An Unwelcomed Turn of Events

Sariaya, Quezon, April 1, Holy Thursday, 4:03pm- On the 12th day of our 60-day Island Travel adventure, we experienced an incident that would definitely change many of our plans for summer...a vehicular accident.

The day was spent going around the towns of Laguna and Quezon provinces for the traditional Visita Iglesias or church visits.  We were on our way back to San Pablo City from Lucban, Quezon when the incident happened.

Details cannot be divulged at the moment. But suffice to say for now that except for the car, the whole family escaped unscathed. We are basically grounded in the next few days and the travel plans to Batangas and to Central and Northern Luzon are put on hold.

We shall soon make announcements about our plans as well as decisions about our commitments related to this Island Travel blog and its contests and promos.

We apologize for the infrequent updates in the next days, but we hope that it'll just be a temporary setback.

We'll keep you posted.

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Comparison of Fuel Prices along the Philippine Eastern Nautical Highway

For the information of travelers who'd opt for a road trip via the Eastern Nautical Highway in the Philippines, here's a comparison of actual fuel prices we documented in various refueling stations of Petron, a major petroleum player in the Philippines. These photos were taken between March 21 to 26 from Davao City heading north to Laguna.

Within Mindanao, Davao City has the cheapest fuel prices per liter, with diesel costing 36.50 pesos, among towns and cities along the Davao-Butuan-Surigao route. As expected, fuel prices tend to be higher in more remote areas.

In the Visayas area, Catbalogan, Samar has the lowest fuel prices, with diesel at 39.39 pesos per liter. But this is about three pesos more expensive compared to diesel bought in Davao City.

The best fuel prices among towns and cities along the Eastern Nautical Highway from Davao to Laguna were found in Southern Luzon starting at around 36 pesos per liter in Bicol and down to 33.25 pesos per liter in Laguna.

Petron fuel prices was representative of all other petroleum companies in all places we went through during the first leg of our road trip, i.e. there were no significant differences in fuel prices among various petroleum companies, big or small. A notable exception is around Naga City, Camarines Sur, where smaller petroleum companies, such as Cosco, offer as much as 35 cents lower diesel price per liter than the major players: Petron, Shell and Caltex in the area.

Therefore, if one is to maximize savings in fuel cost, fill up your tank in Davao City. Avoid refueling in remote areas. If possible, wait until getting to Luzon to refuel to get as much as six pesos savings per liter of diesel or about 15% savings.

So plan ahead. Know your vehicle's fuel tank capacity and fuel efficiency, as well as an estimate of the distance to be traveled. Newer car models, such as in the case of Toyota Innova G, have options to obtained information, like fuel efficiency or estimate of distance that can be traveled with the remaining actual fuel in the tank, with a mere push of a button.

With the above information, together with the comparison of fuel prices in this blog post, one can make informed decisions on when to refuel during a road trip along the Philippine Eastern Nautical Highway.

Happy motoring!

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