Batanes Travel Guide & Notes + Top 10 Moments

It's been over 2 years since my epic Batanes adventure, only getting around to sharing this guide now. I am super sorry!! hehehe. Hope that people will still find this guide to be helpful, relevant and inspiring. If you've booked your Batanes trip and are in the planning process - I hope this guide will be a good reference to refine and help you prioritize your itinerary. If you're still thinking of going to Batanes - I hope this pushes you to actually book because it's one of the most awesome places in the Philippines!

Click here to download The Budget Traveller Batanes Travel Guide & Notes

The Budget Traveller Batanes Travel Guide & Notes I pepared includes the following:

• Summary of things to do in Batanes - in around Basco, Batan Island & Sabtang Island
• List of towns & villages and their main attractions
• Summary of awesome lookout view points
• Places to eat
• Budget and cost of goods/services listing
• Contact directory of restaurants, lodging, tour operators & service providers

Click here to download The Budget Traveller Batanes Travel Guide & Notes

Getting that out of the way, here's a rundown of my Top 10 Batanes Moments

1. Claiming SanTan's Canteen as our hangout spot. We wasted our hours here reading, drinking Kalinga coffee, eating BBQ & devouring the BEST burgers. The book exchange was a big plus too!

2. Discovering one of the best pizzas in my life at Casa Napoli! The owner Xavier worked with Italians in a cruise ship, and wonderfully makes do with scarce ingredients on the island. He also has a secret stock of Lavazza coffee - which he gladly shared with us :-)

Casa Napoli

3. The climb to Mt. Iraya was EPIC. What we thought would be a leisurely climb turned out to be a 9.5 hour test of spirits. It rained hard before we reached the summit. We crawled through mud & instant waterfalls. The wind was punishing at the summit - we were freezing, still drenched in rain. But we got a spectacular glimpse of the whole island on our way down, thankfully.

With my cousin Laida at the summit of Mount Iraya - wet and chilly

4. Discovering the Ivatan villages of Sabtang Island - Savidud, Chavayan, Nakanmuan and Sumnanga. It's like being transported to some fairy tale land with stone houses and breathtaking landscapes.

Old Ivatan lady walking the streets of Sumnanga Village, Sabtang Island

One of the stone houses standing proudly in Chavayan Village, Sabtang Island 

5. The 45minute boat crossing between Ivana and Sabtang was like Laida said, a 4x4 ride through the seas. The Ivatan boats don't have a "katig" because the waves don't have a real wave pattern, they sprout out from all around. It was wild!

On the commuter boat crossing from Sabtang to Ivana

6. The trip to Mahatao, on foot. Fresh from the airport - with no sleep from our New Year celebrations - we ventured on foot to Mahatao. Half-way through the 8km way, we decided to take a trike. Once in Mahatao, we walked to the lighthouse... it turned out to be another 3km. Waaaaah! The locals think we're funny.

7. Biking to Valugan bay, With joints and muscles still reeling from the prior day's abuse from the Iraya climb. We had to walk some parts, and I had to push Laida for "bwelo" at some point. But it was fun, and the Valugan Boulder Beach was a spectacular sight to behold.

Valugan Boulder Beach

8. SEAIR canceling our flight - two times, and forcing us to extend 4 days. Good thing they covered our lodging and food - we moved from Ivatan Lodge to Batanes Seaside Resort (hot water! a proper breakfast! cable tv!). But I never ever had my blood boiling as much in my life - SEAIR handled things very very poorly, they were frustrating, I just felt helpless.... I don't want to think about it anymore.

At the Basco Airport, on the phone with SEAir officials as we trying to secure a flight home

9. Waking up on our 2nd to the last day to find the most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen! It was so clear from end to end, rising from the middle of the sea and ending with the Basco lighthouse at its foot. It was actually a double rainbow - but the 2nd one not so clear in the photo.

Beautiful rainbow seen from the rooftop of Batanes Seaside Resort

 
10. Swimming on our last day, the moment we saw the sun come out. It was quick but fun - for the sake of taking underwater photos! hahaha. The water was cold and very clear, the current was strong though. Scary.

Click here to download The Budget Traveller Batanes Travel Guide & Notes

VIDEO: Batanes, Philippines Adventure

So when my friends ask what I did in Batanes.... I just stare back for a few moments, and slowly blurt out with escalating intensity - "I went to BATANES!!"

Unlike other banner destinations thriving on the throngs of tour group travelers, cookie-cutter itineraries and themed attractions - a visit to Batanes is about experiencing a land not pretending to be anything else but what it has naturally grown to be. The awesome landscape, truly the most helpful and gentle people in the country, functionally beautiful architecture, wild boat rides and endlessly crashing seascapes - this seems like the best way to get away from the familiarity of daily life without leaving the country. Can't wait to go back!

