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| A Very Sunnnnnny (and cloud-less) Beach |
Because I am ending my hiatus from not-traveling, I invited my friends to go to Palaui and avoid the traffic of Valentine's Day (plus it's also Milcah and Espee's birthday) hehe
There are several blogs regarding how to get to Palaui, so we just basically followed them. But here are some lessons and comments on our trip.
1. Transportation:
It may be cheaper to book two-way airline tickets. I have 4 friends who were able to get CebuPac roundtrip tickets to Tuguegarao for PhP 2120, then they took the van going to Sta. Ana (PhP 180). Unfortunately, my schedule will not allow me to take the airplane, so we took the bus going there, and had the airplane going back (PhP 1500). I've read that our bus tickets cost PhP 850 from Sampaloc, Manila straight to Sta. Ana, Tuguegarao for the 3PM departure.
Another unfortunate event was... well, we booked up to Tuguegarao only (miscommunication). So when I returned the next day to upgrade our ticket straight to Sta. Ana, the person behind the counter told me to just pay the additional fee when we're in the bus.
When we were in the bus, we told the conductor that we will go straight to Sta. Ana, so can we just pay the additional so we won't be bothered anymore when we get to Tuguegarao at 3 AM? The conductor told us, that he can only issue the ticket up to Tuguegarao, and from Tuguegarao, we have to get another ticket at PhP 220. (So yes, we were awakened at 3 AM just to get another ticket... Why can't just the conductor issue us a straight ticket to Sta. Ana is beyond me... This is my first time to experience such a thing. But I don't want to dwell on that anymore. Lesson learned:
when you buy tickets, make sure I read the final destination.)
My Transportation Expense: PhP 2670
Manila-Tuguegarao by bus - 700
Tuguegarao-Sta Ana by bus - 220 (more expensive than if booked straight to Sta. Ana)
Sta Ana-Tuguegarao by van - 180
Tuguegarao-Manila by plane - 1500
2. Accommodations:
We stayed in Casa Empyreal, which by SMS was PhP 1000 per room, good for 4 people. (But my friend said that it looks very small, can only fit 2 people)
When my friends went there, they upgraded our accommodations to PhP 3500 for 2 nights for a villa with CR, dining room, patio outside with swing, and our room was a cozy, airconditioned, attic-style (meaning sleeping in mattresses in the floor) to fit all 6 of us. The room itself wasn't much of a problem (or maybe the aircon was too cold? Anyway, our fault hehe). Though it needs some cleaning and maybe finish the furnishings?
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| Left house behind us is the villa. Right house is the main house, where rooms for 2-4 people are priced at 1,000 per night |
Sounds cheap enough right? Unfortunately, they had a problem with the water at the time, and we had to get water from a pump (we climb mountains so we are not actually that picky, but...
if you compare our accommodations with the others in the area which was water and better furnished, it's not worth it; If I was there, I would have gone for the EF Costales Lodge, which was near the port). And... no hot water for me because they were asleep before I could ask help in boiling water from the stove.
Advantages:
it's beachfront so we can do night swimming or even bonfire at night
use their kitchen for free
we had the place to ourselves, there was a patio, a swing, and a dining area outside
(Actually, we weren't able to go to the main house, but they said it's nice there.)
Expense: PhP 3500 for 6 people for 2 nights
3. Tour
We just asked the owner of the accommodations because their neighbor owns a boat, and could tour us for the same rate that they are asking in the tourist center (which is in the port, a good 10-minute tricycle ride for PhP15 per head). We got the day tour PhP 3500 to tour us to Cape Engano, Anguib Beach, and Crocodile Island (we didn't bother going to Punta Verde anymore and opted to spend more time in Anguib Beach). So we just got that for the convenience of it all.
We left our beach at around 7 to 7:30 AM, arrived on Cape Engano around 8 to 8:30 AM.
