Category Archives: PLACES OF INTEREST

Pila Museum (Laguna)

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A short leisurely walk from the town plaza brought us to the Pila Museum, the former Spanish-era escuela pia (school).  This refurbished building, probably the oldest structure in the town, now houses priceless pre-Hispanic Northern Sung (960-1127 AD), Southern Sung (1127-1280 AD) and Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368 AD) Chinese porcelain (plates, jars, jugs, etc.) and tradeware transferred to this heritage building in 1994 by the Pila Historical Society Foundation.

Pila Museum

These were recovered, from May to October 1967, from the Esso Standard Philippines-Manuel Elizalde excavations of an ancient crematorium (the oldest in the country) and habitation sites among the coconut plantations in Brgy. Pinagbayanan and Bagong Pook.  The project was led by Ms. Julita G. Fernandez and Ms. Amelia O. Rogel, graduate students of anthropology from the University of the Philippines.  They were supervised by Dr. Robert Fox and Mr. Avelino Legaspi of the Anthropology Division of the National Museum.

Some 250 to 300 pieces of the finds were donated to the town by Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Elizalde. These include celadon dishes with fish motif; celadon censers; qingbai blue and white jarlets; small, lead-glazed water droppers and teapots; qingbai double gourd vessels; large, gray-glazed ewers; figurines of carabao with riders in plain and spotted qingbai; brown wares of all shapes and sizes; iron and glass bracelets; and colored beads and earrings that appear to be gold or copper.

Home of "The Other Rizal" (Los Banos, Laguna)

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The Paciano Rizal Shrine

My next stop in my Laguna (Calamba City to Sta. Cruz) joy ride with my son Jandy was the charming resort town of Los Banos.  The town is famous for its hot medicinal sulfur springs that flow from the foot of Mt. Makiling and its present name is derived from the Spanish word for “The Baths.” These thermal springs were discovered in 1590 by Franciscan martyr St. Peter Baptist (San Pedro Bautista).   Today, most of the sulfur springs are piped into the pools and baths of the many hot spring resorts that line the National Highway.  This is the Los Banos that most people know and not many people know this town’s association with “the other Rizal.”

The old Los Banos Municipal Hall

To find out, I parked my Toyota Revo at the old municipal hall (a new one is being built along the National Highway).  Beside the town’s fire station is the inconspicuous retirement home of Paciano Mercado Rizal, Jose Rizal‘s elder (and only) brother who was also a revolutionary general (he led the defense of Laguna) and Emilio Aguinaldo‘s first Minister of Finance.  Though not as popular as the Jose Rizal Shrine in Calamba, this shrine, jutting out to Laguna de Bay, was built atop a hot spring in 1927 by Andres Luna de San Pedro (son of master painter Juan Luna) when Paciano’s original nipa hut was destroyed in a typhoon in 1926.

The back of the house

Rizal lived here, as a gentleman-farmer, with 2 helpers (with occasional visits from his grandsons, from daughter Emiliana, Franz and Edmundo), until his death from tuberculosis on April 30, 1930.  First buried in Manila North Cemetery, his remains were later transferred here, with full military honors, in 1985.  A historical marker was installed here on April 13, 1983 and the house was declared as a National Historical Shrine by the National Historical Institute on July 31, 1992.

Laguna de Bay

This modest American-style, one-bedroom bungalow was turned into a Japanese garrison during World War II, resulting in the loss of much of Paciano’s personal effects. Still around are some photos of his grandchildren, binoculars he used during the revolution, a pair of his shoes and a Quiroga bed.  Rizal’s spinster sisters Josefa and Trinidad are also buried in the sprawling garden which has a bronze statue of Paciano Rizal, on a pedestal, in his general’s uniform.  The shrine has a view of Talim Island. At the back of the house is the Paciano Rizal Park.

Church of the Immaculate Conception (Los Banos, Laguna)

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Church of the Immaculate Conception

From the municipal hall, we next drove a short way to the town’s Church of the Immaculate Conception.  First built as a chapel from 1613, it was later destroyed by fire in 1727 and rebuilt in stone on its present site by Fr. Domingo Mateo OFM in 1790.

The church’s interior

The belfry, sacristy and tile roofing were supervised by Fr. Manuel Amat in 1852.  The convent and bell tower were destroyed during the 1863 earthquake but repairs were made during the administration of Frs. Manuel Rodriguez and Gilberto Marin in 1880. During World War II, it was headquarters and garrison for the Japanese forces. Across the church is the Liceo de Los Banos.

