Calaguas 2015

Calaguas – Second Time Around in the Paradise ^_^

Travel Date: May 1, 2015

 **  Back in your Arms Again Calaguas  **

My Calaguas First Visit to this paradise was last 2014 Holy week with my Family and friends, we took the Package from Biyahe Lokal because I find their all in package hassle free, transaction with Sir yani is very smooth.

Where to begin?

My other friend envied me when she saw my pictures in Calaguas and she keeps on insisting to visit the place with her and so we reserved with Biyahe Lokal again (our original date was Holy week but due to personal reasons I had to cancelled it and also there was a typhoon  coming to Bicol Area).

10:30pm depart from Manila and arrived at Vinzon Port around 6:30am. After buying some stuffs (Milk, Gatorade, etc.) we headed to the port, we are 12 including the Coordinator. This time the Bangka is a little bit small and because of the traffic (yes, expects to experience this thing in the port because of flocking tourists in the area going to Calaguas). We encountered problem because the coast guard did not allow us due to lacking of Life Vest. The captain has to find additional life-vest. I think we waited for about an hour, some of our companions had their pack lunch, so they eat their lunch while sailing.

We arrived there almost 12:00pm and no chance to get the good spot for our tent, we were sleepy and hungry and yet we can’t have our own rest, I even requested to change the position of our tent but to no avail, the sun is really shining bright that it hurts our skin so much. After waiting for about 30 minutes our sumptuous dinner arrived and the other group also shared their local “laing” pack by one of their companions, after the sumptuous lunch, we stayed in the nippa hut and bough Ice Candy to freshen our inner body

year 2014 we are the first to arrive in the island, this time, we are the last and because we are the last we also have to worst tent position for three days.



systematic tent accupation because of huge numbers of tourist

My friend was so irritated while I’m grinning at her and mouthed the word “I told you”. Before this trip I already informed her about the inconvenient thing that we could encounter for our 2 nights and 3 days stay there that Calaguas is not like Boracay.

We stayed with locals in their nippa hut while preparing the goods for our Dinner and made a little chitchat and some of them recognize me, and I requested them to grill us a squid and fish (of course you need to give them to money to look for fish and squid) just give them extra once departed from the island as their service though they won’t ask for it.

I met biyaherong barat turned out be one of the coordinator of biyahe local  ^_^

Difference Between Boracay and Calaguas

Like El Nido and Coron in Palawan, Boracay and Calaguas have its own uniqueness when it comes to beauty, they can be comparable but unique on their own.

Boracay offers convenience, fun and lots of activities to choose from while Calaguas offers only her beauty and virginity, Calaguas has a “mountain” top hill where you can capture a good shot of the Island, overlooking of the pacific oceans.

Boracay has a long and wide stretch of different kinds of sands from Station 1 to 3 while Calaguas has a short stretch of shores to explore with a very captivating view of the ocean and a good spot for photo shots (this is my subjective opinion about this two)

As for the night life (which I’m not fun of it) Boracay offers a wide variety of bars and restaurant while Calaguas you can be contented to what you have packed on your bag and enjoy all of it.

For me Calaguas teaches you on how to interact with nature while in Boracay teaches you how to socialize with different types of people with difference races and I just hoped that the tour operator would be responsible in handling business, because as I see it, Calaguas is being raped and torn and few more years, this paradise can become like a Puerto Gallera case in Mindoro wherein her beauty fade away because of the irresponsible actions of humans.

And that’s the end of my story about this “HIDDEN PARADISE IN NORTHERN BICOL”

I can’t find anymore words to describe this island and hopefully these pictures will justify my adjective view about Mahabang Buhanging in Camarines Norte known to many as Calaguas.

I agreed to accompany my friend because I wanted to visit the Mountain Hill Top of the Island and I'm glad that I did it.

now let me show you some of the pictures that I had on my second visit on this charming Island.