Even though it's just a 20-minute walk up the stairs, they still charged us PhP 600 for a guide fee for 6 of us. Published rate is actually PhP 300 per guide up to 4 people (with trails coming from Punta Verde and Sumaguin cave, as PUBLISHED). Since we were 6, we needed two guides. It's the same rate if we will be hiking from Punta Verde, which is 3 hours of hiking time times two-way. We asked for a discount because it's just a 20-minute walk, and the poster did say that the trek will be from Punta Verde and Sumaguin, and yet they still charged us the same.
I just took a deep breath, and told myself, it's like paying PhP 100 for an entrance fee to the light house. Let it go.
Anyway, the view was beautiful, and we were the first group to arrive so we still had the place to ourselves for some photo shoot hehe In fairness, the place was clean. They told us that they collect guide fees to guard the area against vandalism etc to preserve the place. (I agree that this could have been done in Batanes, and other places in the Philippines.)
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| Cape Engano Field |
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| View of the beach while trekking |
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| The Light House |
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| Feeling Batanes lang |
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| Isa pang feeling nasa Batanes hehe |
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| View of the ruins from the light tower |
We left around 10:30 AM and went straight to Anguib beach where we spend our time eating lunch, lounging around, and swimming. It was beautiful and sunny, and there were hardly any other people, so it was a good beach hehe We paid PhP 100 as entrance fee. Cottages were also offered at PhP 500 for the whole day, but we have our own sarongs anyway, and there were trees, so we just opted for the free picnic table.
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| Anguib Beach |
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| Our Shady Little Nest |
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| Panaroma view of the beach and our shady place in this island |
Though it was noontime, the water wasn't that warm. It was actually cold after getting up from the beach (we think that maybe it's because of the cool wind). The water was also very clear, and the water was fine and white (though may no reach the powdery sand of Boracay or Dimaculangan beach in Bohol).
We left at around 3:30 PM. We dropped by quickly at the Crocodile Island for some quick photo op before resuming our trip back to our place.
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| Crocodile Island (we are in the eye of Lacoste) |
And that's when the problem started. Apparently, our boat wasn't legitimate, and one of the other boatmen called up the tourist center. So instead of going home, the police met us halfway and escorted us to the tourist center.
I'm going to admit, I was stressed though I know we didn't really do anything wrong. Apparently, we didn't pay the day pass because we didn't go through the tourist center though they know that it's not our fault. They reprimanded the boat, Casa Empyreal, and called up the Kagawad to clear things up. Anyway... still, it was stressful.
The tourist center told us that their boat is secure with life vests, proper seating, and a proper roof. We only had the life vests, but yeah, I was wondering why we don't have proper seats and a roof on our boat (I used my malong as a cover instead.)
Here is the official price list:
I also asked if there are any land transportation available going to Anguib Beach, they told us it could be reached by tricycle, of about 20-30 minutes. Since we are 6, they estimated that we need two tricycles, with one trike costs PhP 300.
If I had known that, maybe we should have just took the boat to Cape Engano, had lunch back at our place, then took the land trip to Anguib Beach. It would have cost cheaper, right?
Or even if we took the boat, we could have just gone to Cape Engano and Anguib Beach for PhP 3,000. We didn't really think the Crocodile Island was worth stopping for. Though... that trip is only good for 6 hours.
Anyway, so I'm posting this information to let anyone who might be interested.
Simply get the boat from the Tourist Center, and not from your accommodations.
Expenses: PhP 848.33
Boat - 3500/grp or 583.33
Guide fee (Cape Engano) - 600/grp or 100/pax
Anguib beach entrance fee - 100
Day pass - 50
Trike from port to Casa Empyreal - 15
4. Food
Well, I let my friends took over and just buy food from the market.
Our common fund indicates around PhP 350 per head.
So there!
It was one heck of a misadventure after another (I didn't even include that we almost missed our bus going to Sta. Ana, because I forgot the bus tickets haha), but it's actually these experiences and misadventures that actually make a trip worthwhile.
The people of Sta. Ana are nice and friendly, and I don't think there are much tourist traps in the area (hopefully), but because of the miscommunication and the problems that we encountered, we didn't tip anymore. But at least we didn't haggle the price, especially for the boat and for the accommodations (I didn't know if my friends knew that there was a problem with the water when they agreed?)