Liceo de Los Banos

Church of the Immaculate Conception: Brgy. Timugan, Los Banos, Laguna. Feast o the Immaculate Conception: December 8.

The Country’s Tallest Rizal Monument (Calamba City, Laguna)

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The new Rizal Monument

Unusually August 27 to 30, a long vacation, came and go without me and my son Jandy getting out of town due to Typhoon Mina (international name: Nanmadol). Thus, when the sun shone a bit the next day (still no classes for Jandy), we decided to hop into my Toyota Revo and go on a joy ride around Laguna, from Calamba City to Sta. Cruz, photographing historical sites and old churches along the way.Traveling via the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), I took the Calamba Exit and made our first stopover at Calamba City, the birthplace of National Hero Jose Rizal, by noon.

The Calamba City Hall

Across the modern, 4-storey City Hall (inaugurated on August 16, 2005) along Bacnotan Road, on a 6.7-hectare government property, is the 6.7 m. (22-ft., representing the 22 languages Rizal spoke) high bronze statue of Rizal, said to be the tallest statue of the National Hero anywhere in the world.  The previous one was a 16-ft. high bronze statue, built by naturalized Jordanian philanthropist Mahmoud Asfour, in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya,

It stands on a tiled concrete pedestal mounted on a platform surrounded on all 4 sides by 15-step (representing 150 years) flights of stairs.  Calamba City is also home to the smallest statue of Rizal, a bronze statue of Rizal as a child in the Rizal Shrine,  done by Duddley Diaz and unveiled on June 19, 1998.  The Rizal Shrine is a 10-min. drive from the monument.

Posing beside the plaque

The monument was unveiled, by Pres.  Benigno Aquino III, during the 150th birth anniversary of Rizal  last June 19, 2011.  If measured from its concrete base, the whole monument stands 4 storeys high. The statue, started in December 2010, was designed and executed by 35 year old sculptor Jose Dionas “Jonas” Roces of Marikina City with about a dozen assistants.  Roces also did medium-sized sculpture of Pres. Aquino’s parents, martyred opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and the late Pres. Corazon Aquino.

NOTE: This Rizal statue was the tallest one from 2011 until 2014 when the 7.93 m. (26 ft.) high bronze Rizal Monument, sculpted by Toym Imao (son of National Artist for Sculpture Abdulmari Asia Imao), was unveiled in Santa Cruz, Laguna for the 2014 Palarong Pambansa  hosted by the province. Depicting Rizal wearing a fencing uniform and holding an epee, it is the only one of its kind in the world.

Rizal Monument: Calamba’s Real Village, Brgy. Real, Calamba City, Laguna.

Enchanted with Cagbalete Island (Mauban, Quezon)

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Cagbalete Island

Come morning and after breakfast at the Mayor’s house, Bernard and I decided to do some more sightseeing.  Omar, Baby and Dax left earlier to cover the unveiling of the historical marker at Rizal Hill Park.  To burn some of our excess calories, we visited, on foot, a number of the town’s old ancestral houses (Alquiros Residence, Quintana Residence, Pansacola Residence and Taino Residence) and the monument to native son Fr. Horacio V. de la Costa.  By 10 AM, all of us met up at the municipal hall as we were slated to go on a day tour of the 1,640.48 sq. km. Cagbalete Island, one of Mauban’s top tourist draws.

Taino Ancestral House

We boarded to tricycles to get to the port at Brgy. Daungan as we were hoping to still catch the morning trip (10 AM) to the island and leave the island on the afternoon boat (1:30 PM).  At the port, we were met by Mr. Romano “Roman” Balatbat, the former barangay captain of Brgy. Cagbalete 1 (now headed by his wife), one of the island’s 2 barangays (the other being Cagbalete 2).  Mang Roman is a Visayan migrant to the island, just like most of the island’s inhabitants.  Our huge motorized outrigger boat left the port by 10:45 AM and the 6 km. trip took all of 45 mins..  Along the way, we passed the the 440 MW, coal-powered Quezon Power Project.  Built in 2000, it is the first privately built, owned, and operated power generating facility in the Philippines.

