Category Archives: Beaches

Governor’s Island (Hundred Islands, Alaminos City, Pangasinan)

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From Martha Island, our boatmen brought us over to Governor’s Island for a brief stopover, One of 3 developed islands in this mini-archipelago (the others are Quezon Island and Children’s Island), it has a governor’s guesthouse with 2 bedrooms for 6-8 people, living room, dining room, toilet and bath, kitchen (with dining and cooking utensils provided for), ceiling fans and generator lighting.  It also has 2-pax nipa huts and camping is also allowed here.  
 
The viewpoint of Governor’s Island
There are white sand beaches on both sides of the island.  From the beach, we a short hike up some carved steps that lead to the island highest point.  At this viewpoint, we had an  unobstructed panoramic view of the many granite and scrub-covered islands that compose this national park.  After some photo ops, we made our way back down the hill.  Back at our boat, we were finally brought back to Lucap Wharf.  After paying our boatmen, we had our first freshwater shower at the complex, loaded our gear at our car, had lunch and proceeded on our way to Bolinao.

Martha Island (Hundred Islands, Alaminos City, Pangasinan)

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The sun was already low in the sky when we packed our tent and belongings and again boarded our boat to take us to nearby Martha Island.  We thought we had the island to ourselves as the white sand beach, connecting the two islands, was deserted.  Once on dry land, our boatmen left us, promising to return the next morning to pick us up.  We were soon setting up our tent and was  just about done doing this when boats, one after the other, began unloading local tourists, with the same mindset as ours, on our tiny strip of beach.  I guess there’s simply no escaping the maddening crowd.  

Martha Island

It was too dark to go swimming, so we just settled down in our tents, ate our packed dinner and spent the rest of the night playing cards.  Jandy and the others slept inside the tent while I slept outside, on my rubber mat.  I thought I came fully prepared for camping but I forgot one essential item – Off Lotion. There were no mosquitoes around.  Instead, what bothered me during my sleep were nasty sandflies (locally called niknik).  The ground I was sleeping on was also lumpy.  Sleep didn’t come easy to me that night, if at all.   

Relaxing under the shade
The island’s beach

Come morning, we prepared our breakfast of coffee and sandwiches.  Luckily for us, the rocky outcrop beside our tent shaded us from the morning sun.   Right after breakfast, we donned our swimming attire to go swimming.  The waters by the shoreline wasn’t as clear or as inviting nor its slope as gradual as the beach in Romulo Island.  Poor visibility meant no snorkeling.   Still we made do with what was before us.  Our boatmen arrived earlier than expected, so we packed up our tent and belongings and boarded our boat.  

Romulo Island (Hundred Islands, Alaminos City, Pangasinan)

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Come morning, we checked out at Texas Inn and proceeded to Brgy. Lucap, the gateway to the Hundred Islands National Park.  The port was already packed with local and foreign tourists, it being the Holy Week break.  Our plan was to go island hopping and then stay overnight at one of the islands.  Just a few days earlier, on March 19, the management of the Hundred Islands  was turned over by the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) to the Alaminos City government. 

Hundred islands National Park

Before, anything else, we had lunch at the port and then decided on what to bring (camping equipment, swimming attire, sleeping bags, packed food, etc.), leaving the rest of our stuff inside our parked car.We then negotiated with some boatmen for a motorized boat to take us island hopping and settled on the price of PhP1,200.  Lastly, we had to choose from 127 islands and islets that make up this 1,844-hectare national park.  As we prefer beaches, choosing was easy as most of the islands are granite and scrub-covered and heavily-undercut at the base.  Only a number have sandy beaches.

On our way

The plan was to go first to Romulo Island, where we can go swimming, then  transfer to Martha Island where we were to stay overnight.  We left the port on our chartered motorized boat a little past 2 PM and soon made landfall at Romulo Island by 3 PM.  The island was packed with tourists sheltering on what little shade they can get on the island, mostly low shrubs and the undercut bases of the island.   We came prepared for this eventuality, setting up my tent on the white sand.  Our tent provided privacy as we changed into our swimming attire.  

