Exploring Leyte (1) – Baybay & Cuatro Islas

Following a friend's invitation to visit Leyte turned out to be an overwhelming island experience. My 3-day adventure trip to the Eastern Visayas started with an early-bird flight from Manila to Tacloban. The worm to catch was the noon time bangka from the city of Baybay to one of the most beautiful islands I've ever seen!


It is a two-hour drive from Tacloban city on Leyte's Eastern coast to the port city of Baybay on the Western coast of the island. Approaching the small port with its white bangkas rocking in the deep blue water I could already see our destination in the far distance: Degyo Island, the smallest of the Cuatro Islas. 45 minutes splashing boat ride later the full beauty of Degyo came into sight. A bright white curved sandbank stretches from the island's tip creating a protected cove. The turquoise water, white beach and palm trees gave away countless photo opportunities and while trying to catch all of them I scorched my skin under the bright sun in no time.


We pitched our tents, rigged our hammock and did what there is to do on this nearly untouched place: flying our kite catching the strong winds blowing over the sandbank, playing frisbee and circumnavigating the island. Except for the caretakers family we were the only visitors to Degyo! No sari-sari store, no karaoke, no crowd!


On its rockier beach, the island is home to hundreds of hermit crabs! Almost every shell suddenly grows legs and starts moving only to freeze in an instant at the slightest breeze. The counterpart to the entertaining hermit crab ashore is the clown fish underwater. Better known as 'Nemo' the territorial clownfish ensures great underwater amusement. Protecting his anemone the little orange and white striped fellow comes shooting out from his hiding to attack cameras, fingers and masks, which almost always makes for a great snapshot! It only takes snorkel gear to find all kinds of interesting creatures in the rather shallow water surrounding the reef.

Needless to say that the island is a great experience at night. The lack of artificial light, usually illuminating cities' night skies, left behind a pitch-black firmament, perfect for star gazing! But the stars weren't the only bright objects. Fluorescent particles in the water turned the shoreline into a sea of glitter. Geared up with headlamps we attracted fishes to the light. Just like the deer paralyzed by a car's headlight at night, several small fishes showed the same reaction.

After the last dry coconut husk had burned down in our beach-bond-fire, we crawled into our tents and called it a night.

24 hours after arriving in Degyo our bangka was back to return us to reality, back to Baybay. The real adventure was yet to start: making my way south to Padre Burgos relying on Leyte's adventurous public transportation system. Baybay's main road was the best bet for me to wait for a Maasin-bound bus. Within 10 minutes, a colorful open bus (meaning no windows) from a pre-war era came to a squeaking stop in front of me. Two rumbling hours later, I got off in Maasin to cover the last 45 minutes to Padre Burgos by multicar.