Quezon Power Project

We were within sight of the island’s beach by 11:30 AM but we had to transfer to a smaller, flat-bottomed boat to get to shore as we were anchored some distance away, it being low tide.  Just the same, I had to raise my pant legs and remove my shoes and socks to wade ashore.  Mang Roman first invited us to his house where a simple but filling lunch of fried chicken, fish and soft drinks was prepared for  us.  After lunch, we walked along the barangay’s narrow pathways and, after that, the beach itself to get to the island’s other side  where the island’s white sand beaches are less populated and at their most beautiful.  

Cagbalete Beach

Naturally, there were a number of resorts located along this beautiful stretch of white sand and we spent a substantial amount of time at the quaint Pansacola Beach Resort.  The resort has rustic fan-cooled, 8-10-pax nipa huts with common toilets and bath (rented for PhP2,000) and 12-20-pax houses with private toilets and bath (rented for PhP4,000).  Open beach huts are rented for  PhP1,000.  Other resorts located on the island, all in Brgy. Cagbalete 1, include Little Prince, MVT Sto. Nino and Villa Cleofas, said to be the best on the island.   

Pansacola Beach Resort

Our enchantment with the beautiful beach, where we did some “leaping” photo ops, made us forget about the time and, realizing this, we soon thanked the resort caretaker and quickened our pace to make it back to the landing area.  Too late.  We were still some distance away when we espied our boat already leaving the beach and us for that matter.  Luckily for us, there were still other, smaller motorized boats around, the barangay being a fishing community, and Mang Roman made arrangements for a boat to bring us back to the port.  The trip back took a little longer, it being a smaller boat, and there was to be no roof to shade us from the hot afternoon sun.  Still, we were thankful that we made it back to town as we had to depart for Manila in the late afternoon.  

The Public Bath

Back at the port, we thanked our gracious host and savior Mang Roman and met up with his wife (now barangay captain of Cagbalete 1).  Then, we returned to the municipal hall to inform the Tourism Office of our safe arrival.  Later, we left  it laden with bottles of nipanog wine, parting gifts courtesy of Mayor Llamas.  Before leaving the town, we visited the parents of Lee at their Mauban home (and again left it laden with additional 4-gallon bottles filled with nipanog wine for us and Lee)  and the town’s Public Baths at the end of San Buenaventura St. (cor. Mabini St.), between Brgys. Daungan and Mabato.  Built in 1725 by Kapitan Luis de la Cruz, it has 2 compartments, boys on the left and girls on the right.  The baths used to be supplied with overflow water from the town’s reservoir.  Now they’re dry.  Mauban is the only municipality in the country to have such a structure.

A Walking Tour of Mauban (Quezon)

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The Municipal Hall

We finally arrived at Mauban, at the midst of its Maubanog Festival, by 4 PM and we made a stopover at the municipal hall were we all dropped by the Municipal Tourism Office and paid a courtesy call on Mayor Fernando Q. Llamas, the uncle of our good friend Lee Llamas.  Prominently displayed outside the municipal hall is an old cannon, 1 of 3 (the other 2 are at the Museo ng Mauban) bestowed by Spanish Gov.-Gen. Rafael Maria Aguilar to the town as a reward for the rescue efforts done for the Spanish friars captured by Moro pirates. The cannon were later used against the Spanish to effect the surrender of Tayabas to the revolutionaries in 1898.  All 3 were  restored on April 16, 2004.  

Traditional Mauban products

After our courtesy call on the Mayor, we  all dropped by the Mauban Product Development Office, beside the municipal hall, to check out the town’s traditional products such as finely-crafted nilala woven hats, baskets, slippers, wallets, bags, boxes, caddies, etc.;  delicacies such as pinangat, binalawan, pinais, tikoy, kalamay, pastillas, botarts, mazapan, suspiro, etc.; and nipanog, wine made with sasa (toddy palm nectar) instead of coconut and available in different flavors such as liputi, katmon, guyabano, mango, pineapple, guava, jackfruit, kalamias, tamarind and santol. Being a fiesta, booths selling these products, and more, were found in front of the municipal hall as well as along the major streets. 

