Pangasinan Tour: Hundred Islands in a Day

I thought that island hopping in Zambales  would be  our  last summer's hurrah.   Last  Tuesday,  we headed Pangasinan for another trip.   In an instant,  hundred islands out of  7,107 islands are now checked in my bucket list, as if I am going to hop all the islands in the Philippines. Whew.

I  must  agree when Joy posted  her blog entry about Pangasinan trip  with  "against all odds in the title."   With almost zero visibility caused by heavy rain  halfway   to Pangasinan,  one would consider  to make a u-turn and proceed to other  destination instead.  Not us.

Pangasinan  is the  gateway  to Baguio but I could only see the highway and some few stops on bus terminals.  Another thing  that I know  about  the province is  about their garlic longaniza,  a  frequent pasalubong from  friends who live in Tayug,  Pangasinan.   Hundred Island, though really beautiful in the post cards has not been attractive to me before.  Maybe because, I always thought that the place  just makes it extra ordinary because of the  many islands scattered  in one place. But as  we hopped from one island to another,  I discovered that  each of the islands  has each own beauty and totally different from  another.

Okey, enough for my wordy segue again.   It was almost 8pm when we reached Pangasinan.  We believed that  we  were bound to have a  wonderful  journey  that  day and did not worry at  all  even if we have no hotel booking.  I knew it.  The sign as we  approached  the province with no rain  gave us smooth and instant  itinerary for the whole trip.  Spontaneous that is!  Perfect weather and excellent accommodation  joined together to  welcome us  in the province of  wonderful beaches and coves.

We were able to book at   Ed Transient House      just  a few steps away from the harbor.    The owner was so warm and  made us feel safe and at home during our stay.

Before the sun was finally up at 6am the following day,   the boatman fetched us and we then headed to  register at the quay of  Hundred Islands,  the Lucas Wharf.   Tourists and guests are required to register at the port and pay a minimal fee of P20 per head.  After the registration,  off we went island hopping.

The view as we walked to the wharf.  What a beautiful morning, don't you agree?

What more could I say?   The view on the boat ride was overwhelming.  Seeing these wild ducks flew up in the sky was quite amazing.    We  just passed by at  some small and big islands as  there's no place to dock.  


Governor's Island

Our first stop was Governor's Island, the home  of Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition.  It is one of the most developed park  aside from Quezon and Children's Islands.

There is a view deck  where you can see a part of the   hundred islands but you need to do a little  trekking, around a hundred or more steps  to reach  the top.

An amazing sight awaits us on top of the view deck.  It was awesome.  A young couple  from UK that we've met said a lot of good things about the Philippines.  It's more fun in the Philippines, right?

A view on top of the deck,  part of  Hundred Islands. You can actually name the islands exactly  just by looking at the shape, big and small islands,  Turtle, Crocodile, Monkey, Paniqui  Islands,  oh well again, except  for some islands named after dynasty,  Marcos, Governor's, Imelda.. 

We stayed there for more than 30 minutes including the trekking up to the view deck and headed  to our next destination,  Marcos Island.   I  wanted to protest to  stay for a few  more minutes so at least we could  swim in the beautiful island with water and sand  so clear.   Little did I know that  more beautiful islands await us in our next stop, Marcos Island. 





Marcos Island


The clear water and fine white sand of Marcos  Island  was  overwhelming.  As soon as our boat landed,   I saw a  man afar coming from a cave swimming towards the open sea.  The boatman  said  that there is a cave diving  and we need to  hike a few steps up  to   reach  Imelda  Cave and experience diving  too.

At Imelda Cave

And this is the highlight of the trip!  I had initially decided against  cave diving, telling  myself  that  I cannot risk my life this time thinking I would do an exhilarating jump and plunge  myself into the deep.   It gave me a goosebump just seeing a high cliff of about five meters.    I was determined to just  take photos  of the kids but the thrill was calling me.   Joy's husband  was the first one to jump  and I witnessed  how he emerged from the water so quick.  I was totally amazed when  suddenly,   Juan, a seven-year old boy  jumped off  the cave after a minute.   So I thought,  I should do this too.  I secured my life vest and this time I was determined to jump off the cave.   We were then all five girls left,  my two children, Joy and Julia and me  all lined up in the cliff  finding the courage to jump.  John gave us more encouraging  words and said, "just do it.  you will emerge above  the water  and float  in   few seconds."    I was thinking I was too heavy for my weight  and it  would  cause me to submerge deeper.

After about ten minutes of  uncertainties whether to jump or not,   I asked Jomes, Joy's nephew,  who was already  waiting down at the cave  to get ready with  the camera as I will jump at  any moment.   I know that  if  I jump first,  I  would give enough courage to them  who  knew  about my  fear.   And there you go,  with closed eyes,   I    jumped.  I did not give myself  a chance to think twice again.  I just dived.  I was in disbelief  after a few minutes, oh,  not a few minutes,  a day,  a week and still thinking about it by this time.  Did I just do it?   

