Heya, readers! I want to apologize for having to publish this adventure soooo late! I've been doing some stuffs personally which deals with my future, so I wasn't able to update this blogsite.
Jumping right off the bat, I'm going to share our adventure in the beautiful Caramoan islands!
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| Manlawi Sandbar during low tide |
Caramoan is located in the eastern part of Bicol Region, particularly in Camarines Sur. It is a vast, rich and lush environment which is an extremely perfect getaway from the pollution around Metro Manila.
Traveling on this place is very easy as you may take transportation via land or air. Cebu Pacific presents an affordable flight going to Naga city.
Also, there are lots of land tours offered by travel agencies. Most of them are found in Facebook as pages, or often promoted by those who tried it on travel groups. Much of which are also cheaper when traveling as a group.
HOW TO GET THERE
This was an anniversary getaway between me and KC. Since she loved traveling to white sands and swim on the beach, I've been telling her stories about Caramoan for a long time. Caramoan is popular for hosting TV contest, SURVIVOR. A lot of host countries are now using the islands of Caramoan to film the contest. Much of the detailed stories will be told by your guides when you get there. There are several stories and it might take me pages to finish it.
We were supposed to travel via Cebu Pacific but insisted to travel there by land as our flight schedule doesn't seem to fit our tight schedule on our tour. So what we did is to research about a bus company which goes to Naga city. Also, we searched for an affordable accommodation and we found something online. Please read on.
Several bloggers already published easy access going to Caramoan. What we did is do it manually. We took Philtranco Bus (with CR) to go there. It was a fun 9 hours ride and the bus left Pasay terminal at 8:30 PM sharp. We did 2 stopovers: one is at Turbina, the other one is somewhere in Camarines Norte. It was a convenient ride since it is airconditioned and there is a comfort room inside. No problems encountered.
We arrived at Bicol Central Bus terminal at exactly 5:00 in the morning. I've never had the chance to take photos during our bus ride as the conductor turned off all lights during our ride. As we're about to disembark the bus, we felt hungry so we decided to take our breakfast first. We decided to take our breakfast at the terminal to let KC try authentic Bicolano cuisine. For the first time, she tried the popular and locally made Bicol Express.
We finished our meal before 6:00 in the morning, then we walked towards the terminal which is only located at the back of SM Naga. It was a well-organized terminal. We took the Sabang van.
Since we were on the first trip and there are less tourists, we waited up until 7:30 AM and we were the only ones inside. The driver then asked us if it is our first time in Caramoan, and we said, Yes. He then told us to add another P50 per head to leave the terminal. He told us that we might not make the 9 in the morning boat to Caramoan and it might cost us our tour schedule. So we agreed. It was cheap and I felt he was honest. Along the way, he just picks up passengers to fill his van.
We arrived at Sabang port at 8:45 AM, enough to reach our boat ride. We boarded the boat at 9:10 AM and immediately left.
As other bloggers were saying, once you're on the way to Caramoan via boat, you might get a glimpse of the Mayon Volcano at the south. Unfortunately and what Mayon does, it is extremely shy.
It was a fun 2 hours plus boat ride, with a lot of scenery you will see from left and right. It was almost like we started our tour proper already. We arrived at Guijalo port (Caramoan proper) at 11:15 AM. We have at least an hour to prepare for our tour which would start at 12:30 PM. We were picked up by our van hosted by our accommodation at West Peninsula Villas.
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| Our room |
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| Chow time before the tour starts |
We had a quick lunch and started preparing for tour. Again, I never had the chance to take some photos on the way to our hotel as the environment surrounding us was extremely serene and I can feel my breathing lightly. It was totally pollution free.
FIRST DAY OF TOUR PROPER
We left the villa at around 12:30 PM and proceeded directly to Paniman Terminal Port. We were about to do our first island hopping at the famous Caramoan islands. And Roy, whose our personal guide, told us that we will be visiting three islands which is often used in filming Survivor.
Heading in to the first island, these scene is very common as you will be amazed by the beauty of Caramoan. Comparisons from Coron, yes. But, Caramoan is more rich and is more untouched. It's pretty obvious by just a simple glance at the rocks and the plants. Guide told us that they are trying their best to retain the beauty of the islands as it is being used for filming. They have to retain the natural surroundings.
LAHOS ISLAND
Lahos island is so cool that it has a division of two beaches. It was quite a great experience at it has a great ambiance and rock formations. Lahos is also used by a tribe when there is a Survivor shooting. Fine white sand in your feet and it is comparable to Boracay sand.
MATUKAD ISLAND
Another island just across Lahos island. Pretty much the same as Lahos for everything is so similar, but the sand on my opinion, is much rougher than Lahos. There's also a rock formation where you can climb (but not recommended) where you can see a chance to spot the famous "mahiwagang bangus". Let your guide tell the rest of the story. The island had remnants of the wares used by Survivor contestants.
MINALAHOS ISLAND
A small island which boasts a fine sand. I didn't took a lot of picture for it was almost drenched in water.
KAGBANILAD ISLAND
Kagbanilad island has amazing rock formation and a cool environment. Great fine sand same as Minalahos. BTW, Minalahos and Kagbanilad islands are not used for Survivor shooting for these islands are small. But, I'm not really sure. I never saw anything worth camping for Survivor because it was small.
We were able to get back at Paniman port at around 5:00 PM. It was such an great first day of island hopping!
