Sambawan Island is a small island west of the island of Maripipi. From afar, it looks like a hiding alligator watching over Maripipi. In reality, it is a series of interconnecting hills covered with grasses and is surrounded by the turquoise water.

I have been to a number of islands in the Philippines but Sambawan Island was definitely one of the best.

How to get there

From Mainland Biliran, you have three options to get to Sambawan Island:
1. Direct trip from Naval Port to to Sambawan Island. This is through a charted boat for P7,000 good for 10-15 persons
2. From Naval, take a jeepney (P35) or hire a habal-habal (P300 RT good for 2 persons) to Kawayan Port. Travel time is 45 minutes. From the port, hire a boat to Sambawan Island (P3,000 RT good for 8-10 persons). Travel time is 1 hour.
3. From Naval, travel to Maripipi island via ferry boats (P75). From Maripipi port, hire a habal-habal (P30) to Brgy Ol-og. Then charter a boat to Sambawan Island (P600 for 4 pax). Total travel time is approx. 3 hours.

To know how to get to Biliran, click here.


Tips and Basic Information

• Boat from Naval to Maripipi Island leaves at 10:00 AM daily except Sunday. The same boat leaves Maripipi to Naval the next day.
• If you are travelling by a big group (6 or more persons), choice 2 is the best  option. But if you're on a budget and travelling alone or with smaller groups, you can consider item 3. 
• Another good point is that your choice of means to get to Sambawan Island depends on your available time. For option 1 & 2, you may be able to have a control of your time and tour unlike for item 3 where you need to consider the ferry schedule.
• We were supposed to take choice 3 since my friend and I were on a budget and cannot afford to charter a private boat. However, thanks to Ate Malou, she arranged a cheaper boat fare :) We got our boat for P1,500 RT. 
• Entrance fee is P100 that includes Entrance & Environmental Fee
• There is no store in the island neither at Kawayan Port. It would better if you buy food and water at Naval.
• During our stay, we had the whole island to ourselves. I loved the island because it is not crowded. By the way, we went on a Friday :)
• There are cottages in the Island. Since there were few people, just me and my friend, we were able to occupy one cottage for free.
• There's a view deck on top of the hill that gives you 360 view of the island. Warning: there are 100 plus steps to get there. Keep yourself hydrated!
• You can stay in the island for camping.
• The marine life surrounding the island is so abundant! There are snorkelling and diving areas for enthusiast. You can also rent your gears from the Island's office.
• Fresh water is not ready available in the Island but I think the caretaker offered us one but we decided to wash off at our accommodation, TJ Pensionne. 
• The boat ride was rough going to and from the island. We had the waves splashing at us. So no point in washing off at the island and then getting soaked with sea water. haha
• We left our things at TJ Pensionne's reception area and just brought necessary things to the island. After out tour, we were able to wash off free of charge. :) More info about TJ Pensionne here.

Biliran is one of the country's smallest and newest provinces that lies less than a kilometre north of Leyte. It was formerly a sub-province of Leyte and became an independent province in 1992.

Surprisingly, Biliran has 30 waterfalls that Department of Tourism tagged it as the "Waterfall Capital of the Phillippines"

How to get there

From Daniel Romualdez Airport, take a passenger van going to Naval (P120). Travel time is about 2.5 hours.

From Palompon Leyte, there is no direct trip to Naval. From Palompon Terminal, ride a van going to Tacloban and ask the driver to drop you off at Lemon (P120). Travel time is about 2 hours. Last trip to Tacloban is 5:00 PM. Then, from Lemon, take a van going to Naval (P80) for about 1 hour. There's no terminal at Lemon. You may need to wait for a van passing by.

Where We Stayed

TJ Pensione

Cor Magallanes & P. Inocentes St. Naval, Biliran

Contact No. (053)500-9917/09060753213/09994226274

Room Rates

Ordinary Rooms

Non-aircon Single Bed - P350 (1 Person)

Non-aircon Twin Bed - P430 (2 Persons)

Aircon Twin Bed - P570 (2 Persons)

Includes Cable TV, free wi-fi, & access to common comfort room

Deluxe Rooms

Aircon Twin Bed - P700 (2 Persons)

Aircon Matrimonial Bed - P700 (2 Persons)

Aircon Family Room - P1,150 (4-5 Persons)

Includes cable TV, free wi-fi & comfort room within the room

We stayed at TJ Pensione during our stay at Biliran. Thumbs up for the comfortable rooms, clean common CR and accommodating staffs. After checking out, we left our stuffs at the reception before heading to Sambawan. Also, they let us take a quick shower after the tour. And all these extra services were free of charge. 

Other Place to Stay

Adjacent to TJ Pensione is El Roman Pension. I saw their contact number online.  Number: (053) 500-9100

During our Biliran: Chasing Waterfalls trip, we manage to visit the following:

1. Tinago Falls

2. Recolleto Falls

3. Ulan-ulan Falls

The whole tour took us 4 hours. We hired Kuya Fernando for habal-habal service and as our tour guide. He was nice and gave us information about Biliran and Sambawan. He charged P800 good for 2 persons. We also hired him to take us to Kawayan Port for our Sambawan Island Tour. For more information about our Sambawan Tour, please click here.

Tips and Basic Information:

Biliran has so much to offer. Other tourist spots are:

Waterfalls

• Pundol Falls
• Kinarahan Falls
• Tomalistis Falls
• Kasabangan Falls
• Pulang Yuta Falls
• Busai Falls
• Tigbaw Falls

Springs

• Mainit Hotspring
• Libtong Hotspring

This trip is part of our 4 days and 3 nights Biliran, Leyte and Southern Leyte Tour. For itinerary and expenses, please click here.