Thanks for the offer Jens. I'll let you know how I go, I'm still chasing the bike at this stage, as soon as its settled I'll let you know our plans and see if we can meet up. Cheers David
I picked up a bike last month, it's 180 kms north of Dumaguete. I would be up for a ride in the future. My Negros schedule is roughly 3+ week stay every other month. Next month is a touristy adventure tour on the bike with the gf taking Ro-Ro's, Panay-Boracay-Guimaras-Cebu. So maybe December visit or after. Anybody planning to attend Masskara Festival in Bacolod next month? Highlight day is on the 27th.
Thats the sort of thing I'm doing with my wife so I'd be interested in your plan / itinerary and how it all goes down. First up we will be doing 3 & 4 day weekend tours. I hope to also throw in a week or 2 longer trip, probably next year sometime. Cheers David
Sure I'll let you know. I haven't taken the Ro-Ro's with a vehicle yet so new to me also. From what I've read most of the ferries only charge an extra 400-500 pesos to bring your bike with you. I wasn't 100% confident on finding the bike I wanted last month so I had bought plane tickets in advance from Bacolod to Clark and then rented a bike from Nice-bike in Angeles City for a 7 day zig zag road ride in the mountains and then over to Baler. I highly recommend Nice-bike, good staff, decent bikes and reasonable prices also. They have wide range of bikes including CRF250L's and also Versys 650's if you want tollway riding capability.
David, i live in Dumaguete and if required you could store your bike here at my resort, it is safe and secure, i also have rooms available on occasion if not full and have a couple of small bikes 125 XRM and Honda Beat for rental.. My please is on the south side of the city on the beach. always cold beer and simple meals.. Most my customers are expats and i belong to a local motorcyle club where the majority are expats living here.. not 1% , just mainly retired expats with big bikes who like to tour the country.
Thanks Andiflip. I have sent you a PM - message. I am flying in to Dumaguete on Friday 11th October and going to Siquijor the next morning for 3 days. I hope we can meet up, send me your details. Cheers David
FYI - Last Roro I took with my bike was from Batangas City to the Abra de Ilog port in Mindoro and I believe the charge was about 1200 pesos to take the bike. Still not a huge fee in dollar terms, but bit higher than 500. Out in other provinces they may be cheaper.
Id also say its more often than not in the >PHP 1000 range unless for a very short ride. I seem to remember that sometimes they have a separate big bike bracket which will make it extra expensive for bikes 400cc upwards.
Regarding RoRo costs when I mentioned 500 piso I meant extra charge for the bike. Are you guys giving total cost? Most of my routes next month are short ferries also. And I definitely dont get hit with a big bike upcharge. I started researching for Palawan in December and found the ferry from iliolo city to Palawan is about 1,000. But that is a long 24 hr route. Regardless whatever the cost it is not a concern. Still happy to pay whatever the cost is to be able to ride the continuously island to island.
Oh, yeah. 1200 was for a big bike (411cc Himalayan) and that covers the cost of the roro ride itself also This is on the big car transporting roro, not a small ferry, which I imagine are significantly less
For you riders hopping around between these islands, you might wanna watch for LPS, typhoons, tropical storms and such or just ask the local coast guard about upcoming weather conditions because the boats running between islands can stop for varies bad-weather reasons on the fly(or schedules change) and you can get stranded on an island from time to time...
Good advice but I'm more worried about when the boats dont stop. Profit driven, not wanting to miss revenue from a route and sailing in weather they shouldn't be. I was in Negros only 3 weeks after the two ferries to Guimaras capsized killing about 33 people. No boat should have been on the water during that storm but they all did. The two weakest boats paid the ultimate price.
Yup. I've both been stranded in Puerto Galera because all boats were canceled, and I've been on boats that felt like they were sinking that sailed during horrible weather. The latter was more alarming.
That Guimares story is spooky to say the least ... These boats will sink quickly but overall, you can make it safely, but use your own wits. Riding these boats is part of their lives here and they see it totally different than a foreigner here for a few days and gone ... The coast guard is the best friend you have here other than yourself or traveling partner. Don't be afraid to question them about anything ... Just be polite and low-keyed for best results and make sure your question is asked in such a way that it is not ambiguous or leading into an easy answer... English is not as well spoken here as many believe. I've stopped most of my inner island riding except for going to the Comotas Islands, just off the coast of Cebu and the boats look better, painted and cleaner now but still the same RO-ROs I think... Might be the same for most of the RO-ROs here. When jumping west, from Cebu to Negros, the port in Toledo was about the most modern looking port but not sure on the boat quality. There are 2-3 ports south of Toledo that jump over to Negros with shorter ride times because the 2 islands form a narrow channel down there but the current is extremely strong and if the boat goes over, Tarzan might get swept out to sea also. -- Here is a recent pic from Comotas Island and they think a very heavy truck slipped on the wet steel and caused this to happen... Might wanna be a little choosy on where you park your bike on a RO-RO if possible... No deaths but this had to be terrifying to be lined up to get off the boat with it tied to the dock, and it flips over like this... So be ready till you have both feet on the ground and locate where the life vests are at when boarding.. Again, this stuff usually happens in bad weather most of the time and moving between the islands is one of the high-points of traveling here. It is inexpensive, damn sure adventurous and usually beer and maybe a lounge on-board... Carry a USB device with your music on it and rock the house with their sound systems all over the place here maybe!
Whenever available, use the fastcat ferries. They are relatively new, modern ships and, by design, appear safer to me. They connect all the major islands by now I think, more expensive but also more comfortable.
Here is a short follow-up on that new dam built in the Santa Rosa BRGY on Cebu... Really clueless on dams other than what I've read about Hoover Dam and how it created Lake Mead, seems these guys have created a lake or reservoir here also... -- Water is gonna fill up here till only that top iron apparatus over the dam on the right is not under-water; That is gonna be interesting to see as it fills and then drains away into the Pacific Ocean just a couple miles on downstream from here. If you guys are only hanging on these perimeter hiways that loop these islands, you are missing the raw, down&dirty beauty, of the real Philippines. This is my 2012 Italian made, equipped with the once new fangled EFI fuel delivery system, TC250 Husqvarna; My crew for this hour is shown arriving in the background, at breakneck speed.
I barely ride roros but yeah those new fastcat ferries look safer and newer to me. The rates are not that much more expensive than the older ships so the adjustment is not that big. Statistically speaking, it’s really uncommon for ships even the old ones to sink or at least tip over. Everyone should be careful, of course, but travel by ship is not that dangerous actually.
Just an update regarding this. These were not true ferries, both were small pump boats or large bangkas. Accidents blamed on the tarpaulins used to protect riders from the elements. Evidently the tarps caught the strong wind and caused boats to flip over. Since then tarps have been banned on Guimaras boats. But now tourism has been way down as many dont want to boat travel without sun/rain protection. Guimaras government solution is they will soon be providing multi colored umbrellas to the boat operators and trying to tout said umbrellas as some kind of tourist attraction. Lol
