Unscripted Guimaras: A Motorbike, Mangoes, and a Beach
We typically avoid organized group tours. Sometimes it’s the only option or it could be worth the insider knowledge and experience. Oftentimes, it’s too structured and forced for our liking.
Oops…Wrong Wharf
However, the risk of trying to do things on our own is that we might end up at the wrong ferry terminal, for example. Yup, that was the start of our trip to Guimaras Island! 🤦🏻♀️ We relied on old intel. Oops. When we arrived at Ortiz Wharf, there were a few trikes ready to take advantage of our error and conveniently available to carry us to the correct ferry terminal.
To be clear, there are no ferries that depart from Ortiz Wharf anymore! Don’t go there.
The walk-on / walk-off boats to Jordan Wharf on Guimaras Island leave from a much nicer modern Iloilo Ferry Terminal-Parolo next to the Parolo City Mall.
Not to be confused with the “Ro Ro” or roll-on / roll-off car ferries that depart from a different Iloilo-Jordan Port Iloilo on the other side of the river!
The rest of the open-ended day turned out to be full of additional spontaneous adventures. Better than we could’ve imagined!
DIY Guimaras Island with a Motorbike
By creating our own adventure, we avoided small talk for 10 hours in a van with other tourists. We didn’t have to eat the “must try” mango pizza at the touristy restaurant. No, we didn’t want to see the wind farm. There’s tons of those in the States. It’s not that interesting. Perhaps the old Franciscan Monastery is unique to Guimaras but we were already “churched-out”. And the one-of-a-kind rusted iron lighthouse—yeah, it would’ve been cool but skipped it in lieu of finding a beach to spend the afternoon.
Once we arrived at Jordan Wharf, there were plenty of tour guides willing to take us around the island, by cramming into their trike. That didn’t look very comfortable for hours on end. We instead rented a motorbike from Guimaras J Scooter Rental…which involved asking for “Maravillo”, the security guy at the Palawan Pawnshop, and a secret handshake (just kidding) in exchange for our bike.
On our way to the mango farm, we stopped at the Smallest Plaza and took an obligatory photo with the large mango sign at the Guimaras Provincial Capitol.
Guimaras Island Grows the Best Mangoes!
Philippines has the best mangoes, hands down. Guimaras has the best in the Philippines. Whoa. What makes a mango the “best”? Well, there’s a lot more flesh than seed. The flesh is super soft, juicy, and smooth without the fibrous stringy texture. And it’s the sweetest ever. Never heard of it? That’s because the growers in Guimaras don’t have an extensive distribution system and the fruit is highly perishable, so the only way to enjoy Guimaras mangoes is either dried or locally while in season.
Kokomojo Mango Farm
Supposedly, there’s a tour of the farm at 10am, 11am, and 2pm but we didn’t make a reservation and just showed up on a Tuesday. We were the only visitors. (Reservations recommended for the weekends when it gets busy). We were given an impromptu but very thorough private tour by Jamar. We got to follow him on our motorbike through the mango trees. We stopped to admire a few of the centennial mango trees that are 300 years old!
Kokomojo started beekeeping last year to improve their harvest. We got a masterclass from the owner’s son who was very passionate about caring for the bees and harvesting the honey. That was our favorite part of the tour!
The processing plant was impeccably clean, modern, and professional. Besides shipping fresh mangoes to nearby islands and Manila, Kokomojo’s signature is preserving the natural sweetness at the height of its ripeness without added sugar—approximately 8-9 days after the fruit is picked—to make mango puree, dried fruit, jam, and honey. As mentioned previously, the lack of reliable refrigerated shipping options from Guimaras prevents the fruit from being enjoyed in far away places. Ian Blair, the Scottish owner of Kokomojo, gave us a warm welcome and we had a nice conversation about how he’s experimenting with flash freezing ripe cubed mangoes for longer preservation, storage, and ability to export more widely. They already have the equipment and should be ready this season!
We enjoyed a lovely Vietnamese bun cha lunch at the onsite farm restaurant, UMA, followed by mango juice and mango ice cream (no mango pizza for us, sorries). They also own the Vietnamese restaurant Troi Oi in Iloilo at the Riverside Boardwalk. While Ian’s wife is Filipino, they both spent many years in Vietnam, hence the Vietnamese inspired restaurants.
Natago Beach and the “Little” Encounter
Natago Beach is one of the best secluded beaches on Guimaras Island, commonly accessed by an island hopping boat from a nearby popular public beach, Alubihod Beach. We wanted to skip Alubihod and the island hopping boat and go straight to Natago Beach.
Sometimes, Google Map appears 100% confident, but it tends to help about 85% of the way and the rest remains up to us. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that until the road abruptly ended at a dank lagoon with a rocky foot trail and a shaky bamboo footbridge as the only path towards the beach. No problem. We parked our bike and set out on foot.
As we walk towards the shore, it’s clearly low tide as we weave through lots of traditional Filipino boats high and dry in the inlet, trying not to trip or get decapitated from the ropes tied across. We kind of see that there could be a beach out there, but it looks very difficult to get to. We try every path but we encounter a wall of rocks or jungle. So we turn back…
Meanwhile, “Little” (his name, we later learned) is just minding his own damn business in the shade amongst the boats. He sees a couple of clearly lost Americans (that’s us) in the middle of this random section of shoreline, working their way through rock and sand, between the shored up boats, ducking under and over the ropes, exploring aimlessly to a destination that “Little” knows we can’t get to.
We finally give up and spot “Little” checking us out. We ask if there’s beach access and he says no. We point to a beach that is visible between the cliff walls. That’s a private beach. Oh, okay. He says there’s a nice beach, Natago, but it’s only accessible by hiking or boat. Good to know. As we weigh our options, he doesn’t seem willing to volunteer the hiking route to Natago, and we’re already lost so perhaps we should leave that option alone anyway. Note that he has also not offered to take us there, but we ask him anyway. Do you have a boat? He says yes, so we negotiate a price for an hour of his time to take us by water. And that’s how we got to enjoy Natago Beach!
That was our DIY day on Guimaras Island!