Church of St. Bonaventure

While they were checking out the products, I took time out to visit the town’s present, modern Church of St. Bonaventure (the town’s patron saint).   This church underwent a lot of rebuilding since it was first built in 1647 and demolished in 1769.  The second structure, built in 1773, was badly damaged during the 1830 earthquake and rebuilt between 1836 and 1845.  The church collapsed during the July 1880 earthquake and the present church was built in 1891.  The bell tower, built in 1773, was seriously damaged during the 1880 earthquake and the portion that remained was partially destroyed again during the August 20, 1937 earthquake. 

Gat Uban Park

With the sun still up, we still had time to make a walking tour to Gat Uban Park, at the end of Gomez St., along the sea wall.  The park has a seaward facing statue the legendary Dumagat warrior and leader Gat Pangil who defended the town against ruthless Moro attacks.  Gat Pangil was also known as Gat Uban because of his gray hair (uban).  Accordingly, the town was named after the fact.  The well-lighted promenade area, with its gentle sea breeze, is a favorite meeting place for Maubanons. 

View from Rizal Hill Park

It was near sunset when we dropped by Rizal Hill Park (locally called Calvario Hill), along San Buenaventura St. in Brgy. Rizaliana.  To get to the top, we had a  choice of taking the shorter route (climbing a steep concrete stairway) or the longer route via a winding ramp skirting the hill.  Of course, we chose the latter.  At the top of the hill is a statue of National Hero Jose Rizal, erected on December 1912 by the Mauban Circle Association of Students.  The  park offers a panoramic view of the whole town.  In olden times, the hill was used as a sentinel post and a place for religious activities during the Spanish era, as headquarters by American troops, as an outpost by the Philippine Constabulary during the Japanese Occupation and, after the war, by the Civilian Emergency Administration.

Rizal Hill Park

Soon after our arrival,  Mr. Ludovico Badoy and Ms. Carminda R. Arevalo, Executive Director  and Officer-in-Charge (NHCP Research, Publications and Heraldry Division), respectively, of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), formerly the National Historical Institute (NHI), also arrived.  They supervised the installation of a historical marker recognizing the hill for its historical significance.  The marker was to be unveiled the next day, with Mayor Llamas and Mr. Badoy leading the ceremony.  It was now evening when we left the hill and, after dinner at the house of Mayor Llamas, we were billeted for the night at the nearby Llamas ancestral house.

Municipal Tourism Office – Municipal Hall, Poblacion, Mauban, Quezon.  Tel: (042) 784-1205 and 713-0314.  E-mail: gat_uban@yahoo.com.

Stopover at Tayabas (Quezon)

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Minor Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel

Last July 13-14, I,  together with fellow travel writer Bernard Supetran, were invited by photographer friend Lee Llamas to cover the Maubanog Festival in Lee’s hometown of Mauban in Quezon. Bernard and I met up at Starbucks Magallanes were we were picked up, around 11 AM, by a chartered Nissan Urvan.  Joining us were Lee’s photographer friends Ms. Baby de la Cruz (a just returned overseas contract worker from Kuwait), Mr. Dax Cruz (a balikbayan from Canada) and Dr. Omar Cacabelos (a dentist).  All, including Lee, are members of Gruppo i4i (eye for eye), a band of professional photographers who offer a wide range of services to clients.  We were in for a long haul, the trip to Mauban taking all of 190 kms.  Along the way, we made stopovers for toilet breaks, lunch at Chowking and a photo ops at Tayabas City.

The church’s beautiful interiors

This wasn’t my first visit to this city, the first being during a Holy Week break in 1999 when Tayabas was still a municipality (it only became a component city in 2007).  Still an eye opener was its 103-m. long Minor Basilica (it became such on October 18, 1988) of St. Michael the Archangel, the best preserved and the most beautifully-decorated church complex in the province.  It is also the longest Spanish colonial church in the country and also one of the oldest.   Its bell tower contains an 18th century clock (the only one of its kind in the country) that chimes every 30 minutes.  The church interior has seven altars, all done in the Neo-Classical style, an antique organ at the choir loft, a balcony below the beautiful dome and beautiful trompe l’oeil ceiling paintings.  The adjacent convent was used as a Japanese garrison during World War II.  This beautiful church is now listed, by the National Museum, as one of 26 National Cultural Treasures.

