Calaguas 2014 Day 2

Travel Date: April 2014
Despite of the restless night we had that night, we still manage to wake up early. There are a little rain shower that morning, but still, the cloudy sky cannot cover the beauty of Calaguas.


Cloudy Morning of Calaguas



** They are ready to Swim again **    :)   ^_^

Most people are still sleeping because of the "party night" the other night, and we are few of those tourist who woke up early, after our thanks giving to our Lord and asking for protection again and the ability to enjoy whatever happened, we did our morning rituals.

We asked for hot water but instead of hot water they gave us also coffee, and that's what I can call "Great Service" one of the best that I had experienced in many places.

I really commend those local server by Biyahe Local, their service is genuine, courteous and kind. That is the best service that I've ever had in my entire life in travelling.Too bad, I really don't know their names.

I just noticed that even though some of the guest were rude to them and treat them like a servant they still manage to smile and comply and give whatever request from the guest.

We just sat on our tent while drinking our coffee and eating our biscuits appreciating the beauty of the island when they called out for breakfast.

Day 2 Breakfast

We let the other guest to finished their breakfast before we attack our own and so if you notice, we seems like the only guest here hehehehe.


Food are unlimited, that's what I really like abou it, unlike the other tour operator where the food is being serve by portion, good thing we choose Biyahe Lokal for this, the service is all the best.


After the heavy breakfast we started to explore the island from end to end by foot, my mother swam with my younger sister Dhing, while the four of us choose to visit the other end of the beach.

The island is beautiful in any part, the crystal water, the fine white powdery beach, I've been already visited Bohol and El Nido but this island has a unique beauty.


Hope these Pictures will justify the beauty of the island though I am not a professional Photographer. No edit was made...



My friend enjoying the powdery sand and crystal clear of calaguas

The water is not very salty, its tolerable and you can open your eyes for a few seconds. We took that chance for my family to learn how to swim and to snorkel.


Time passes by so fast that they called us for Lunch.


After Lunch and Washing out, we just took our rest and try to take up some nap despite of the scorching sun, we manage to nap at least 15 minutes, my friend readied her camera and things and we proceed to our next destination.


We don't have umbrella and so we used our hat and sarong


My friend ready to go to the other side this time despite of the hot weather

Buti pa si Kuya May Payong

You will see this Sand Turtle to take pictures, like boracay just give whatever amount you want.

We are exhausted the moment we arrived on this side of the island and too bad we forgot to bring water with us, my mother went back to our tent while we proceeded there.

We rested for about 30 minutes on this part of the island when we decided to go back, along the way we scouted for T-shirt as souvenirs P250.00 - P350.00 depends on the design.

THEIR ICE CANDY IS ALSO DELICIOUS..

Time passes so fast, after bathing, we arrange our things for the early check out next day (check out talaga), check our things, we made sure that nothing is missing except from my Mother's Black Sleveless she lost (hindi namin alam paano nawala kahit nakaipit sa tent namin yung damit).

That night, we had our games at the beach, but our tired body betrayed us, and so we sleep early, and because of the rain shower, the group of Party People transfer to the nippa hut near to our tent and there they made a loud noise that disturb us from our sleep.

There are things happened that night, and I don't want to disclosed it anymore but for me being a tourist, we must share concerns to others and be responsible to the nature.

Calaguas is being hailed as one the best beaches in the Philippines, but this place is being raped by irresponsible tourists and operators, there's nothing wrong to visit island like this because tourist help locals creating an income aside from their usual livelihood.

UPDATE AS OF 2015: CALAGUAS BECAME LIKE PUERTO GALLERA AND BORACAY WHERE NIGHT PARTY TOOK PLACE AT NIGHT, ALCOHOL IS EVERYWHERE, TOUR OPERATOR ALLOWED ALCOHOL AND THEY EVEN SELL IT TO GUESTS.

As of this writing, I came to visit Calaguas again with my other friend last May 1, 2015, this time I prepare myself to have a restless night from parties everywhere, I readied myself to hear a lot of flirting and cursing from girls and women, I prepare myself as if I am in one of the Club in Metro Manila 24/7 for two night.s


I maybe sound like a conservative one, but then its my opinion, as a tourist who love peace and serenity.




CALAGUAS HAS HER OWN UNIQUENESS WHEN IT COMES TO BEAUTY, SHE IS ENCHANTED AND CHARMING.


WILL I GO BACK THERE AGAIN.. MY ANSWER IS DEFINITELY YES...

