Minasangay Eco Park and Resort

Photo Credit: http://www.galapinoyredux.com/2010/05/minasangay-eco-park-and-resort-cliff-diving-and-more/

Minasangay is an ecological park and resort that’s found outside the town proper of Balangkayan. It’s a 25-kilometer drive from Borongan, and you’ll have to be very careful when going there lest you miss it. There are no signs pointing to the place, so you better have somebody with you who knows the place really well.

From the highway, you’ll have to drive through a rough narrow road that’s lined with mangroves on the side. At the end of the road is the entrance to the park, where you’ll have to pay a really small fee to enter the place. And then a hanging bridge takes you across the river and then into the Minasangay Island itself.

The place isn’t really meant for swimming, but more of basking under the sun, hanging out with your friends by the seaside, scuba diving, and jumping off cliffs (more of that later). Being a summer day, the place was naturally packed, so we weren’t able to rent a cottage in the area. What we did then was look for a place by the beach and settled there. The view was fantastic, if I had to describe it. Lots of mangroves, cliffs, and the vast expanse of sea.

Communing with Nature

When you visit Minasangay, you’ll immediately notice the vast stretches of the beach lined with mangroves. It’s a great move by the local government to preserve the mangroves instead of removing them just to make the place beachgoer-friendly.

Aside from the mangroves, you’ll also have to go through rocky caves along the way, which I personally think is fantastic. Just don’t get yourself caught in the area once the high tide arrives. Plus, I hope they would put in trash cans through the area, as some people tend to forget to take with them their soda bottles, bottle caps, and lots of other things when they leave the resort.

Visiting Minasangay

If you’re planning on visiting Minasangay, here’s one thing you should remember: go there during the low tide. Some parts of the resort are filled with water during the high tide, including makeshift cottages, so visiting during the low tide is the way to go.

Another thing is that, there are no food concessionaires in the area, save for those who are selling chips. So you should remember to bring food and water with you when you go there.

Transportation and Entrance Fees

As for the transportation, you could probably hire a tricycle to take you there. Or you could also ride multicabs plying the route between the Balangkayan town proper and Borongan City. I’m not sure about the fares, but they’re definitely under 100 pesos (around US$2) or even 50 pesos (US$1).

Meanwhile, you’ll need to pay a measly 10 pesos (US$0.20) to enter if you’re a non-local Filipino adult. Foreign nationals on the other hand have to pay 50 pesos. There are also additional charges should you decide to go scuba diving in the area (an activity we were unable to try), camping, or even filming.

Cottages are limited, and the rental fee ranges from 150 pesos (US$3) to 500 pesos (US$20).

Fees

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