Romulo Island.  Ours is the only tent on the beach
Vi beside our tent
A suited up Lulu ready for a swim

The island’s clear water was simply pristine and slope gradual.   Just across, Braganza Island seemed so near but experience told me that the short distance can be deceiving.  Besides, the current between the islands is notoriously strong.  Instead, we just lazed the afternoon away by swimming or snorkeling. Too bad, it wasn’t low tide yet.  A cave on the other side of the island is exposed and approachable during this time.

Maira-ira Beach (Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte)

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After lunch at the resort, we all decided to do some sightseeing and swimming.  From the highway, we turned into a 2-km. long dirt road.  Along the way, we passed by the bell-shaped Timmangtang Rock and made a short stopover at nearby Bantay Abot (meaning “mountain with a hole”) Caves seen along the seacoast of Sitio Gaoa, Balaoi.

According to folklore, Timangtang Rock and Bantay Abot Caves are believed to be lovers, the former being the female and the later the male and are collectively termed as “Lover’s Rock.”

Timangtang Rock
Bantay Abot Cave

Upon arrival at the lovely Maira-ira Beach (also called Blue Lagoon), we stayed at a simple nipa picnic cottage. Hemmed in by hills around its perimeterand largely deserted, except for a few fishermen’s houses, it also has sparklingly white sand  and clear blue waters.  Though its sand was much finer than its better-known neighbor Saud White Beach, this beach has yet to become popular with the mainstream beach-combing crowd.

The crescent-shaped May-raira Beach

Just offshore, in Brgy. Balaoi, are the identical Dos Hermanas (Two Brothers) Islands.

According to folklore, two very close brothers one day went fishing at sea.  Unfortunately, they were met by a typhoon while at sea.  Vowing to be together even in death, they both drowned. To serve as an inspiration to others, the two islands were said to have appeared later.

Dos Hermanas

Saud White Beach (Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte)

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We arrived at  the touristy Saud White Beach, along clear, tranquil and palm-lined Bangui Bay by 6 PM.  The beach is home to a number of resorts and we were to stay 2 nights at the upscale Saud Beach Resort and Hotel.  We were the first to arrive at resort, the others arriving much later as they made a stopover at Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Burgos.  These were anxious moments as I couldn’t contact their Globe mobile phones.  The beach was definitely Smart country.   Upon their arrival, we all checked in at airconditioned rooms with bath, cable TV and fridge.

Saud White Beach

Pagudpud, called the “Paradise of the North,” is reputed to have the longest, continuous white sand beach in the country.  Though not as gently sloping as Boracay’s White Beach, Saud White Beach has offshore coral beds and, unlike Boracay, an occasionally moderate to high surf ideal for water sports activities such as surfing.  Beach volleyball is also a favorite activity here. Most of our stay, however, was spent picnicking, eating, siestas and swimming.

Saud Beach Resort & Hotel

During lunch the next day, we were reminded that we were in Marcos country as joining us at an adjoining table at the restaurant, as guests of town mayor and resort owner Reynolan Sales, were Ms. Irene Marcos-Araneta, her husband Greggy, their kids and their usual bevy of security men.

Saud Beach Resort & Hotel: Saud White Beach, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.  Manila booking office: 94 Katipunan Rd., White Plains, Quezon City.  Tel: (632) 921-2856 and (632) 928-9853.  E-mail: inquiries@saudbeachresort.com and reservations@saudbeachresort.com. Website: www.saudbeachresort.com.

Balicasag Island (Panglao, Bohol)

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Balicasag Island Dive Resort

Panglao Island’s deep waters are home to whales and dolphins that appear all year round, especially between the months of April and June.  Having arrived on the last week of May, we were hoping to do some dolphin watching of our own at nearby Balicasag Island which lies off Panglao Reef, 4 kms. southwest of Duljo Point.   Balicasag is also touted as the country’s second best diving spot.  The island’s north and northwest side has a narrow shelf, 10 to 50 m. wide and about 7 m. deep, ending in 2 excellent vertical walls that fall forever.   In fact, 80 to 90% of the tourists who visit Panglao come primarily for the Balicasag scuba diving.  The first recorded dive of the island on the island was done on May 6, 1984.   

On our way

To get to the island, I hired an outrigger boat.  Grace, my kids Jandy and Cheska and my brother-in-law Mark joined me and we all brought our swimming and snorkeling gear, suntan lotion and some packed lunch.  We left very early in the morning for the 10-km. (45-min.) boat ride to the island. However, throughout the boat tour, we failed to sight any dolphins or whales and so we contented ourselves with snorkeling its beautiful underwater scenery just off the shore. 

