i have always wanted to go to sumilon island. always. because i heard it’s wonderful there. and true enough, it is. it’s perfect for families who want some quiet time without the hassles of commercialism; or people who just want to get away and go somewhere nice (albeit rather expensive). let’s just say we fell in between those two categories.

it’s gorgeous there. so nature-y. even their waiting area in the mainland had little black birds nesting everywhere on the ceiling. all those chirping was insane! but it was very nice. my niece loved those birds. just as much as she loved the beach (and it wasn’t even sumilon island yet!) just as much as i loved the cold iced tea served on that warm tuesday morning while we were waiting for our boat.

after about 15 minutes of boat ride, we were greeted by powdery white sand bar and an expanded golf cart which could seat about 10 people. i’m a cheap traveler so pardon my ignorant surprise when i found myself silently exclaiming, “sosyal!” lol. the cart took us all to our room — our very nice duplex room which i didn’t get to photograph because, well, i still don’t have my camera yet. but suffice it to say that it was a very nice room with a very nice bathroom. check out their website. that’s pretty much how it looked like.

of course, my niece was at the beach making sandcastles in no time, with her blue pail and yellow plastic rake. for a winter baby such as her, she sure didn’t mind the heat!

there are a lot of things to do at sumilon. it’s not all beach-y stuff. they have this really cool lagoon with an equally cool wooden walkway where you can feed fishes with bread that you ask from the staff. and you can kayak there too. or sleep on the hard walkway, like what i did. one of the best slumbers i ever had. it wasn’t my intention to sleep but i just kind of did. the fishes had this hypnotizing effect on me. or maybe it was the sound of the waves and the warmth of the wood too. i don’t know. but i loved the lagoon.

did i mention already that you can feed fishes at the lagoon? because that was one of the activities my niece found so thrilling. it was amusing watching her scream in delight at the sight of fishes clustering together around the huge chunk of bread that she generously gave to them. if it was up to her, our supply of fish bread would’ve been gone in two minutes flat. hehe.

on the other side of the island is the beach-y area. finer sand. lesser waves, compared to the one on the lagoon side. this was where daddy learned how to synchronize his body to the cue for the perfect jumpshot. it was exhausting, after all those tries, but he was a pretty good sport.

went trekking with my sister on the second day. in our slippers and with faces that clearly just woke up. it was a 30-minute trek to their lighthouse and their baluarte located in the middle of the island. let’s just say i expected something more, uh, scenic out of that 30-minute workout. sure, the lighthouse and the baluarte were there, alright, but aside from the dead leaves wet on the ground and the green trees and the brown trails, that was pretty much it. so-so. i couldn’t help but ask, “i came all the way for this?!” but that’s only because i’m not the trekky kind of person. if i get my calves moving for at least 30 minutes, that’s because i expect to see something good. not because i enjoy the walk per se.

more family photos. aeva had tons of fun with the waves. she just wouldn’t stop squealing and laughing. it was an effort trying to get her out of there.

and here’s aeva playing with the tripod pretending she’s a professional photographer. everyone was like, “baby, take a picture of me!”

all in all, it was worth it! the place was great, the food was superb (i rarely talk about food but everything i ate there was delish! no kidding. i loved the taste, the presentation, the works!), the staff were very friendly, and what more — we technically had the whole island to ourselves, as there were only about 4 other guests aside from us. nice! =)