Friday, April 21, 2017

Boats from Batangas to Mindoro, Caticlan/Boracay

Early last month, I travelled by RORO (roll on, roll off boats) from Manila to Iloilo then Negros. Plane fare Manila-Bacolod one way that weekend was something like P4,300 cheapest. I estimated that via RORO and multiple transfer would take about 26 hours but the cost would be only around P2,000 or less.

So I just took an air-con bus at Buendia-Taft in Makati going to Batangas and from there, would decide what boat to take going to Calapan, Or. Mindoro, or straight to Caticlan, Aklan.

Here are the boats from Batangas port to Calapan (Or. Mindoro), Abra de Ilog (Occ. Mindoro), other destinations in Mindoro island. During the vacation season, I think some shipping lines field more boats or they make their boats take extra trip per day whenever possible.


The RORO boats that ferry both people and vehicles, Batangas to Mindoro, Romblon, Panay (Aklan, Capiz, Antique), other island-destinations.

 I took the Batangas-Caticlan boat of 2GO, 9pm and arrive Caticlan around 7am with stopover at Odiongan, Romblon (perhaps around 3am). Tourist class aircon, P1,150 per head one way.



Passengers form two lines, one each for males and females, their bags and luggages beside them. This is for security inspection. Instead of making passengers go through an X-ray inspection, a bomb-sniffing dog just checks all bags, then passengers get their bags and go inside the boat.


So if one wants to go to Boracay from Manila, the fastest route of course is to take the plane (direct to Caticlan or via Kalibo, Aklan, then bus to Caticlan, 2 to 2 1/2 hours trip), then short boat ride to Boracay.

Another option is to take any bus from Manila/Makati/QC, etc. to Batangas, take 2GO's boat to Caticlan, 10 hours ride, just sleep and wake up at Caticlan port.
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See also:

Oriental Mindoro to Caticlan, Aklan, December 31, 2014

Caticlan to Boracay boats, December 12, 2016

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