Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Bicol: More Caramoan Island Hopping (Island, Sea and Mountain)

On the second day of island hopping, we woke up at 6am. After breakfast, we were again brought to Paniman port and headed to the islands closer to the Pacific Ocean. About 45 minutes later, we reached the first island for the day. I will classify it as 6th island since it is technically our 6th since day 1.

Sixth Island: SABITANG-LAYA

We were greeted by beautiful rock formations, calm white sand beach and a caretaker-guard with a shotgun.Hahaha!. The tour guide advised that we go to the place before 9am. The caretaker usually arrives at 9am and visitors won't be allowed when he's there. And the guard woke up early too. My luck! The area will also be used for the Survivor set so we didn't have any choice.Didn't want to spoil my vacation so we just left. I could have argued that I have an interest in the area because I'm a Flipino. Hahaha, as if I'm asserting ownership of the Spratlys...





Sabitang-laya







the guy with a shotgun


Sabitang Laya has a long stretch of white sand beach and beautiful rock formations. Since the caretaker is too strict, the boatman started the engine and we headed further towards the Pacific.

Seventh Island : BASOT

After almost an hour of boatride, passing by equally beautiful islands and calm sea, we were able to see Cotivas Island from afar. However, the guide advised that we stop first at Basot. The islands were separated by a narrow channel. Each has a protruding stretch of white sand beach that looked like a sandbar that didn't connect. The result, an extended beach with a calm side and a wavy side. Maganda talaga. We had our second lunch here. Fishermen with fresh catch were paddling and selling their catch for the day. They may sell it at a higher price in Caramoan town proper but they have to travel 2 hours to get to Paniman, plus they will have to gas up their boats. So they just sell to tourists who visit the island. We bought a big one (but not the biggest from the catch) which is estimated at 3 kilos. The fisherman sold it for Php200 but they can sell it for 150 per kilo in the Caramoan market. Our tour guide and the boatmen, grilled it. Where did we get charcoal? They snapped some ipil-ipil twigs and gathered pieces of wood drifted to the island by typhoons. They made fire and voila! Charcoal! It was really an authentic Caramoan Experience!

While they were grilling, DS and I were busy snorkeling. We found clams and shells. There were small fishes in the area but of course we can't catch them. We followed BH  to a rocky area and we were surprised to discover that the rocks were only on the beach but the sea floor is still sandy. Beautiful!



Cotivas from afar

calm side of Bosak
 
BH and DS after negotiating with a fisherman. DS holding the fish

Summerain

rocky beach. sandy sea floor

clam and shell collection of DS

fire for grilling

grilling the fish we bought

fishy for lunch feast!
After lunch, we headed to our next island.


Eighth Island: COTIVAS


Lovely Cotivas. It has a charm of its own. The beach is extended outwards to meet the other end of Basot.Just like its neighboring island, it has a calm side and a wavy side. We were not alone in the island when we arrived. There were some young people in the other huts who were preoccupied with their books. Buko (young coconut) vendors were seated in one of the huts, content with waiting for tourists to buy their produce. Wow, it's an all year vacation for these people. They are so lucky to live in a place like Cotivas! We bought 3 coconuts and got refreshed by its juice. Its meat served as our dessert. 



Cotivas contrast- calm side and wavy side

Buko trip


island locals

driftwood
bye Cotivas

Ninth Island: LAHUY

We transferred to the bigger island of Lahuy. This is the mother of all islands. Actually, when they say Lahuy, the islands of Cotivas and Basot are part of it. The guide brought us to a private resort and made us pay Php250/boat. The resort is named ISLA SOLEDAD (after the owners' mom). The owners were locals of the said island. A sister, married a Chinese (hmmmm...????)  who is financing the development of the resort. I just wish they will not over-develop. Overnight stay with room is Php1,000 while if you opt to pitch tents, they charge Php800 for a group of four. Not bad eh. Their contact number is 09991596128, 09289032671, 09489689850. Look for Weng or Nanette (the manager).

The beach? Water is shallow and calm just like the other islands and teeming with marine creatures. Nice, nice, nice! They have inflatable lounging chairs good for 4 pax.

We climbed up a grassy small hill and on the very edge of it, you can have a 360-peek of Lahuy. Well mostly.






Our boat and the lounging inflatable

Jump shot

X with DS

shot from the hill. tourists headed to Lahuy


beach on the other side of Lahuy
Tenth Island: MANLAWI
Technically, it's not an island but is a shoal or sandbar. We got there at high tide thus we were not able to see Manlawi's glory. The tour guide said that the sand is blinding white at low tide. I didn't get off the boat anymore because I thought the currents could drift me.It was BH who tried and scared me that the water is too deep. I panicked. I asked him to return to the boat. He was laughing when he got up. Surprisingly, water is knee deep only! Hahaha! DS followed but I chose to stay in the boat. I was too tired to swim.There were cottages in the middle of the shoal. If we got here earlier, I could have asked to stay longer. The place is so unique.