Balicasag Island

We later made a landfall at the other side of the flat, barren 21-hectare island which is ringed by a pristine sandy shell, coraline beach. The island’s name was derived from the Visayan words bali, meaning “change,” and kasa, meaning “noise,” in reference to the waves slapping the shore as the wind changes direction.  The island was declared as a lighthouse reservation as early as 29 October 1907.  Jandy and I went around the island in less than half an hour.  On the southwest side of the island is the 1.5-hectare, Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA)-managed Balicasag Island Diving Resort, established on April 6, 1987.  Right in front of the resort is a 3.44-hectare marine sanctuary declared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The resort has 10 native-style duplex cottages with bath and porch, plus a main restaurant pavilion with an adjacent alfresco dining area and bar.  It also has a dive shop offering dive courses.

Panglao Island (Bohol)

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Alona Beach

We all left Cebu City very early in the morning of May 24 via an Oceanjet fast ferry for Tagbilaran City, Bohol’s capital and route center.  Upon arrival at the city’s wharf, we motored, via taxi, to Panglao Island which is connected to the mainland via 2 bridges. The older Taytay Bridge, near the City Hall, goes to Panglao (18.1 kms. away) while the Gov. Jacinto Borja Bridge, located 2 kms. southeast, connects the city’s Bool District with Dauis (3.1 kms. away).  The flat 98.4 sq. km., coralline limestone Panglao Island is located south of the city.    

Lost Horizon Beach Resort

We booked ourselves at an airconditioned room with bath and cable TV at Lost Horizon Beach Resort along Alona Beach.  The resort also has fan-cooled rooms with bath or common bath, a restaurant, swimming pool and a bar.   Alona Beach is one of Panglao Island’s 4 beaches, all of them white sand.  The  other beaches are the 1.2-km. long, pretty shallow Doljo Beach (located between rocky promontories); Dumaluan Beach along the east coast; and Momo Beach on a quiet cove on the west side. 

At Trudie’s Place

The sand off these beaches, although not as fine as that in Boracay, is just as white.  A fact, known only by a few people, is that many white sand beaches on Mactan Island in neighboring Cebu are covered by sand imported from Bohol, including Panglao.  Alona Beach, on the southeast side, is the most beautiful, most popular and, tourist-wise, the most developed beach of the four on the island. This beach, located in Brgy. Tawala, is said to have been named after Alona Alegre, the bomba star of the 1970s whom people say romped naked here during a film shoot.  It has a number of small, individually-designed beach resorts, restaurants, beach bars and dive shops, all spread along the beach for about 1.5 kms..  This attractive, white sand beach is good for snorkeling.  It is, however, clogged with seaweed growing in knee-deep waters, especially between December and March.    

Lost Horizon Beach Resort: Brgy. Tawala, Alona Beach, Panglao, Bohol.  Tel: (038) 502-9099 & 502-9088.  Cebu City booking office: fax: (032) 232-4893. Website: www.losthorizonresort-bohol.com.

Puno ng Pandil (Morong, Bataan)

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The next day, Saturday, was family day and what better way to spend than a day of swimming at the beach.  However, the nearby beach was heavily-crowded with Holy Week revelers and so we decided to look for our own secluded spot by hiring a motorized banca for this purpose.  The long stretch of black sand beach was lined with a number of beach resorts, notable of which are the upscale Strand and Waterfront Resort.

Puno ng Pandil

There are also a number of private beachfront residences.  Just when we thought we would never find our own private cove, we espied the picture-perfect and postcard-pretty scene of an unusually white sand beach backed up by a sugar loaf mountain.  Locally called Puno ng Pandil, we finally found our own private nook.  Here, we swam to our heart’s delight with the cool feel of the white sand beneath our feet.  It was truly something worth returning to.

Holy Week in Morong (Bataan)

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Napot Point

After our Dambana ng Kagitingan pilgrimage, it was back to my car again for the final drive to Morong. Along the final 23-km. stretch from Bagac to Morong, we passed the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, situated 18 m. above sea level at Napot Point.  Morong was the chosen site for this “white elephant,” which was supposed to be the first nuclear power plant in the country.

