Kalanggaman Island is a small paradise island in the Palompon Leyte but is also accessible from Cebu. It is also one of the beautiful islands in the Philippines and is considered as untouched and unspoiled.
How to get there
It was a two hours boat ride from Malapascua Island, we decided to rent a boat towards this island. I was already intrigued with this island but never had a chance to research about it, and upon seeing that the Blue Coral Beach Resort had an island tour in this island, we decided to stay for one more day. Instead of heading back to Cebu City to have a city tour we decided to explore Kalanggaman since we were near.
It was 8 in the morning when the boatman picked us up. He was with his son and 1 other companion who bought our lunch. It was a hot day and the one hour ride was rather boring because we could only hear the splashing of water to the boat. There were islands on both sides, the mainland of Cebu and Leyte but they were rather small. But after an hour, you could almost see the island.
Seeing Kalanggaman Island
And inch by inch, we were getting closer to the island. Seeing a very small island with a pristine sand bar from end to end glistening to the sun, we get excited. It was breathe taking just by looking from afar. A very long stretch of sand bars from the island where you could walk as far as you could during low tide.
When our boat approached the main island, we were really excited.
Kalanggaman Island is untouched, unspoiled. We went to the west end first. You will see the coconut trees going to the back of the island. There were no people here except us.
Then we walked through the rocky side of the island that leads to the main beach front. It was already high tide, and the long stretch of the sand bar was disappearing. But we still walked to the sands feeling the cold water in our feet.
We looked for a covered shade from the coconut tree and had our lunch courtesy of our boatman, and a treat of coconut juice fresh from the coconut in the island. After which we immersed to the water again, on the different sides of the island.
It was past 2 PM when we decided to head back to Malapascua for another 2 hours boat ride. But it didn’t matter anymore, because the island was really amazing and beautiful.
The island is managed by the government of Palompon, Leyte. It is not part of Cebu anymore. They told us it was a 45-minute journey if you were from Palompon. There was a shop on the island, but there’s no place to stay except to do camping.