The Casa Communidad de Tayabas

Nearby is the Casa de Communidad, the biggest stone house ever restored by the National Historical Institute. It was first built in 1776 as a tribunal  by gobernadorcillo Francisco Lopez and made into a lavish edifice from 1831 to 1837 by then gobernadorcillo Don Diego Enriquez.  Apolinario dela Cruz (a.k.a. Hermano Pule) was hastily tried and sentenced to death here in 1841 by a Spanish court for leading a revolt. It was later used as a Spanish Armed Forces headquarters (May 29, 1898), as the Central High School Building (March 12, 1901), as the Tayabas Provincial Hospital (1941) and the Japanese Army headquarters until it was burned by American bombing on March 15, 1945.  In 1950, it was used as the Central School Building No. 2.  The building was renovated in 1973 (Exec. Order No. 2601) and 1974 (Exec. Order No. 3750) and was declared a National Historical Landmark on June 1, 1978. It now houses a museum, municipal library, art and culture center, and tourism office.   The building was in a sorry state of disrepair when we arrived and is currently being restored again. 

The Spanish-era Malagunlong Bridge

Back on the road to Mauban (now just 14 kms. away), we gain made a short photo op, 2.4 kms. outside of Tayabas City, at a modern, girder-type concrete bridge along the highway to view, at the upstream side, the Malagunlong Bridge, the oldest in the province and one of the few remaining Spanish colonial, arch-type bridges in the country.  The bridge, now unused, was built of adobe stone, limestone and molasses and started  by Spanish Franciscan parish priest Fr. Antonio Mateus in 1840 and completed 10 years later.  It is 445 ft. long and has five spans.  About 230 m. after this bridge, we arrived at the junction going to Mauban.

Gruppo i4i: Suite 609, Angelica Manor, San Antonio Village, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Tel: (632) 775-6017.  Mobile number: (0919) 427-0754.  Website: www.gruppoi4i.com
City Mayor’s Office:  City Hall,J.P. Rizal St., Tayabas City, Quezon.  Website: http://tayabas.ph.

Rufino Pabico Ancestral House (Daet, Camarines Norte)

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Rufino Pabico Ancestral House

The Pinyasan Street Dancing and Marching Band Parade, along Vinzons Ave., had now passed us by and, before leaving, Lee, TJ, Bernard and I decided to drop by the two-storey, maroon and white  Rufino Pabico ancestral house, the only remaining relic of early 20th century architecture in Daet.

Check out “Pinyasan Festival 2011“

On hand to welcome us was the 75 year old Francisco Pabico Timoner, the grandson of the original owner. Mr. Timoner, I would later learn, is a retired General Manager of  the Camarines Norte Electric Cooperative (CANORECO) and a acquaintance of my father-in-law, Mr. Manuel L. Sta. Maria, retired Deputy Administrator of the National Electrification Administration (NEA).

Francisco Temoner at the grand staircase

Built in 1917 and the scene of high-society balls in the 1930s, the grand Rufino Pabico house was still well-preserved.  Within its well-manicured front yard is an octagonal fountain.  Like many typical bahay na bato (stone houses), it has a masonry ground floor and a wooden second floor.  Arches are predominant in front; from the ground floor colonnaded front porch, with its fluted square columns, all the way up to its second floor sliding capiz (oyster shell) windows, its arches decorated with intricate lacy (calado) woodwork.  That same woodwork can also be found above the windows and in the eave fascias. Between the window sill and the floor are ventanillas with sliding wooden shutters for additional ventilation.

The well-preserved interiors

The interiors are just as well preserved.  The grand stone staircase, with its marble steps, still has its rococo-style carvings while the alternately dark and  light-hued hardwood floor still retain their shine.  The ceiling is covered with wood carvings.  All these are complemented by a Cornish piano, pre-war chandeliers, wall paintings, vintage family photos and antique wooden furniture including silohiya (wickerwork)-covered chairs.  Novelties here include a now-unused wood-fired stove and a free-standing antique, enamel-covered cast iron bathtub.

According to Mr. Timoner, during World War II, the house was used as a headquarters for the Japanese Imperial Army and, later during the Liberation, by American forces.  In 1995, a strong typhoon partially destroyed the house but it was soon restored to its original look. The house hit the limelight when it was featured in an article at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, written by our media colleague Amadis Ma. Guerrero.  Since then, it has been included in the list of places to see in Daet as well as in the province.  On June 19, 1997, the house was conferred the “Provincial Cultural Treasure Award,” as indicated by a plaque installed at the porch wall.   During the 2009 Pinyasan Festival, the Daet Kiwanis Club, the Daet Senior Citizens Federation and Reina Daetena hosted the Grand Tertulia de Daet at this house.

