My college friends and I were considered to be "Katipuneros" because we would always traverse the intense heat of lunch to Katipunan just to eat. Anyway, after two years of hibernation in designated hospitals, the four of us met again for some quality time and outing together! (We missed Rizza and Jike though... Okay, maybe Jad... for them? Ha!)
Originally, Loi suggested Anawangin Cove because it's cheap and there are several deals on it. I agree, actually. But then, a friend's sister mentioned the beauty of Calaguas, read on that, and so, I suggested that instead.
Three words: It was beautiful!
Okay, another three words: It was hot!
Got tanned and burned in the process of appreciating this beautiful isolated place.
Anyway, we started with catching a night bus on May 21, 2012, using Philtranco Gold Service, priced at PhP 720.00. (The difference between the two was there is a comfort room in the Gold Service, which people didn't use because nobody saw it! Hmph! I think they're deliberately hiding it...) Basically, the bus was delayed plus there was a road construction somewhere in Quezon, so we arrived in Daet, around 7 am.
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| Gold Express Philtranco Bus (seated in front; which is a bad idea. it's better to sit at the back) |
We had breakfast at the Lourdes Hospital, which my cousin's husband's family owns, then briefly went to the private port, which was still under construction.
Then on to our two-hour boat ride...
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| Calaguas Islands |
We reached Mahabang Buhangin, the popular tourist spot of Calaguas Islands, where we had our lunch. We were scheduled to go to the private island at around 4 pm, so we better get used to the heat and start swimming! At first, I didn't go because I'm not really a beach person.
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| Mahabang Buhangin, Calaguas Islands, Camarines Norte |
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| This is the life: lounging in the hammock, listening to the waves, feeling the ocean breeze |
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| Buffet in Calaguas Islands (compared to the usual roughing it out) |
After lunch, there's no way to go around it but to swim in this freakin' heat! It's so hot! But the sand is so powdery and soft! We basically stayed around the boat's shadows, trying to protect ourselves from the scorching sun, but it was no use. We tanned! Hehe
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| Powdery White Sand of Mahabang Buhangin, Calaguas Islands |
Anyway, sad to say, but we had to transfer and go to the private islands while it's high tide. En route, we saw a floating fish, which our boatsmen caught. It was a very big
talakitok. It seems so heavy, I wanted a picture with it, but there wasn't time hehe
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| A very large Talakitok |
In the private island, we had our own bathroom and everything. We had some photo-ops by the rocks, set up a camp, had dinner, washed up, and proceeded to the main event for the night: drinking and talking and star gazing!
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| View from the Private Island |
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| Rocky Formations |
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| Shoreline of the Private Island |
In the morning, we had some photo-ops (except for Loi who's feeling feverish maybe from the alcohol or the hot seat last night hehe), breakfast, and changed clothes again (We had minimum of 3 sets of clothes! Bwahaha! This is an outing meant for pictures and the pictures we got wasn't even enough!).
When we got back to the mainland, Doc Philip was already waiting for us. We bought some souvenirs, and he toured us around the city for a while. We went to a church (sorry, no picture!) and Bagasbas Beach. Wow, I wanted to surf! The waves look so inviting... even in the midday scorching heat! We also saw the historically first Rizal monument.
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| Bagasbas Beach on the left, Runway of the airport on the right; View from a beach resort |
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| Bagasbas Beach Shoreline (Low-Tide) |
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| First Rizal Monument in the Philippines |
We had free lunch, from the hospital which was actually for the Diabetic seminar participants (well, we are doctors and nurses hehe). Then we went to the Mampurog River for some swimming. (I just love fresh water compared to salt water.)
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| Panoramic View of Mampurog River |
The river was rocky (as obviously seen from the picture), with varying depths because of the rocks. There was a slight undercurrent, which was no problem for me to swim through. Apparently, I made it appear easy to swim across the river. But Loi was basically... washed with the current to say the least; she lost her slippers in the process.
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| Loi lost, er I mean, donating her slippers to the river |
There were lots of palm trees around, and we had some buko juice afterwards.
We went back to the hospital to wash ourselves up, and fix our things. Then we had dinner, and caught the 8 o'clock bus back to Manila.
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| (Non-Gold Service) Aircon Philtranco Bus |
It was just an overnight trip with the girls, but it was fun (Okay, 2D/3N, but since 2 of the nights were in the bus, it didn't count). I really like the star-gazing part (I found two wishing stars! Guess what I wished for? Clue: Inspired!). I really like Mahabang Buhangin too.
For the financial part, we paid a whopping PhP 8,000 for our boat (which if you can compare, you can get from other boatsmen at around 3-4k)... A boat that can fit 35-45 people! And there were just 4 of us, right? Anyway, we didn't know at the start (but we were billed afterwards) with additional PhP 1,000 for the cook. (Hmm, if I'd known that I would just insist we could cook. It would even be more fun that way!) My cousin also told me that there's basically Php 3,000 worth of food items bought (over-budget since we didn't eat that a lot; there's just four of us!), so we paid for that too. Then the bus ride going home costs PhP 540 for the non-gold aircon bus, which was actually faster and I had better sleep than the other one! Since I'm a very budget-conscious person, it feels like we paid a huge amount of money for this trip (rounded to PhP 5,000 per head), when we could have had this trip for a bargain, and still fun! (Maybe more fun, because we would be staying in Mahabang Buhangin. And sometimes, it's actually the "roughing" it out part, that's fun.)
Though if I was really honest about this trip, I sort-of wished I didn't tell my cousin that we were going to Daet. There was just the four of us! Maybe if I had a bigger group (maybe 35 or something?), I would tell her. But since there's only four of us, I don't think the boat or the private island is worth it. Actually, I think I would rather stay in the tourist beach Mahabang Buhangin, because it was just... really... amazing! I was satisfied there already, even if we don't have our own bathroom in the private island. The private island was great with rocky formations and such, but I would rather go with the Mahabang Buhangin. Actually, we didn't even have enough time to go and explore Mahabang Buhangin... Sigh, maybe next time...
