There is so much in this world our eyes should see. The beautiful land that is endowed with towering mountains, enchanting forest, and amazing man-made structures. The tantalizing bodies of water and the fantastic world under it. Come and witness each of this wonderful sceneries our world has to offer. Experience the world we’re in. Let’s travel and uncover new things.
Today’s blog will circle around a sneak peak of one of the amazing spot Occidental Mindoro can offer-the Apo Reef. Apo reef as the 2nd largest reef in the world and one of the preserved heritage in the Philippines. A home for a great reef barrier, amazing dolphins, variety of fishes, turtle and so many more.
If you wanna know more about Apo reef just click the link –Fun Fact about apo reef
AMAZING TRAVEL EXPERIENCE:
It was indeed a beautiful day of August 21st where I joined a group to travel in Mindoro. It was first for me on that location and all is seem vivid and clear as I look back from all of the happenings from our meet up in pasay upto our way home after the trip. Truly I can say that it is one of the most unforgettable travel experience I had. One of the best and the start of my unending exploration.
How to get to Apo Reef Island
1. Ride a bus bound to batangas port (Fare is around 150 -200 pesos) Travel time is just 1 to 1.5 hours.
2. Once you’re in batangas port, buy a ticket going to abra de ilog ( price may vary depending on the ferry ride you’ll choose) Travel time is around 3-4 hours depending on the speed of the ferry boat.
3. You can take a van going to sabalayan port or ride a bus (your choice as long as you’re sure heading to sablayan port) Travel time is around 4-5 hours. I suggest you stop at the market to buy goods as there are no food stalls in the island. (You may get a a local contact as a cook and guide which is way better.
4. From sablayan port ride a boat going to apo reef island. Travel time is around 2 to 2.5 hours
Or if you want you may Contact Jan Michael Kasim via Facebook as he has monthly travel to the said island. It’s worth a try and I bet you’ll surely enjoy.
Mindoro Occidental – The most unforgettable travel
It was indeed a beautiful day, exciting for me as I’ll be on a vacation again. Work has become stressful lately that I have to unwind and freshen up. Going to Occidental Mindoro is a long travel. You have to be patient and creative with sitting position as it 
will surely flatten your ass. Approximately 10 hours of land and sea travel has passed by and we finally reached the sablayan supermarket where we ate our breakfast and had a chance to have a shot of the golden bridge near there. After few minutes of buying goods and resting we headed to sablayan port to ride our boat going to the apo reef island. From sabalayan port to apo island is approx. 1 to 2 hours of boat ride. The sea is calm. Truly enticing with its royal blue color. My heart leap in joy as i truly love being near the sea. After a long while we reached our foster island. The island that would serve as our home during our stay. The island is indeed amazing can’t really describe how beautiful it is as I was awestruck with what I saw. Fine white sand, towering light house, calm blue sea and the far beyond horizon. Apo reef island is truly a must see paradise.
After we set foot on the island we rest for a while, set up our tents and prepared for our lunch as it will be a long day ahead for us still. After our lunch we headed back to our boat for a guided snorkeling session. 
It was truly an amazing day as we got to experience first hand baby turtles coming out of the sand after getting hatched (click : BABY TURTLES for a short clip) It was truly splendid and magical and honored for me to witness such phenomena as we rarely experience such. Those little creatures were kept by the local guides in there wherein we were told that it will be transferred to pandan island – the Turtle sanctuary in the area.
Afterwards we rested for awhile and proceeded to our next activity going inside the lagoon. The lagoon is said to be the breeding place for reef sharks and manta rays situated at the heart of the island. 
A place where you can see a jaw dropping view , a tempting spot of photo shoot on the roots and the refreshing breeze. We stayed for a couple of minutes for photos hoot and chitchatting then proceeded on the next location where you can see some state of the art rock formations that is seemingly Thailand or cambodialike location. Everyone seem so busy finding a good spot for good photo. We stayed there for quite some time til everyone decided to go back to campsite as the tides is going up and the sun is nearly to set. First day on the island ended fun and a little bit of drunk as we enjoyed the company by the shore. That night is totally blacked out for me. LOL.
FULL PACKED WATER ADVENTURE
I woke up early in the morning despite of getting wasted after the nights agenda. I spent some time walking along the shore witnessing the sun as it rises in the sky. 
Call time is actually 6 am so we can witness the sunrise at the lighthouse but since most of us was wasted we’re late by an hour. Nevertheless, late as we are; the view of the sun slowly rising in the sky; witnessing it from the top of the lighthouse is indeed a splendid sight to the eyes. As we continued marveling with the view we see from above, the sun continues to warm our hearts. Preparing us for the new day and new experiences from the island. Everyone is truly astounded on what they experienced. You can see it from their eyes as how they gaze on the marvelous creation God has made.
We spent several hours on that light house savoring each moment in the island. Coz that will be our last sight of it since we’re going to head to another island and then back straight to sablayan port. We packed our things and loaded it to the boat. We bid goodbye on the island and headed to our next destination – the Pandan Island.
We weren’t able to go to the shipwrecked spot as the tides are high and the sea is not that calm. That made me sad and so I made a promise to go back in the island for that no matter what.
Moving forward along our way to pandan island we get past through a pod of dolphins. They cheerfully greeted us as we continue our journey. We were told that the more we create noise the more they’ll show up in which they did. (click pod of Dolphin to view the clip) Everyone is so amazed in the boat. You can feel it as everyone keeps on shouting and making noise to cheer up the dolphins for their show in which they didn’t disappoint us. After a couple of minutes they’re gone and everyone went back being silent in their own agenda. I stood up and went on the tip of the boat where i finished a poem I started during the time we were in a roro going to abra de ilog ( click : Pagsulong sa bagong Recuerdo if you’re interested to read about it).
At last, we’ve reached pandan island. A sanctuary to the sea turtles big and small alike. The island where you can see them just walk in the sand and an island where you can enjoy swimming with them. I can hardly recall as I’ve found 4 turtles in there and this one very large which is bigger than me. 
It’s truly delightful to have this kind of experience that you’ll surely cherish and treasure forever. Everyone swam til we got tired and hungry. We had our last meal in the island by the boat and headed back to sablayan port to clean up and prepare to go home. While some of us is cleaning up there are some who tried the longest zip line which is also found in sablayan area (visit WORLD’S LONGEST ZIPLINE to catch a glimpse of the experience of it)
And that’s how my 1st ever apo reef adventure went, how do you feel about it? Psyched? Interested? Astounded? What are you waiting for. Cone and visit Apo reef and have your own underwater magical experience.
Catch more of these kind of adventures. Just stay tuned and follow me @wander_diaries in IG
Sojourner's Creed 