HELLO STEEMIANS!!

How was your Valentine’s Day? Did you have a date with your special someone? Unfortunately for me, I only have a date with myself yesterday since I’m in a long distance relationship with my significant other. ( T_T huhu )

Anyways, today, I will bring you to one of the hidden paradises of Surigao del Sur that I really love and will definitely come back to again and again and again. :)

I will introduce you to Surigao del Sur’s Britania Group of Islands! We visited this place last September when my girlfriend celebrated her birthday with her close friends.

---

Britania Islands

Britania Islands is situated in the municipality of San Agustin, Surigao del Sur. It is named after its barangay, Barangay Britania. San Agustin is comprised of 24 islands and islets with different sizes and mostly spherical in shapes that are scattered all over Lianga Bay facing the Pacific Ocean. Most of these islands/islets are uninhabited and only a few are surrounded by very fine and pure white sands. The colors of the ocean water change from island to island so it’s very pleasing and seductive to the eyes.

There are four famous spots for island hopping in Britania Islands namely Hagunoy Island, Naked Island, Buslon Island, and Hiyor-Hiyoran Island.

How to Get There

There are several ways to get there depending on your point of origin but basically, your entry point should be to arrive in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur. San Francisco is your gateway to enjoy the wonders and pride of Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte like the famous Enchanted River, Tinuy.an Falls, Britania Islands, Cabgan Island, International Doll House, Laswitan Lagoon, Siargao Islands, Sohoton Cove and many more. ( I will be making my travel blog with each of these wonders of Surigao on my future blogs)

Davao to San Francisco	Butuan to San Francisco

From Davao City, it will only take you 5 hours of land travel to arrive in San Francisco and 2 hours if you start from Butuan City. Then from San Francisco to municipality of San Agustin will only take you approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.

(courtesy of google maps)

Accommodation

There are a lot of resorts you can choose from in Brgy. Britania depending on your budget and we chose to stay at Mac Arthur’s Place.

In Mac Arthur’s Place, they have the perfect view of the beauty of Britania Islands. You can just see outside your room the different islands/islets, they have a fish pond installed in the boardwalk of the ocean, and they serve delicious kinds of seafood. They also offer island hopping packages from the four famous islands with only 1500 PHP (30 USD).

Island Hopping

We rented a “Bangka” (boat) and started our island hopping around 9 am.

Our first stop is the farthest among the islands, Hagonoy Island.

Hagonoy Island is my favorite among the four because of its very clear waters that have different hues from the shore going to the deep waters. The white sands are so refined that it feels like you’re walking on powder and only few coconut trees and Talisay trees are on the island to give you shade. We were very lucky because we have the island all by ourselves when we visited there. We stayed there for an hour and took several pictures before going to the next island.

(I'm the official photographer in this group, actually its the only reason why they invited me. haha)

(there's a happy kiddo at the back xD)

Next stop is Naked Island.

It is called Naked Island because there is nothing in here but refined white sand and some rocks that disappear during high tide. We only stayed here for a couple of minutes to take pictures because it’s almost noon time and the heat is at its peak. This island would also have been a great place for swimming if only the heat was bearable. >.<

Third stop was in Buslon Island. We had our lunch in the boat because there were already many people on the island.

Buslon island is where most tourist and people gather during lunch time because this is the largest island among the rest and the island have many shades from trees and rocks, also, one of the reasons that this island is crowded with people because this is the place for adventures.

They have flying fish, banana boat, Jet Ski, alien boat, dragon boat, and kayak. The rides were so fun and if you’re up to adventure you can request the driver of the flying fish to increase the speed so that when facing the waves, the riders will fly higher. Haha

We tried the flying fish and was told that only go pro cam is allowed to bring with us when riding to avoid losses of smartphones and camera but unfortunately the handle of my go pro was damaged so we did not get the chance to take pictures while riding it. It was so fun and worth it though. I screamed very loud when we float very high. HAHAHA

We rested for a while and then we went to our last destination, Hiyor-Hiyoran Island.

Hiyor-Hiyoran Island is the island with the most vegetation. They have many coconut and palm trees, rock formations for picture taking, and starfish. This island is also a good spot for snorkeling.

After roaming around the island, we decided to go back to Mac Arther’s Place to rest for the day.

---

Thank you for your time reading this and please look forward to my next episode. If you enjoyed it, you might also like to read my other posts on the link provided below.

1. Kuya J’s Diary Episode 10 – How to Cook Homemade Cheesy Pancake
2. Kuya J’s Diary Episode 9 – Automated Water Vending Machine: Microbiological Point of View
3. Kuya J’s Diary Episode 8 –Automated Water Vending Machine: Implication for Public Safety
4. Kuya J’s Diary Episode 7 –A Night in Davao City Part 2
5. Kuya J’s Diary Episode 6 - A Night in Davao City Part 1

---