, you can use their bathroom. It's clean and well maintained.

For me, the Php400/head cruise was worth it if (and only if) food was included. But anyway, it still feels good to be able to help their community and get to know about "Saging-saging" mangroves.

We went back to Aloguinsan proper and had our simple lunch at the market. A few minutes after, we were already on our way to Hermit's Cove. There were 2 beaches to choose from, either Hidden Beach or Hermit's Cove. I asked the locals and majority of them said that Hermit's Cove is better.  We just stayed there for a few hours relaxing, inhaling all of the sea breeze before we get back to the toxic city life.  My friend went swimming but had to wash himself with 'salty' after. They seem to have limited clean 'odorless' water supply.

It was already 4PM that we started to head back to Cebu City. The habal-habal drivers and Hermit's cove staff  advised us to directly go to Mantalongon because this is the the main road where a lot of buses are passing by to go back to Cebu city. It was Php150/head for the habal-habal and we were like whaaat? But they said that it's the fastest way. Going back to Aloguinsan proper will not help because there are no buses anymore in the afternoon. There was another option via Pinamungahan but lesser chances of catching a bus. We just agreed and was able to ride a bus going back to Cebu right away so I guess they were right.

Here's a summary of my expenses:

Expenses	Price
Bus going to Aloguinsan	PHP 80.00
Habal-habal from Aloguinsan proper to Bojo River	PHP 20.00
Bojo River Cruise	PHP 400.00
Habal-Habal ride from Bojo River to Hermit's Cove	PHP 50.00
Hermit's cove entrance fee	PHP 50.00
Habal-habal back to the Mantalongon	PHP 150.00
Bus going back to Cebu City	PHP 100.00
Food	PHP 50.00
Total	PHP 900.00

  

Hermit's Cove Beach

Just the 3 of us

 

Hello. That small boat is our ride

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Inhale . .  exhale . . click!

~ FIN ~