Islas de Gigantes Island Hopping — Cabugao, Antonia & Scallop Lagoon

Islas de Gigantes — the Giant Islands — is a cluster of uninhabited and semi-inhabited limestone islands off the northern coast of Iloilo province that has emerged as one of the Philippines' most exciting emerging destinations. Accessible only via a 3.5-hour road journey from Iloilo City followed by a boat crossing, the islands see relatively limited visitor numbers — which is precisely why they remain as pristine as they are.

The island-hopping circuit is the entire reason people make the journey. Cabugao Gamay is the icon: a small limestone island with a perfectly enclosed lagoon accessible by swimming through a narrow channel in the rock, the interior ringed by palms and white sand that reflect light so strongly it appears to glow. The geometry of the place is so improbable — a perfect circle of turquoise water inside a perfect ring of stone — that photographs of it consistently look digitally altered. They are not.

Tangke Saltwater Lagoon offers a different kind of drama: a hidden interior lagoon reached through a low cave passage at low tide, where the stillness inside contrasts completely with the open ocean outside. The walls of the lagoon are solid limestone colonised by mangrove roots and nesting seabirds. Cape Santiago Lighthouse, built in 1896 during the Spanish era, stands on a dramatic headland with 360-degree ocean views — the Sibuyan Sea to the north and the Gigantes island chain scattered below.

But the finest moment of the Gigantes experience happens on the boat: your boatman produces giant scallops — the Gigantes variety, enormous and sweet, farmed in the surrounding waters — and grills them live on a charcoal grate set up on the bow. Eaten with calamansi juice and soy sauce while anchored in the lagoon of Antonia Beach, watching the water change colour as the sun moves, this is as good as Philippine seafood gets.