SECOND DAY OF ISLAND HOPPING
We had a peaceful sleep before the second day arrives. We were instructed that the call time for the second island hopping is 7:00 in the morning. We took our early breakfast at around 6:00 in the morning.
We headed to Bikal terminal port. It is much bigger than Paniman port and there's a lot of fishermen. I do think that it is the main terminal for them. There's also a horizon of Bakawan or Mangroves present surrounding the area.
So we took off, boarded the same boat we rode yesterday and the guide told us that the boat we're using is owned by West Peninsula Villas. We found it fascinating.
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| Off we go! |
MANLAWI SANDBAR
Let me tell you about a short story about this trip. It was cloudy that day and it was already reported in the media that there is an impending storm coming to the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) in that day afternoon. It would hit the eastern part of the Philippines so while on the boat going to Manlawi, the wind is going strong and we were like on that boat rocking. Strong waves already caught us, and our brave boatmen said to be experienced, led the boat to the strong current to avoid the boat from the corals down under. It was the first time I felt really nervous during a boat trip.
Thank God, we survived! Here's a short clip after we approached the high tide.
We arrived at Manlawi beach and we saw the vast sandbar as advertised in Google street map. We're fascinated as there are local fishermen who sells fresh seafoods in the area. Also, there are floating nipa huts and I think its free of use. Manlawi that time is at low tide but the gust of wind makes the sandbar sink fast. Again, because there is an impending storm that time.
COTIVAS ISLAND
Soon as the high tide reached Manlawi and slight rain started to pour, we then proceeded to Cotivas island. Again, there are Nipa huts present, and there is a house at the middle of the island. We're told that they are caretakers. Caretaker of the island perhaps? Or a permanent resident there, I don't know which is true.
Since we spent like 2 hours in Manlawi, we took our lunch at Cotivas.
GUINAHUAN ISLAND
While appreciating Cotivas, KC and I saw a watchtower from afar, across the island. Then we asked our guide if we can can visit that watchtower. He then told us, yes. Then we took off to Guinahuan island.
Guinahuan Island had residents and a lot of them. When we disembarked the boat, we passed by houses and took a rough 20 minute trek on to the top. We were also drenched in the rain as we trekked going to the watchtower.
Then we arrived at the watchtower. We were definitely amazed by how beautiful the view is. It is spectacular, it was stunning, and the closest resemblance (in my opinion) of Batanes.
SABITANG LAYA / BAG-ING BEACH
Since there are a lot of islands to visit and the next day we will be leaving Caramoan early, the last island we've been to is Sabitang Laya and the Bag-Ing beach. The island itself is the main playing grounds when there are tribal games in Survivor.
It also presents tons of rock formations and is perfect for photography. You can also pitch a tent there and spend the rest of the day there. It was marvelous.
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| Be careful around this thing. It's a dangerous stingy jellyfish called Man O' War |
It was already around 4:00 in the afternoon and the storm seems likely to be closing in on us while still on the island. As soon as we felt a little raindrop, we headed back to mainland and to the hotel.
Oh, and our bangkeros just made a shortcut to a route full of mangroves :)
LAST DAY: A FULL DAY RETURN TO MANILA
Since going back to Sabang port from Guijalo port takes a lot of time, we already packed our bags during the evening. And the storm is already felt during the wee hours of the night the very reason why we had to go back to Naga the earliest.
We woke up at 5:00 AM, then took out breakfast at 6;00 AM, checked out at 6:30 AM, then off we go to Guijalo port at exactly 7:00 AM. Here we encountered the strong pour of rain and we're at the terminal to wait for out boat to arrive.
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| Guijalo port while waiting for our boat ride |
It was already 8:15 AM and there's no sight of the boat. Now we're fearing that the boat ride might be cancelled. And it did cancelled.
So we hurriedly took a tricycle ride back to the Caramoan town proper to catch the 9:00 AM bus to Naga city. Since it was raining so hard, the path going down the slopes of Caramoan is terrifying as we also encountered a car accident which fell on the road. I can describe the route as scary as Kennon road in Baguio, probably a times x5 dangerous.
It took us 3 hours to reach Pili airport, at exactly 1:30 PM since we slowed down for safety. Our supposed flight is 2:00 PM so we are rushing ourselves to reach the flight 20 minutes before.
Then as we sat down the waiting area for boarding, they announced that our flight was cancelled as well. Then what we did next is plan B, we were supposed to go to Legazpi and take a plane there. But my friend from Legazpi already told us that the rain was pouring heavily already, so probably the flights at Legazpi airport might be cancelled as well.
Since we're too tired already, we decided to take a bus to Manila from Naga central terminal again. So Philtranco was the first choice. We headed to Naga terminal and purchased our bus ticket. We stayed at a nearby hotel at least 3 hours to wait for our 9:00 PM departure.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW OF OUR TRIP
Expenses:
Bus ride Philtranco (aircon with CR) to Naga City, 8:30 PM Departure from Pasay terminal:
P750.00 per head
Van ride to Sabang port:
P150.00 per head
Boat ride from Sabang port to Guijalo port:
P120.00 per head
Accomodation + Tour package c/o West Peninsula Villas 3 days and 2 nights (2 pax):
P11,600.00
PS: You know what we really enjoyed in West Pen? It was the food! They serve a 6-10 pax worth of food! I just posted our welcome lunch above. We have a really good chow time! Anyway, the tour package includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. We never had any expenses outside what I stated above. SULIT. Lalo sa pagkain!!
I won't total this for we had a different route going back to Manila. :)
Thank you everyone for reading!
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