THANK YOU HOLY SPIRIT FOR GIVING ME WISDOM ON HOW TO CONSTRUCT WORDS AND SENTENCE FOR THIS BLOG ABOUT CALAGUAS.

NEXT POST: CALAGUAS 2015

Calaguas 2014

Travel Date: April 17, 2014

*** CALAGUAS ***

CALAGUAS is always on my travel bucket list since 2012 but time and budget did not allow me to visit this island. DO IT YOURSELF or D.I.Y style is not applicable here because you need to shell out a huge amount specially if you are just 2 person and I really don't want to cook my own food.

Mahabang Buhangin known as Calaguas to many tourist is located in Camarine Norte and was featured by the late "Tado" in one of the GMA 7 Documentary entitle "Ang Misteryong Paraiso".

To many travel blogger they called this island as their happy beach, some really hide the identity of this island because they are afraid that it might ruin the place like what happened to Puerto Gallera. Some called it the Gem of Northern Bicol, and others hailed as their Number 1 beach in the Philippines some called it the "Old Boracay.

The right timing came to me when I stumbled to the FB Page of Biyahe Lokal who offered a very cheap ALL IN PACKAGE for CALAGUAS, though the schedule falls on Holy Week which my family and I had a trip going to El Nido, and despite of having a Roundtrip Ticket going to Palawan, we choose Calaguas and Cancelled the other one.

My transaction with Biyahe Lokal is smooth, they are active on their FB page.

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DAY 1

We left at 10:30pm from Cubao arrived in Vinzon Port at 6:30am, they informed us to buy plastic and wrap our bags as protection.

Ready to Go (Van Service of Biyahe Lokal)

Vinzon Port (en-route to Calaguas)

Putting our things in a Plastic which will serve as protection from getting wet  along the way

We had a almost 3 hours rough ride from Vinzon Port to Calaguas, we encounter strong waves good thing our motor boat is quite big the boat can accommodate at least 20 plus person.

We pass by on this island

Approaching Island from afar

We were the first batch to arrived in the island and the moment we set our foot on the crystal water we just exclaimed "WOW" this is incomparable beauty, the water is very clear, the water is calm, this is the beach that I wanted to visit.

Authors Note: I visited Calaguas first before Boracay

The Advantage of being first to arrive is that you had an option where to put your tent, and we choose to pitch our tent under the tree.

Our 3 Days Shelter

others choose here facing the beach (the dis-advantage: lot of people passes by

We are all hungry the moment we arrived in the island, after placing our things at our tent, we sat at the nippa hut and ate our pack adobo lunch but we don't have any rice, and to our surprise, biyahe local serves our lunch more minutes and the whole place is pack with tourist.

Day One - Lunch by Biyahe Lokal

Despite of the scorching sun we manage to take minutes of nap due to lack of sleeps and tired from almost 12 hours ride overnight, my mother manage to get a good spot at the nippa hut where the local chats.

Locals of Calaguas

At 2:30pm we asked for coffee (par of the all in package of biyahe local), we just rested a few more minutes and adjust our mood for the day activity.

Our first activity for the day is Island Hopping P100.00 per head. Don't expect the Island Hopping here like El Nido or Coron, I thought we could jump into the water and snorkel but no, the boat will just tour you from end to end of the shore and I was pretty disappointed and promise not do to it again.

Some shot that we got while "Island Hopping"

Newly Built Waling-Waling Resort

Update: As this this posting my last visit in Calaguas last May 2015, the island hopping became a real island hopping, they could bring you to one island to snorkel and dive, but I did not join them because of my first disappointment.

After the Island Hopping, we decided to swim with my companion, we just enjoy the water as it was warm, we don't mind if we get burn we just enjoy our moment together.

Look how Clear the water

US: Enjoying the water despite of the scorching Sun

You need to pay P10.00 for a pail of water in the manual water pump ("poso") and because there are many tourist, you need to line up too.

there are no convenience in Calaguas unlike Boracay, and so if you are Maarte better, check Inn at Waling Waling Resort, but you need to pay a price.

As usual the dinner serves on time, we choose to rest early because of our tired body.

WE THANK GOD FOR PROVIDING US THE PROTECTION AND GIVING US THE OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT THIS VIRGIN ISLAND and WITNESS AND ENJOY HER BEAUTY.

