Take Me Back to Cuatro Islas of Leyte

Some of you may have only heard about Kalanggaman Island, but Leyte has a lot to offer. Today, I will share to you our trip to Cuatro Islas last April 2016.

To get here you need to take a van from Tacloban City going to Maasin or any van that would pass by the town of Inopacan.

Estimated Travel Time from Tacloban: 2-3hours
Mode of Transportation: Bus or Van
Estimated Fare: ₱150 – ₱200
Drop Off Point: Near Inopacan’s Town Hall (munisipyo)

Inopacan’s Town Hall

Pumpboats are docked at Inopacan’s Baywalk located at back of the town hall. Rent is ranging from ₱2,500 to ₱3,500 which can accommodate around 10-20persons. The rate includes boat transfer from mainland and island hopping.

Baywalk

If you want to stay overnight you can tell the boatmen to fetch you the next day. Don’t forget to ask for their phone number so you can contact them if there will be changes in your schedule.

There's a small market in Inopacan, where you can buy food, however you will have limited options, so if you're coming from Tacloban, I would suggest that you buy all your needs there.

Cuatro Islas (View from the Baywalk)

The 4 islands are Digyo, Apid, Mahaba and Himokilan which are 20-30minutes away from one another.

If you want to include Himokilan in your island hopping, you have to pay an additional ₱300 because its a little bit far from the others since its already part of Hindang, a municipality next to Inopacan. There's a small community in Apid, while Digyo is solely for tourists who wanted to escape from their stressful work, clear their mind, heal their broken hearts 😢, or just wanted to simply experience summer feels. ☀️

Digyo Island

We stayed overnight in Digyo. Its around 30-40 minutes trip from the mainland.

Contrary to what we are expecting, the island is really not that secluded. In fact, it is now being developed by the Local Government Unit of Inopacan. They assigned some locals, to manage and take care of the island. They have trash bins everywhere so please throw your trash properly and help preserve cleanliness of the surroundings.

(Leave nothing but footprints.)

We brought tents, thinking there were no available cottages, but tadah, we were wrong.

Open air cottages at ₱300.00

Closed Cottages at ₱500.00

There are no available tents for rent in Digyo, but you can pitch your own at ₱50.00.

You should bring drinking water, food and everything you will need in an island. If you're planning to stay overnight, aside from your bikinis, don't forget to include in your OOTDs, jacket, hoodies or anything that will keep you warm, coz it really gets cold at night. There is no electricity, (don’t forget your power banks and extra batteries) but there is solar power that gives light to the island during night time.

There is signal for Smart and Globe and sometimes mobile data works, but I would suggest that you turn it off so your workmates won't be able to contact you for reports or anything, (kaya ka nga nagbakasyon diba 🙄😂) and you can just really enjoy the place away from the toxicities of life.

There are small sari-sari stores where you can buy stuff and hot water (₱2.00), if you want to drink coffee which is perfect at night or during early morning chismisan.

You don't have to bring mugs, the sari sari store owner will let you use their mugs for FREE 😉. (Akala ko pati yun may bayad. Haha)

There are available fresh seafoods and fish in the island which is around ₱100-₱200, and locals would cook it for you at ₱50. But there's a certain area where you can cook or grill so you can save money. In our case, we just let the locals do it for us since we don't know how to cook and we're all lazy (wag tularan😅).

You can buy water if you want to wash up after enjoying the beach, rate is at ₱10 per water can. There are also available comfort rooms in the island, though not well maintained, but “pwde ng pagtiisan” for our personal necessities. And by the way, it for FREE. Hehe

There are no van terminals in Inopacan so you need to be patient in waiting for vans coming from the South, going to Tacloban. Or you can take trips going to Baybay's Terminal, which is around 20-30minutes away from Inopacan.

We weren’t able to go island hopping because we were already tired since we enjoyed Digyo so much. We just passed by the other islands and skipped Himokilan.

It was truly a fun trip. The fresh fishes are the best. The view was very relaxing. My favorite was the morning conversation over a cup of coffee and the sea breeze. And most of all, I loved the company.

Here’s us sending our love to the beautiful sunset.

Its exciting to travel alone..

But sometimes, when you’re with the right people, it’ll make memories crazier and extra special.

If you’re planning your summer getaway this 2018, and you just wanted to escape from all the noise and the crowd, you should consider Cuatro Islas. ☺️🏝