Britania Group of Islands: The Hundred Islands of Surigao del Sur

Britania Group of Islands (San Agustin, Surigao del Sur) is comprised of 24 islets but only a few can be visited. There are only four beach destinations for island hopping: Hagonoy Island, Naked Island, Boslon Island, and Hiyor Hiyoran Island.

From Bislig to San Agustin:

Since we are staying at Bislig, Surigao del Sur, we need to travel for about 2-3 hours north to reach San Agustin. Good thing we have Kuya Gary and Kuya Justin with a helping hand who arranged our transfers. They contacted a private van that can take us directly to our hotel in San Agustin. We got our transfer for only P1,500.

Where we stay:

We pre-booked our stay at Oasis Rest House via Airbnb for only  P3,348 for 1 night good for 7 pax. Construction on some part of the place is still ongoing but the place is good if you are just looking for a place to stay for the night after a long tiring island hopping during the day. Besides, the owner and the staffs are accommodating; they even talked with us and provide us options on how we can have a hassle-free transfer back to Davao.

We have a huge room that can accommodate up to 10 pax; not bad for a group of seven.

The only downside is that we were not informed that upon reservation of our room, we are also entitled to a boat reservation for the island hopping. It wasn’t bad at all but given that we have already contacted Kuya Dodong (our supposed island hopping tour guide), we have to turn him down since according to the owner it is customary and it’s the agreement of all the resort owners that once guest are reserved on a particular resort they will only avail the activities offered by that said resort. But nonetheless, the whole stay with Oasis Rest House was good.

They offered to cook brunch for us. The menu includes 1kg of rice (but does not look like it) for P100, 1 kg of inihaw na isda for P400, 1 kg of sinigang na baboy for P450, pancit canton worth P100, and 2 bottles of soft drinks for P100. We thought it’s a bit pricey for brunch but we did not opted to look for other options since we need to start our island hopping activities right after we eat.

Island Hopping

Right after our brunch, we changed clothes and eventually started our island hopping activity for P1,500. We expected a small boat (considering the price) but we were given a bigger boat that can accommodate almost 10-15 passengers. You could check my travel vlogs to get a glimpse of the whole tour we had at Britania.

Naked Island

Our first stop is the infamous naked island; not for naked tourist but simply because it lacks vegetation. It’s an islet with strong waves coming from different direction and consists plainly with different kinds of rocks ranging from small to medium size.   

We didn’t stay here for long since we can’t even swim on this islet due to strong waves with rock pebbles that when it hits you, it will definitely leave a bruise. As for us, we ended up with wounded toes for attempting to swim.

Hagonoy Island

The farthest of all the islet is the Hagonoy Island; known for its picture perfect view. The typical powdery white-sand, few coconut trees on the side, and calmer water making it perfect spot for swimming. But according to our guide, tourist are not allowed to stay in the islet longer than 15minutes, maybe to preserve the area or be able to allocate time on visiting the other islets.

Boslon Island

This is where tourists stay most of their time eating lunch or enjoying few of the water activities. As for us, we did enjoy the Jet Ski ride for P100 (Visit my Youtube Channel for the complete ride experience).

It was a good 15 minutes of adrenaline rush. Not bad for P100, in fact, not bad at all. It’s the cheapest amongst the Jet Ski ride from my all other travels.

Before leaving the island we had few photos taken at the grotto and in a small cave-like opening on the side of the island. But as we explore the rest of it, we can notice that the islet have been spoiled by the tourist. There are bottles of liquor, plastics, leftover and funky odor. I wish tourist would think about the effects of what they are doing – they are taking away the future’s chance of seeing the beauty of the islets. It is a tourist/traveler’s responsibility to take care of the place they’ve been to so others can still witness its beauty.

Hiyor Hiyoran Island

This islet is known for the fresh seafood sold by the locals but according to our tour guide they left the island when its summer season to sell at the Bayan since they are no longer allowed in the island during that time.

We were not able to take some photos during our stay there and our taste-test with the famous sea urchin and other sea foods new to us but you can visit my travel vlogs for more details and to see what the islet look like.

We tried to look for cooked meals but we ended up eating the sea urchin commonly called by the locals as “swaki”. It tastes salty but it goes well with their special vinegar. We bought 2 plates for P200.

If you like to take home souvenirs from Britania, it’s the best place to buy because they have a wide selection – from key chains, magnets, mugs office/desk display to kitchen utensils. Price ranges from P20 – P500.

We asked our guide if we can visit the other islets of Britania but according to him the rest are privately owned so we cannot explore but we can just pass through. Since it’s getting dark and the sun is about to bid goodbye, we opted to go back and call it a day.

Ciao,

Marsy ♥