NEXT POST IS: CALAGUAS 2014 DAY 2

RAINY DAY IN BORACAY 2014

Travel Date: July 28 - 30, 2014


From CORON to Boracay

If some of you read my CORON TRIP well this is the continuation of my epic (epic daw oh) journey to these two paradise in the Philippines.

My Boracay trip was far different from my CORON Journey. If everything in Coron was in rush, Boracay is some sort of relaxation for me. I have my itinerary to all the activities that I wanted to do, but due to my leg pain and headaches, I choose to just seat at the seashore and watch people playing with the waves and feasted my eyes to the beauty of this place.

Being able to visit Calaguas and all the negative feedback I‘ve heard and read about Boracay I didn’t expect too much here.

Back to manila from Busuanga was a little bit scary, the flight was been delayed for minutes only because heavy rain started to pour out again, and first time I experienced an almost 20 minutes of turbulence, I just prayed and sing some praise and worship songs, my fear fade away and it turned out to be fun because I am just like riding in a roller coaster.

We arrived in Terminal 3 on time. Feeling so tired and my head is already throbbing in pain, walking with my backpack is really “harmful”, the crew of the airlines fetch me at the arrival area but the guard insisted that they can’t pick me up and transfer me in a “shortcut” even though I have a connecting flight. (arrival and departure door is just 20 step walks away), even though the airline crew explain about my leg pain and about my boarding pass, the guard did not permitted us to take the “shortcut” route.

The flight going to Boracay (via Caticlan Airport) was been delayed due to poor weather in Caticlan, I informed the orchids resort manager about it he sent someone to pick me at the airport.

Finally!!!  ;)

With headache and empty stomach, I did a nap on board, good thing I don’t have a seat meat I was able to make some stretching.

Hello Boracay...

Upon Exit, I saw the signage of Orchids Resort holding by Reggie/Gerry. I gave P500.00 to him and let him do all the payment for all the fees that I needed.

Environmental Fee            75.00

Tricycle Fee                       80.00

Boat Ride Fee                    30.00

Add:                                 100.00 – From Manoc-Manoc Port to Boracay (another tricycle ride)

Grand Total                   285.00

Reggie carry my heavy backpack and he became my instant photographer

Reggie!!!

After the never ending fees (hehehe) I finally set my foot in Boracay.

Orchids Resort is located at station 3. I immediately took some rest as I entered to my room

My P700.00 non-aircon room

It rained that afternoon so I choose to stay inside my room and had my biscuits as my late lunch and take a good nap (zzzzzz.......)

It was 5:30pm when i decided to explore the long stretch of beach of Boracay and ate at Andoks for my Dinner.

My first day in Boracay wasnt that exciting, after my lunch and as the heavy rain stop pouring i immediately run to the nearest store to buy some amenities such as shampoo, gatorade and other snacks and went back to my room.

CORON ISLAND HOPPING (Ultimate Island Hopping)

TRAVEL DATE: JULY 2014
PLACE: CORON, PALAWAN

Despite having “no goodnight sleep” I was able to wake up at 5:30am and prepare myself to hike the Mt. Tapyas. My trek started at 6:15am

I thought I couldn’t make it, because my feet is already trembling and the rain is about to pour out, but I keep on telling myself that I can do it. 20 more step to reach the top, the rain poured out and I shiver but was able to take some shots.

I had no umbrella with me and so I just allowed myself to be soaked in rain, and praying that God will protect me from sickness like fever.

After my Mt. Tapyas, I scouted for Breakfast and drink a paracetamol tablet. My feet is still sore and I cannot walk straight because of pain.

The Restaurant that I spotted was just one block away from the Lodge paid P110.00 for Cornsilog. It took them 40 minutes before they serve my food because they cooked wrong order and because I am in rush, I just asked them the available food that they could serve me.

The moment I went back to the lodge, Mamita informed me that the tour guide will pick me up for the island hopping, so I rush to my room and picked my things few minutes they are already calling me hahahaha.

Because I have a limited stay in Coron I choose the Ultimate tour for P1,500.00 that includes everything plus 100.00 snorkel mask.

We are only three persons in the boat and I asked them if they will resume the tour they said yes and I commend them for that because in EL Nido, if the boat did not reach the minimum 6 person they will just cancel the island hopping considering they don’t pay any entrances of each island.

When my two companion came (married couple), I came to know that the girl is my school mate and the guy is from bicol. We talk a lot about our Alma matter and to our surprise, we both know some people, see it’s a small world right, I am not alone anymore. Elsbeth and I become close buddy hopping that day.