DS and BH in the cottage

knee-deep water

convincing me to join

It's time to go back to the main island. It was already 330pm and waves can get really rough. Our last stop is a climb to Mt. Caglago in Barangay Tabgon. The 556 steps climb uphill is making me hesitant but BH said it's going to be an easy climb. Okay. So How do we start?

Tabgon Marker

on our way to Mt. Caglago

Ohlalala! Are you sure?

about 400+ steps later


Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

I was standing in front of the statue here

I'm glad I agreed to climb up

My biggest problem now is how to go down. Muscles sore...No zipline.

Day 3 ends.
Love it here really...

X

Friday, May 25, 2012

Bicol: Caramoan Island Hopping (Islands and Sea)

Immediately after we set our feet on Caramoan soil, we rushed to our assigned nook and changed to swimming outfits. Hahaha! Homo sapiens addictus!


We were brought by the inn's tricycle service to Paniman port which is the jump off point to all the island hopping activities. Smiles pasted on our faces as sticky as the sunblock lotion on our body. It was a bit humid already, perhaps because we were near the biggest body of water in the planet (Pacific Ocean, that is).


We were ushered by our tour guide to our boat for the entire tour called "Summerain".


First Island: LAHUS

Lahus is divided by a white sand dune thus having a double-sided beach. The side where we docked Summerain is the calm side, has shallow water and the sand is finer. The other side has a wavy beach but is equally beautiful. You have to cross the white sand to get to the other side. It's a very unique island.We had out first lunch in Caramoan on this island.




This is the calm side. The opposite side with tourists in orange, is the wavy side

The wavy side

Lahus from afar
 Second Island : MATUKAD

Just very near to Lahus is the Matukad island. A unique feature of this island is that it has a sprawling wide beach on one side and a tiny beach just on the  right side (if facing west). There's a big rock between the two beaches. It is on top of this rock where BH took the photo above.  Also, a rocky steep trail leads to a hidden lagoon. I was not prepared for it and for safety reasons, I didn't dare. No helmets, no harness, no safety gears, plus I was wearing slippers. It's also a good snorkeling site. Water is so calm and the sand is fine and white.

Rocky trail going up the lagoon

relaxing on the beach
  
  
Big rock that BH climbed

To the left is the tiny beach
   
Dreamy seascape. The bigger beach of Matukad
 Third Island:MINALAHOS

This island has a tiny white beach and is very close to the other islands we visited. This too is a marine sanctuary and the view underwater is an eyecandy to photo addicts like me. Unfortunately, I can't bring my camera underwater.Different species color the seabed from tiny colorful fishes to shells and of course starfish. It is also near to the a Survivor set (Hunongan and Gota). Foreign tourists enjoy waterskiing  and wakeboarding activities.A number of speedboats were docked in the area.

Minalahos

BH and DS snorkeling

sand

parked speedboats
 Fourth Island: CAGBALINAD

Less than 10 minutes from Minalahos is Cagbalinad. Like the Minalahos, it has a tiny beach. This is where we found shells stuck in between rocks about 3 feet above the sandy beach. You'll wonder how they got there. It means, water can reach such height at high tide. There is also a tiny entrance to a cave but only an infant can pass through. It's so small. Our tour guide said there were once stalactites and stalagmites but some visitors are really destructive. Tsk tsk.


Cagbalinad

snorkel
 
white sandy beach
 
a portion of the entrance to a cave where stalactites and stalagmites once were

shells stuck in between rocks (like termites)
  Fifth Island: BUSDAK

The sand is not white but gray (I am not a fan of non-white sand beaches). However, the place is very shaded and very clean, unlike the gray-sand beaches in some parts of Luzon. The seabed is very flat and shallow thus a good swimming area for kids. wo mountains enclose the beach. There's also a big rock just before the docking area. On this rock were oyster-like creatures, cleanly attached. It would seem that the shells synchronized their attachment to the rock that the surface is flat. They open their shells during high tide.
This is our last island for the day.

oysters evenly attached to the rock


talaba anyone?

The other side of the mountain facing the afternoon sun

mountains enclosing Busdak


see those 2 swimmers?
We have to leave at 500 pm because the sea can get rough at dusk.We headed back to the inn after the island hopping. More to come the following day-closer to the Pacific.
Loving Caramoan!!!

X