Crystal Clear Water of Calaguas

took her time to swim

Powdery Sand of Calaguas



its a must picture :)



you need to climb and jump from sharp rock to another in order to get on spot




Crystal Water of Calaguas on the other side of the Island near Waling WalingResort

The overlooking view of the Mountain Hill top

a pathway going to the other side of Mountain




over looking view of Pacific ocean

Sunrise



Day 3 : Going Back to Manila. Good Bye Calaguas See you again when I see you.

Recently my friend invited to go to Calaguas again but due to my busy schedule I decline the Invitation.

I wanted to visit the Island wherein there's no huge tourist flocking around, I wanted to experienced the Serenity that other blogger tasted on this place, if you read my previous post about Calaguas, I really experienced sleepless nights on those two time visit I had.

THANK YOU FATHER GOD, THANK YOU JESUS, THANK YOU HOLY SPIRIT FOR PROTECTION AND GUIDANCE AND FAVOR AND SELF CONTROL THAT WE HAD ON MY SECOND VISIT TO THIS ISLAND.

 

 

Rainy Trip to Coron 2014

TRAVEL DATE: JULY 2014

PLACE: CORON PALAWAN

The most photograph island in Coron: Kayangan

It was October when my eyes catch the seat sale at Philippine Airlines, without thinking too much I booked my roundtrip ticket for Coron and Boracay, yes you read it right, Coron and Boracay, it was fun at first when I booked this flight without analyzing about the seasons.

When my friend learned about it she just said “Are you okey, you sure you can do it, how will you file a leave? what about the weather? And your budget?” I answered her with a smile and shrugged.

In my mind these questions was really serious, but I just stay positive about it, besides I still have 9 months to prepare and I don’t want to worry on the things that hasn’t come in my way.

Before this trip came, I decided to visit the Sagada, Baguio and Calaguas so I really spend on these out of town trips and my budget for Coron and Boracay is getting thinner.

Filing vacation is difficult for me too, so what I did is I filed it 2 months before my departure and fix everything to avoid rush and prayed that God would give me a good weather and NO Cancel Flight because June – October is a rainy season and July and August is the most crucial weather in this tropical country.

When the 2014 came, I began to scout some cheapest accommodation yet near to the community and I spotted the momita’s lodge and with the great reviews from tripadvisor and blogs, I choose her and contacted her 3 months before my flight and good thing the P700.00 A/C (green room) room is still available.

Originally, my flight is 3:40pm but for some reasons the airlines change it into 2:20pm and that means cramming on my part to get to the airport, and I need to check in before the 45 minutes closing time, so to avoid delayed I decided not to report for work that day and headed to the airport because my place was too far and traffic jam is everywhere due to bad weather that day.

I check inn early and too bad I didn’t check inn my baggage and while waiting for our flight the airline announces that there was a delayed because of low visibility in Busuanga Airport, so my 2:20pm flight became 4:00pm, I cannot blame this to the airlines, it was the safety that is at stake, 4 announcement of delayed flight worried me and started to say a little prayer, then God heard and answer me, the 5^th announcement is boarding time.. yahoo!!!

The flight was smooth and I just enjoyed watching clouds

One of the many reasons why i really like flying!!

One of my aerial shot 

It was still cloudy upon our touchdown, but I still thank God for the safe arrival in Busuanga Airport.

Busuanga Airport

My name was been called and I forgot to take picture of my name written in a small white board (feeling tourist hahaha ) when I came out.

Road from Busuanga Airport to Coron town

Coron Town

Past 5:00pm arrived at Momita’s Lodge, I just put my bags inside my room and asked for coffee and head to Coron gallery to purchase some pasalubong, Mamita was so helpful, she recommended me this place and I found the staff very accommodating, it doesn’t matter if you purchase one shirt, they will gladly still assist you.

Momita’s lodge is located in the center of the community in Coron, you can walk from her place to Mt Tapyas and Port is just near to her place.

I wanted to visit Mt. Tapyas on my first day but because I arrived late, Ruth warned me that it would be dangerous for me to go there because there is no street light, so I decided to wake up early morning next day to visit the place besides it was just a walking distance.