Ultimate island Consist of the following:

1. CYC ISLAND – According to our guide this island was been donated to the Coron Youth Community, the only island that has no entrance fee, we did photo opts here swim, but to my dismay I didn’t enjoy the underwater maybe because it is cloudy, after 30 minutes we headed to…

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2. Skeleton Island – P100.00 Entrance Fee, but our guide says that this is their marine sanctuary, but then again, I don’t find the corals alive, blame it to the cloudy weather, I felt some chill so I decided to go back to the boat.

The pictures that I've taken on these place was blurred because of rain shower and the water is too shallow.

3. Shipwreck  - I really wanted to see the shipwreck but again, due to the strong wave I wasn’t able to see it. Too bad, but at least these fishes came as if welcoming us to their sanctuary, we didn’t last there and we ask our guide to go to our next destination

**No clear pictures here too because of strong wave, we were also had a bad situation wherein we cant swim and so we asked the boatman to proceed on our next destination

4. Smith Island – P100.00 Entrance Fee - This is where we had our lunch but this time the sun shows up and it keep us warm a little, the boatman keeps on saying that God listened to my prayers for good weather  J

5. Twin Lagoon – P100.00 entrance fee - This is a mix of fresh and salt water, warm and cold, as much as we wanted to take the entrance and swim the tide didn’t allowed us, so we choose to climb on these manmade ladder. We just relax our body in this lagoon, seems like we owned the place. We had a jump here but sadly Joel our guide has no good shot using the gopro.

6. Kayangan Lake – P200.00 entrance fee I’m living in the post card! I didn’t know that you need to climb for 150 steps to get it here, I was already complaining because my legs are sores and I don’t know if I can make it to the top, but thank God I did.

Kayangan Lake

After the photo opts in kayangan lake, we went down to the lagoon, another 150 steps down, here I rested and met some foreign tourist, everyone has a smile in their faces and keeps on saying “this is beautiful” and I answered them “of course, this is Philippines, the Paradise island” and they all laugh.

Elsbeth and her Hubby choose to swim at the lagoon while I’m taking my nap, I really felt so tired that day, I know I need it if I wanted to go back alive in our boat because we still need another 150 steps to climb up again and additional 150 steps back down to our boat.

After few minutes more tourists came and I know I cannot rest anymore so I decided to join them and entered the “Cathedral”, the water in this lagoon is also mix with fresh and salt water. Maybe the effect of a little nap made my mood change, I just snorkel in the lagoon and enjoy the underwater living creatures, but sadly I only saw few colorful fishes its more on stones.

I made many stop when we started to climb up and down back to our boat, and right now, I don’t know what will happened to my legs because I can feel the cramps.

Back to the boat, all of us felt so famished good thing I have my water and few pieces of biscuits to feed our hungry stomach, each one share a bite of my “strawberry oreo”.

7.  Siete Picados – My excitement subsided when we reach our last stop, maybe because of the weather, it started to rain again, and I can feel headache and my legs are also in pain, and I really feel so sleepy, but I still force myself to dive and see why our guide boast this island to be the snorkeling spot, I wanted to stay more minutes to this island and witness the underwater world when I saw a sea snakes, I got scared and immediately fall back, I don’t want to continue anymore, I lasted for 10 minutes and decided to go back to our boat.

All in All the island tour was okey, maybe I just have a high expectation from what I read or maybe because of my mood and the weather that’s why I cannot appreciate this island hopping. For me El Nido and Coron are same in some ways but has its own uniqueness, El Nido is still my bet for island hopping. But I promised myself that I will be back here next year Holy week to see it beauty again and Visit the Malcapuya and Banana Island.

Back to the lodge, I immediately took a bath, wash my clothes and rest for about 30 minutes, after taking some coffee; I scouted some restaurant through tripadvisor. Thanks for the Help of Ms. Jacqueline, (she also stays at Momita’s Lodge) she share her ideas about the Quennies, thanks for the fast wifi that time I was able to locate the place.

I had my dinner at Queenies, their servings are huge, I love the shakes and the seafood curry (but I still love the seafood curry in Squidos El Nido).

After dinner I went back to Momitas’ Lodge and pack my things for early check out next day.

That night I prayed and give thanks to God for the protection and strength that He gave me to survive all the activities though my legs are really in pain, I asked the Lord to give me a peaceful sleep and He granted my request.

Coron Airport

Actual Expenses

next post Boracay....

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