Begun in 1977, it was constructed by Westinghouse (allegedly under a “conspiracy of corruption”) and was expected to generate 620 MW of electricity when completed.  After much delays (construction was stopped in June 1979 due to the Three Mile Island incident in the U.S.), it was finally completed in 1985 at a cost of US$1.95 billion (its initial budget was US$1.1 billion).  However, cause-oriented groups staged a number of “No Nukes” rallies.

They protested its potential to life and property, and its being built on a major earthquake fault line.  The Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986 was the final nail in its coffin as Pres. Corazon Aquino ordered it mothballed that same year.  To this day, it has not been decided what to do with this overpriced but unsafe complex and the sophisticated equipment already installed there.  In the meantime, the country is left with the problem and an incurred US$2.2 billion debt.

Sunset at Morong

We finally reached Morong late in the afternoon and stayed at Vener’s house, located near the town’s Spanish-era church and a few hundred meters from the beach.  A soothing and well-deserved cool afternoon dip at the beach, augmented by a beautiful fiery sunset, relaxed our tired bodies. Early morning of the next day, Good Friday, provided an opportunity to observe, up close, the countrywide Holy Week ritual of self-flagellation.  I first encountered this shocking and bloody ritual when I was still living in Malibay (Pasay City).  Here in Morong it is called pagbubulyos.   This is performed mostly by men, both young and old, who wish to fulfill a panata (vow) of public atonement for one’s sins.  This panata is done for a minimum of 10 successive years and is reflected in the bulyos, a whip consisting of bamboo strips tied to sturdy cord.   Each strip represents one year of atonement, its number being reduced every succeeding year until he completes his panata.  Each strip should be secured properly.  If one is detached during his rounds, another strip (and another year) is added to his bulyos.

Before the actual flagellation, the flagellant’s back is prepared by beating with stick and paddles until swollen and numb.  Numerous small cuts on the back are then made with razors, with vinegar or salt sometimes applied to the cuts.   Only then is the raw back whipped continuously by the bulyos.  The flagellants, most with heads covered, walk barefoot along the town’s streets, stopping by the church to pray, then continuing on until they reach the sea where a healing noontime dip awaits them.

Anilao: Arthur’s Place Dive Resort (Mabini, Batangas)

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A chilling, foggy morning greeted me when I woke up.  It was already sunrise but the sun was obscured by the clouds.  We soon had breakfast prepared, packed our gear and waited for our “porter” and guide to arrive.  In the meantime we posed, as mountain conquerors would do, behind our cameras.  Our guides soon arrived and similarly unburdened, we easily proceeded down the mountain and back to our starting point.  After refreshing drinks at the store, it was back to our car for the now downhill, but nevertheless still treacherous, drive down the zigzag road.   The guys hiked down to their car further down the road.

Arthur’s Place

We decided to all meet at Arthur’s Place to savor what Anilao has to offer underwater.  The beach here was a relatively shallow.  Offshore is a dive site aptly named Arthur’s Place, gradually sloping from five to 21 meters with plenty of reef fish, small coral heads, soft corals, feather stars, hydroids, anemones and sponges.  The resort, opened in 1984 (with two rooms) by the late Arthur Abrigonda was, together with Aqua Tropical Sports (opened in 1967) and Aquaventure Reef Club, the first to open resorts in the area.  It now has 12 rooms with bath (two of them airconditioned), a restaurant, dive shop, picnic tables, shower rooms and offers two boats for diving trips.

None of us went diving (although Cecil was a trained diver) but we indulged in the next best thing by going snorkeling.  Even near the shore, the fish and coral life along the reef was quite good.  I’ve tried diving once (in Club Paradise in Palawan) a long time ago.  Anilao is sure worth the second try with its coral slopes or steps of small drop-offs, shallow coral gardens among sandy patches, profuse small fish life and numerous crinoids and nudibranches.  Some marine sanctuaries have been set up.  Diving is good all year round but the best season is from November to May.

Arthur’s Place Dive Resort: Anilao, Mabini, Batangas. Mobile numbers (Ms. Estelita M. Abrigonda): (0919) 716-7973 and (0919) 312-3938.  E-mail: arthursplace_ph@yahoo.com.  Website: www.arthurs-place.com.