Sunburn at Fortune Island – with these Ruins of Greek Columns

Nope, Philippines was never a colony of Greece.

I planned a short vacation back to Philippines and normally i allot one day for beaching with my highschool friends. Since i can only go out for a day, the beach must be near my place in Laguna – of course Batangas it is. I was browsing the internet for islands near Batangas mainland, the options i had were Tingloy, Isla Verde and Fortune Island. When i checked each island, i was captured by the ruins of Greek-inspired columns on the photos of Fortune island. I decided “I must go there. I gotta see that place.” 🙂

With my 2 crazy girlfriends, we braved commuting from Laguna to Batangas via Tagaytay from 5am. We arrived at Nasugbu around 8:30am. We contacted Mang Dante (+639394895292) to fetch us and we really appreciated that he and his wife helped us prepare everything that we needed from snacks and food to ice and ice box to keep our Jack Daniels and Jagermeister (our boys. haha!) cold.

He then introduced us to the bangkeros (boatmen) who brought us to the beautiful Fortune Island. The boat ride will take appoximately 45 minutes from the mainland.

We were blessed with good sunny weather and very very very calm water (it deserves 3 “very”, haha). when I was browsing the reviews of the island, I’ve seen a lot of comments that the waves going to the island can become treacherous. I think summertime is the only safest time to come there.

The famous ruins of columns are already visible from afar and the nearer we get, the more excited we become. 🙂 we have learnt that the island used to be a high end private resort until it was abandoned for some reasons. The island is now privately owned by a Korean.

Facing the island, on the left you can find the columns, at the right is the ruins of a ship which, as they say, was the dining area/restaurant of the then a luxurious resort, and on the middle is a place with a roof good enough for the people to stay. I guess this area should be the lobby. . hehe . . the island does not offer a lot of shaded area so expect to get a really serious tan after the day.

We were truly amazed by the beauty of this island – from the very clear water, turquoise near the sand and smoothly transitions to emerald blue as you roll your eyes away from the island. The exhausting stairs going to the columns (yes, we’re getting old and we get tired quickly) is a challenge. The once again exhausting stairs going down at the back of the beach area was a challenge too but the rock formations and the sight of the infinite ocean on the other side of the island is worth all the sweating.

If you wanna be amazed by the scenery in this island, below are the details of how we got there and other stuff you might need to know.

Going there via commute route:

~5:00 AM – meet up at Santa Rosa, take a jeep going to Santa Rosa City Complex

~5:30 AM – alight at SRCC, take jeep going to Tagaytay. you also have the option to take the van going to Nasugbu but in the early morning it might take a long while before all seats get occupied. Since we dont wanna be late (somehow), we took the jeep going to tagaytay

~6:30 AM – alight at Tagaytay Market then take a tricycle going to Olivarez Plaza. the road is actually the route going to Manila so there are a lot of buses coming from Manila, take the one going to Nasugbu.

~8:00AM – arrive in Nasugbu, alight at the town’s Poblacion

~10:00 AM – we arrived in Fortune Island (the boat ride is only 45 minutes but before going we roam around the Poblacion to buy stuff we need to bring). we swam, ate, drank, walk, hike, swam, took photos, drank, till 3:30 PM.

As mentioned, Mang Dante fetched us from the Jollibee at the Poblacion and brought us to the shore where the boat men are waiting. Mang Dante had fixed everything for us, we just paid him the following amount:

* Php 300 / pax – Fortune Island’s admission/entrance fee (i told you the island is still privately owned so don’t expect it to be free ) for a day tour. i think if you wanna stay overnight, you have to pay ~Php450.

* Php 3500 – boat package. that’s the price for their smallest boat, they say it’s good for 8 pax.

Sunblock is really a must. specially when you’re there just for the day. You’ll definitely gonna tan, but at least you’ll avoid sunburn – we didnt! haha. . it felt like 2nd degree burn, lol. .

Here are other pictures i took. Hope you enjoy. . 🙂 Come visit Fortune Island. Come visit Philippines.