Road trip in the Island of Mindoro

Mindoro is an island province, actually the seventh largest island in the Philippines. It is famous for its white beach in Puerto Galera as well with the Apo Reef in Sablayan.This is one of the most visited islands in the Philippines.

Currently, Mindoro is divide into two provinces namely Oriental Mindoro and Occidental Mindoro. Puerto Galera is in Oriental while the Apo Reef is in Occidental. Since this is an island, you need to board a "RoRo" (Roll-On-Roll-Off a moving vessel that can carry vehicles).


A week before May ended, I got the chance to have a Road Trip in the whole island of Mindoro! No exaggeration but I really experienced it accidentally. I joined a group, Plan B, on their trip to Apo Reef and they rented a van.

Batangas Port is your jump off point going to Mindoro. They have hourly trips going to Calapan Port and Abra De Ilog. The most popular RoRo going to the said places is the Montenegro Shipping Line. You can check their site for more details about the schedules and fares.

Since this is a Plan B, literally speaking, we changed the main plan for safety reason. We boarded an old Roro going to Abra De Ilog, luckily we were warned by the coast guard that it is not safe, so the group decided to transfer to a much safer vessel but the route is Calapan. It was my first time to ride a Roro and I do not want to experience unnecessary things. Special thanks to one of my travel buddies who is a daughter of an Officer in the Port.

A bigger and safer Roro

Since it was crowded already, we opted to stay in the top bunk where the Pilot House is.

Inside the Pilot House

This is the scene inside the boat. Didn't expect this.

Pang masa kami. MASAndal TULOG! :D

After 2 and a half hours, we arrived at Calapan Port. You know the saying; " Late entrance, Early exit" this is the mantra of RORO. Those you came early will be the last one to alight in the vessel. boo! haha. 

 

When our van came out, we all rushed inside to get some sleep! We thought that if we take the Calapan to Sablayan Road it will only take us 4 hours but unfortunately it took us 6 hours! Whoa. It was really a Road trip, we really travelled the whole island province of Mindoro!

Scumbag Google Map!

The Road or the so called "Strong Republic Nautical HighWay" is a road less travelled. Some roads are developed but some are not, and the road going down to San Jose was really steep! Though the sights along the way are very worth seeing! According to the local that I talked to, long before, it was forbidden to pass through that Hi-way because the rebels used to block it. 

There are few vehicles passing by this road, a great facade for a long road trip. If you are up for a road trip, try driving the whole Mindoro Island, you can do it for less than 12 hours. You can start from Calapan going to Abra De Ilog! :) 

The road trip was really a Plan B. Our first plan was to docked at Abra De Ilog to get to Sablayan early in the morning but since we docked at Calapan, it took us 6 hours of long, steep, bumpy but worth seeing sight road trip!

Ano, TARA GUMALA?

CIAO. 

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GABRIELA