Rufino Pabico Ancestral House: Vinzons Ave., Poblacion, Daet, Camarines Norte

First Rizal Monument (Daet, Camarines Norte)

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First Rizal Monument

One of the highlights of our last visit to Camarines Norte (aside from the Pinyasan Festival) was the celebration of our National Hero Jose Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary. Daet figures prominently in this nationwide celebration because it is the site of the first and oldest monument erected in honor of Rizal (though he never set foot in the town) in the country (antedating, by 14 years, the more famous one built in Luneta in 1912) and in the world.

Check out “Pinyasan Festival 2011“

Last June 19, some 1,500 youth of the province, all belonging to various schools and organizations, joined a mass floral offering at the First Rizal Monument, all vowing to keep the libertarian ideals of Rizal alive and to help contribute in nation-building.  A history forum, with Prof. Danilo M. Gerona of the Ateneo de Naga University, was also held there.

Plaque

The monument, at the corner of Justo Lukban and Magallanes Iraya Sts., at Rizal Square, Kalayaan Park (the park was said to be the site where the Katipuneros held their ground during the April 14-18, 1898 uprising), in front of the old municipal hall (now the Daet Heritage Center), is a 3-tiered, 20-ft. high stone pylon designed by Lt.-Col. Antonio Sanz, a soldier-artist and revolutionary head of the local government, and Lt.-Col. Ildefonso Alegre.  It was built through the financial contributions of the townsfolk of Camarines Norte and the Bicol region.  Oral accounts say that the base contains a time capsule containing the list of contributors to the project while some quarters and treasure hunters believe that there were buried treasures around it.

The groundbreaking for the construction of this sparsely decorated but impressive and majestic monument, near the bank of the Daet River, was done on December 30, 1898 (just two years after Rizal’s death), in observance of the first-ever Rizal Day (the first province to do so), decreed on December 20 by then Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo, and completed sometime in February 1899, shortly after the outbreak of the Philippine-American War. Its foundation is believed to have been made with mortar and coral stone taken from the demolished old Spanish jail where many patriots, in April 1898, were tortured and executed. The monument is rather unique as it does not bear a sculpted image of Rizal, unlike other monuments today.

Inscribed on the square podium, surmounted by a two-level triangle (the last one tapering off to a point), are Rizal’s popular novels, “Noli Me Tangere 1886” and “El Filibusterismo 1891,” and “Morga 1889,” a tribute to Antonio de Morga, author of Sucesos de las islas Filipinas, an important book on the Spanish colonization of the Philippines written in 1609 and later annotated by Rizal. Ironically, the Rizal Monument came to be known as “Morga Monument.”  On the sides of the triangle is a five-pointed star, an eight-rayed sun and the Spanish phrase A Jose Rizal (“to Jose Rizal”) and at the top used to be the all-seeing eye.  The front face contains a black metal plaque, from the then National Historical Commission, declaring it a National Historical Landmark in 1961. The monument has pronounced Masonic elements possibly because Rizal, Emilio Aguinaldo, Sanz, Gen. Vicente Lukban (head of Revolutionary forces in the Bicol Region) and many of the financial contributors were Masons. Today, the image of the First Rizal Monument is incorporated in the provincial and municipal (of Daet) insignias.

Quinamanukan Island (Camarines Norte)

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While we dining on the boat, we were merrily on our way to our next destination: the low, flat and heavily wooded, 6-hectare and footprint-shaped Quinamanukan Island, off Brgy, Sula in San Miguel Bay.

Quinamanukan Island

We were within sight of the island and its 1,000 m. long white sand beach by 1:30 PM but we had to circle it for half an hour, looking for a suitable landing site, with the boatman carefully steering the boat away from the delicate coral reef. We were welcomed by Mr. Samuel Pajarin, the island’s caretaker, who led us to his hut on the island’s opposite shore, we having to make a short hike through a well-marked trail through a forest to get there.  While Samuel was making coffee for us, I donned a diving mask and snorkel to explore the stunning and impressive submarine gardens (stony, whip and soft coral, black coral, etc.) of the island’s 200-hectare marine sanctuary, a breeding spot for different kinds of colorful tropical fish. The island is also ideal for scuba diving as it has drop-offs going down to 1,000 m.