Enjoy this short video of our trip!

Top 5 Ways to Avoid Delays when Flying SEAIR to Batanes

During my recent trip to Batanes, I experienced first-hand the perils of flying to a place with notoriously unpredictable weather, fluctuating passenger traffic and a single air carrier acting like it has everyone at its mercy. Bleh! My experience with SEAIR has really been horrible, their customer service and concern for passengers is non-existent, probably because they know passengers have no other choice. It's actually good that they fly to Basco - it's a public service for the local citizens and for tourists - but please, get your act together! At least give your paying passengers the service they deserve and live up to your SEAIR CARES statement.

ANYWAY, I don't want to delve into that. Let's move forward! Hahaha! I had my flight delayed twice, and a total of 4 days. The locals say the record so far is 2weeks stranded in the island, so I still had it good. For the good of the traveling public, I decided to compile this list of practical tips from my personal experience that will help you around possible flight delays and other similar problems. I hope you will find this helpful.



1. PEAK SEASON IS THE TIME TO GO - this is a cliche, but really the most practical thing to do because there are apparently 2 primary reasons why flights get canceled or delayed: (1) Bad Weather, and (2) Not Enough Passengers. Best time to go when weather is good and more predictable is March - July, according to the locals. The second reason is what people whisper about as the secret reason. Of course when I confronted SEAIR they said this is not true. Flying during peak season means most of the inbound and outbound flights are fully booked, so it will be a safe bet for most passengers.

2. PICK THE FIRST FLIGHT - seasonally, SEAIR adds more flights to generate additional  passengers. But most of the travel agencies who book for them push their passengers to the earlier flight or the fixed daily schedule. Related to what I said in the previous item, a flight that has more passengers will have a smaller chance of being canceled. I think the seasonal flights that they add have a higher risk of being canceled - because they open a new flight, book only half the seats... well that's my theory. What we experienced personally was that our group was split into 2 flights back to Manila. The first group flew on sked, we on the 2nd trip had to stay an extra 4days after it was canceled.


3. VALIDATE WIND CONDITIONS - what I found out is that SEAIR planes only have the capability to fly in wind conditions less then 26 knots. Anything more than that, means that a flight can be delayed or canceled altogether. Visit the website www.windfinder.com and search for Basco wind conditions. They have a 1week forecast, which seems accurate. One time, the BCTA lady said that the wind was going to be over 30knots in 3 days. True enough on that day, the flight was canceled due to strong winds. Check our winds conditions in Tuguegarao too, since the plane flies through there. If it's more than 26knots, there'sa big chance it will be delayed or canceled.


4. CHECK FLIGHT STATUS IN ADVANCE - apparently SEAIR changes schedules and moves flights around, but they're not too proactive in informing their passengers about it. What happend in our case was that we were informed our flight back to Manila was canceled only 2 days before the actual flight. With some information from the travel agency we were talking to, we found out that they actually canceled the flight as early as 2weeks before. The travel agency of course informed their passengers about the change, so they were able to rebook people accordingly. Since we purchased online, no one from SEAIR took the initiative to inform us until it was too late. So to be sure, check every now and then leading up to your flight to see if there are any changes.

5. WHEN CANCELED, REBOOK ASAP - if and when your flights gets canceled, SEAIR will probably say one of two things: (1) There will be an additional flight on XX date, we are moving all passengers there, or (2) We are trying to get an additional flight, we will keep you posted. Hmmm, do you notice the glaring difference? Hehe. If you hear Number 1 - that's a good sign. But if their statement sounds like Number 2 - chances are it won't happen. I personally heard that so many times and it never materialized. Take matters in your own hands, call the hotline, look for the next earliest flight and have your ticket rebooked. Don't wait for them to do this for you, because seats might run out.

My last piece of advise, make sure you GET TRAVEL INSURANCE because you will never really know what will happen. This is just P250 per head when you buy the ticket through SEAIR. You can get coverage of P1,000 per day because of flight delays, on top of other benefits like accident and medical insurance. This is a valuable enough reason to protect you from any mishaps.

I also got the following numbers from the BCTA office of some people from SEIAR you can bug in case of problems. Remember that BCTA is just their ground crew and logistics handler in Basco, so they really can't do a lot in case of problems like this. Better to call SEAIR directly:

Patrick Tan - VP for Commercial Affairs (09197432552)
Leo Gimena - Executive Assistant to the VP (09178547480)

Good luck on your travels!!