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| Palaui Island |
We woke up very early in the morning to overcast skies and rain. After breakfast at the Cagayan Holiday & Leisure Resort, we all checked out of our villa. We left our luggage at the hotel lobby for transport to the Eastern Hawaii Resort, later to be our second home in Sta. Ana. Thus unburdened, we all boarded our CEZA coaster for the fish port at Brgy. San Vicente. Point Escarpada, in Brgy. San Vicente, the sailfin capital of the Philippines. It has the best fishing grounds for marlin, being at the confluence of several ocean currents that carry baitfish and the larger pelagic predators that hunt them.
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| White sand beach at Punta Engano |
At the port, 5 motorized outrigger boats were chartered to bring us to the undeveloped and seldom visited, 3,850-hectare and volcanic Palaui Island, a 7,415-hectare Protected Landscape and Seascape with a shoreline of 20.6 kms., a length of 10 kms. and a width of 5 kms.. The island is inhabited by a community of Dumagats administered by a Filipino church group and is also home to different monkeys, wild pigs, deer, sea turtle and various endemic and migratory birds.
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| Cape Engano Lighthouse |
The skies were still overcast when we left port. With me in the boat was Astra Alegre, Izah Morales, Kara Santos, Nina Fuentes and Kim Madridejos. Our 45-min. boat ride was uneventful until we reached open water when the sea suddenly became choppy, creating mild to wild panic among the other boats but childish exhilaration (except for the visibly worried Astra) with me and my companions with every rising wave. We first made short landfall at a gray sand Siwangag Cove for some photo ops then returned to our boats for our final landfall at a gorgeous bay with a curving white sand beach and well-preserved coral. The beach looked really inviting but we weren’t here for swimming or snorkeling. Instead, we opted to visit its picturesque old Cape Engaño Lighthouse (Faro de Cabo Engaño), the northernmost Spanish-era lighthouse in the country. Located on the windswept headland of Punta Engaño, it was designed by Engr. Magin Pers y Pers, started in 1887 and completed on December 30, 1892. Upon reaching the end of the beach, we began our ascent up a mildly sloping to steep trail up the 92.75 m. high, cone-shaped hill, pausing at intervals to admire the Batanes-like scenery of its surroundings.
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| Dos Hermanas |
After a 30-min. hike, we finally reached the lighthouse. Though now run down and a little eerie, it was obviously a sight to behold during its heyday. The back of the lighthouse had a panoramic view of the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean breaking on the beach and rocky shore, the rolling, green-carpeted hills below, the two rocky islands of Dos Hermanas beyond and, farther off, the Babuyan group of islands, leaving all of us awestruck by the sheer beauty of nature before us. It was already drizzling when we went down the hill and returned to our boats. The return trip was just as exhilarating as the previous. Upon arrival at the port, a prepared lunch adobo and rice awaited us at the nearby picnic huts.