The North Sandbar

Alexis Yap
Lex in the city

PACK your sunglasses, swimwear, and sun block and head on to The North Sandbar.

A couple of weeks back, I posted a status on Facebook to get recommendations on a boat operator that could take us to the North Sandbar. Two of the ones I called admitted they don’t know what I was talking about. One boat operator wasn’t entirely sure where it was, but promised to find out where, while the fourth said they have a boat for 25 people at around P13,000.

We decided to go with the operator who promised to find out how to get there. For a boat that can accommodate 30 people, she charged us P7,000.

We prepared food, drinks, and lots of sun block for our trip. We all kept our fingers crossed that our boatmen could really take us to our preferred destination. We became anxious 30 minutes into our trip, as we were headed south. How can the North Sandbar be located south of Mactan? It was probably north of Bohol.

We started happy hour at 10 a.m. and lunch at 30 minutes past 11 a.m. So by the time we got to the Sandbar by noon, we were buzzed, fed, and ready to swim!

As the boat was docking, only a small portion of the sandbar was exposed. The tide was still high. The sun was at its peak and clouds were out of its way.

The sandbar was deserted, except for the lone, concrete, watch tower on stilts, and a small fisherman’s boat about to dock. It was a view out of a post card. It was breath-taking. It was perfect.

Was this really the famous North Sandbar people were talking about? We no longer cared — we were in paradise! Did we put on enough sun block? We didn’t care anymore — we were alone in the “island”! All we wanted to do was bask in the crystal clear waters, under the warm summer sun!

Another boat arrived an hour later, bringing with them two huge umbrellas that we wish we had also brought. By this time, more than half of the sandbar was exposed as the tide was already low. Another hour after, we realized we had run out of beer, vodka and brandy. We were desperate — we still had ice that could last us for at least one more case of beer.

We decided to leave at 3:30 in the afternoon, realizing how time just flew while we were in paradise.

The boat ride home took less than two hours, shorter than our trip going there. Everyone had a great day. We had fun at the sandbar and we all wish to come back one more time this summer.

And this time, we’ll make sure to pack our sunglasses, swimwear, sun lock, giant umbrellas and lots of booze!

Happy summer, everyone!