Into the Unknown: Bais City, Negros Oriental

Dolphin Watching at Tañon Strait – Bais City

Bais City is a city of 80,000 population in Negros Oriental province of Central Visayas. The major economic activity is sugar cane growing with a few wealthy families dominating both the local politics and economy. Main tourist attraction in this part of Negros is whale and dolphin watching in the Tañon Strait between Bais and South Cebu. You can reach Bais City by bus from Dumaguete. (Reference: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Bais_City)

On August 29, 2016 at 06:30 AM, me and my friends head the direction towards Bais from Dumaguete City. My friend’s cousin gave us a lift to Bais letting us save on a bus ride to the city. It was a pre-planned trip. The planning stage gave us enough time to review some blogs and manage to get contact information from people living within the city to arrange us a boat ride. Nearing our destination, we got directions from Ms. Raquel Abanto (mobile: 09394481119) on how to get to Canibol Port where our rented boat (for the day) that could accommodate 15-20 persons is waiting for us.

Tip: If you want to see the Dolphins, be in the port earlier than 7:00 AM because as the sun rises high up in the sky, you’ll get a very slim chance of seeing them. We reach port at 08:00 since it took an hour or more to be there. Slightly worried that we are already late on schedule, the boatman, Kuya George and the local guide assured us that the Dolphins could still be seen far north from our current location. We sat on the boat hoping and patiently waiting that our boatman would announce, “The Dolphins are coming!” hahaha. Kidding aside.

It’s already 9:00 and still no signs of dolphins… by the looks of it, we are nearing Cebu Island’s shoreline. I am already losing hope. But we we’re constantly reminded by the local tour that the dolphins are still out there. We could already see other boats turning back. I was thinking, maybe the dolphins are already on the mode of hiding. Until, the local guide announce that the whale could already be seen. Excited, I stood up from where I am currently seating and head out from the boats shade to get a better view. There it is!

The whales might be too shy to be seen beacuse they hid as they heard our boat is coming! Slightly frustrated, I sat down again. And the boatman said, let’s go to see the dolphins. And then I was like, “oh? More is coming!”. (#excited)

From afar, we could see boats encircling a certain part of the ocean. From a wider view, I could see some happy jumping and hear happy giggles (imagination) of creatures busy swimming and showing off to their new found visitors.

We savored every minute of being able to see and ride in the waves with the dolphins. We took as much selfies as we could.

After a while, we decided to go back since it's almost 10:30. By means of going back, we did not literally go back and head the port’s direction but instead, we sashayed towards Manjuyod’s White Sandbar.

Manjuyod White Sand Bar – Bais City

This pristine 7 kilometer stretch of premium white sand can be accessed via a short 15 minute boat ride from Capiñahan Wharf in the South Bais, Bais City Negros Oriental. It is basically an island towards the North Bais Bay in Tañon Strait that emerges only during low tides. On the island you can find wooden houses built on stilts—and which, during high tide, appears to be floating on the water. These cottages could be rented for overnight says and can be booked at Bais City Tourism Office. (Reference: https://www.dumagueteinfo.com/other-destinations/bais-city/manjuyod-white-sand-bar-bais-dumaguete/)

Tourism Office can be reached at (035) 541-5161/402-8174 Fax (035) 402-8181. Boat rate is Php 2,500 for a group of 15 and Php 3,000 for a group of 20. This is already basically for an entire day of use. (Reference: https://www.dumagueteinfo.com/other-destinations/bais-city/manjuyod-white-sand-bar-bais-dumaguete/)

We reached the location in no time but the tides are still high so we can't see the pearly white sand bar. However, we never missed the opportunity to swim under the scorching heat of August sun, eat some huge freshly gathered ocean crust seashells and crustaceans while waiting for low tides to come.

Since the place is a bit becoming popular with tourists, activity such as banana boat ride is also available for Php 500.00 only. For a group of five, you could already take two tours above sea water ride.

After an hour or two, the sand is slowly coming into view. The magnificent horizon allowed us to take some more deep-seated feelings with the place of fresh air, esteemed calmness of the sea and serene fulfillment as we took jump shot after jump shot.