My 250.00 dinner at Momitas Lodge

My 700.00 a/c Room 

My first night didn’t go well not because of the room or the noise of the cars and tricycle that passes by but because of the Loud noise that is coming from Centro Coron, it was a restaurant that has a “Live Band” I don’t know exactly what time did the band started but I know what time it ended and the last music they’ve played. It was 3:00am and the last song is “LET’S GET LOUD”, yeah right, they really get loud. For me, the city government should give attention to this kind of noise; people are already resting at that hour.

Actual Expenses

Touch Down Puerto Princesa

After my Bohol Trip and being able to discover blogs and learned how to catch the seat sale I know I can travel more.

Then chance came again when I catch the seat sale at the Air Philippines  Clark – Puerto Princesa for P688.00 one way, immediately I booked for three person (with my two siblings) and P757.00 at ZestAir via Puerto Princesa – Manila.

The original plan is to concentrate more on Puerto Princesa, but when I read a lot about El Nido and how they presented the Island Hopping with their blogs, we change our route and decided to spend 3 days in El Nido and back to Puerto Princesa on our fourth day and have our Underground River on last day of this trip.

After thorough searching through blogs, I choose the servant tours for our Island Hopping and Marina Garden for our Accommodation.

After settling everything through phone with our accommodation and tours, we just waited for the time to come for this trip.

My sisters were so excited yet scared because it is going to be their first time and second time for me to ride on a plane and go to the unfamiliar territory.

After praying that morning, we headed to the airport, we used the public transport going to the Airport. We negotiate one jeepney going to Clark Diosdado Macapagal Airport, someone approached me if he can tag along with us because he is alone and he might miss his flight, we agreed to divide the cost of the rented jeepney, after almost 30 minutes, we arrived at the airport but the gate is still closed.

Around 8:30am, the gate opened and I noticed how strict the security is, we encountered problem at the Air Phil counter but been solved after 30 minutes of waiting, our flight that date was early than our original flight schedule, good thing we came earl or else, you know what I mean  J

Diosdado Macapagal - Airport Lounge

We are all excited on this flight and my sisters are little bit nervous. Airphil gave a light snacks. The flight was smooth, and after more than an hour, we say hello to Puerto Princesa.

On Board w/ free light snacks from Air Philippines

Hello Puerto Princesa.. Finally...

Because of the some misunderstanding with my contacts for our underground river, I select the other agency and they accompanied me to the Underground River Office to secure our permits (note: the UR controls the numbers of visitors daily, they also leave a few slots for those people who wants to do it on their own), we paid P175.00 for our permit, and gave it to our agency and settle remaining amount for the full package of that activity then they drop us to the nearest fast food.

After our late lunch, we headed to NCCC Mall (a 5 minutes walk across chowking) to buy some groceries, it took us 20 minutes and hail tricycle going to San Jose Terminal to catch the 4:00pm bus ride going to El Nido but we asked the driver to make a stop at the nearest ATM machine so we can withdraw (NCCC mall has but it was offline that time), the line was a bit long and the tricycle waited for 20 minutes for me. I gave P120.00 for this ride because the driver waited for more than 20 minutes for me, we even asked him to serve as our service on our city tour once we get back to Puerto Princesa.

Puerto Princesa - Mode of transportation - their 6 Seaters tricycle

I don’t have any idea that the 4:00pm RORO bus schedule is Ordinary, so we waited for the 6:00pm A/C, I didn’t attempt to ride in a van because I want a bigger leg room for us, besides it is going to be a 6 hours ride, I texted the Marina Garden for our delayed schedules and they reply me assuring that they didn’t gave away our reserved room.

After the 6 hours bumpy ride, we finally reach El Nido, the tricycle charge P50.00 per ride and will drop you to your resort.

It was midnight when we reach the resort, and the moment we enter in our room, we charge all the gadgets (note: El Nido electricity run from 2:00pm to 6:00am only), so 5 hours of charging won’t harm our gadgets.

After praying and give thanks that “early morning” we took our “goodnight” sleep.