 It would be  something  very ordinary  to others  who love adventure,  who know how to swim and love diving, but  for someone   who has   fear and doesn't know how to swim,   this kind of adventure is  extraordinary!

This is my daughter's second cave diving.  Because, we were not able to document her first try,  she did it again  to capture the adventure. There you go.

And the next thing that happened  was a big splash!

Cool eh?! 

One must swim out of the cave to go back to the sea.  It's about 12 feet deep and about  30 meters  away from the  sea as  I assumed  because the  trail  going to the cave takes about the same distance away.

This is the view on top of Imelda Cave.

There are no cottages or store  at  Marcos Cave.  You can just  play with the sand and swim  with the clear water.  Among   the hundred islands, this one is the coolest.  This is where my heart jumped off  first and  I felt  the ultimate adrenalin rush.

You can use the shaded part to keep yourself from the sun  like these flip flops.  Sure thing,  they won't get burned.

Another photo op before leaving Marcos Island. I got hundreds of photos again in my camera and island hopping  just began in this trip. The place is very picturesque and  not photogenic.  It's  more  beautiful when you're actually there.  



Coral Island

After  Marcos Island,  we passed by more islands but we did not dock as there's no shoreline.   After a few minutes,   our  boat stopped in the middle of  the sea  where a floating flat  form awaits  the   snorkelers.

From the boat, you could actually  see  abundant  fishes as we fed them with bread.  There are no corals but  you'll be amazed with colorful marine life  underneath.

After a few minutes  of snorkeling  with my other hands holding on the boat, the fear took over me again when  I asked the boatman how deep the water is  and said that  it's about 20 feet.  I  immediately went up at the raft and  decided to just stay on the  boat.  I  could still feel   the  intense of  my cave diving  and  snorkeling  in  20ft  deep  would  be adrenalin overload.   Geesh.   Joy and her family  proceeded into deep and snorkel where giant clams can  be viewed.



Quezon Island

This is the most developed island where guests can do kayaking, boating, swimming and rent a cottage.  There is a small store  in the island.  This is  so far the island with the  biggest number of  people  swimming.  You can do other activities here as the water is not to so deep and you'll  go along far to reach the deep.

Paniqui Island/ 
Bat Island

It is impossible to land here because there is no shoreline. Would you even dare to land in this  island with all the bats hanging on the trees?   I assume they were all sleeping and it was noon time when we passed by.   Bats were hanging  and the trees look like  abundant of  black fruits ready to harvest. They're actually fruit bats.

You could  smell stinky odor  when you pass by  at   the island. It is just amazing to see  these rock formations and how these bats isolated themselves in this area,  wonderful!

The view from afar.  We just passed by encircling slowly to  the Bat Island and headed to our next destination,  Children's Island.

Children's Island

This is far the cleanest of all the islands and most ideal place to swim.  One can go to another  island by swimming or just walking  into the water.  Well, I guess if you're higher  than  my height or during low tide.
 
There are few cottages available for rent,  day or night tour.

I was left at the picnic hut  and took this shot as  they crossed to   the next island.  I asked my older  daughter if it's deeper than her height and she said yes but  she was able to reach the  island with no life vest.

Cuenco Island/
Cuenco Tunnel

And this is our last stop before we headed back to the mainland. We crossed the tunnel and reached the shoreline on the  other side.

We only  landed to  five islands.  Other islands have no shoreline but  I've  done visiting 100 islands in a day. Hurray!   We finished island hopping by 1pm, stayed for about 20 minutes or more in every islands,  except for  Marcos Island where we stayed longer   for  our light snacking and cave diving.
  

Things to remember when you visit Hundred Islands.

Register  at Lucas Wharf  before you proceed to Hundred Island Park.  A minimal fee of P20 for day tour and P40 for overnight is charged per head.

Bring a garbage bag  and  take the garbage with you as you leave the island. 


You can do a day tour  at the Hundred Islands.  If you are going on a group, check   transient homes or budget hotel nearby.   I recommend Ed Transient Homes  for overnight stay.  There are rooms available good  for 5, 10  people or more. I will provide the link of Ed Transients Home when I'm done with my post.

Accommodation at the Hundred Islands  starts at   P200 for tent  and  P2,500 for cottage.
Snorkel gears and Kayak are available for rent.  You can bring your own snorkel gears if you want. Kayak rent  is available for  P250/hour and  snorkel gear at P100/hour.

Only  developed islands have CR.  You need to pay  P5 for the comfort room.

You can set up  tenta only at undeveloped islands.


There are no fast food, so bring your own baon.  You can buy food at Alaminos  town or  at  Lucas Wharf  food store.

Please check this out  or visit   website for more info.

http://www.hundredislands.ph/

info@alaminoscity.gov.ph
info@hundredislands.ph
tourism@hundredislands.ph
(63-75) 552-7777
             551-2145

Anawangin and Capones Island Getaway

It is no longer a secret haven because I heard it from friends,  watched on documentary show and  read in travel blogs.  The place I call paradise,  Anawangin Cove and Capones Island.

Summer is almost over  when we finally  decided to spend  our  annual  getaway in Zambales.  I read a lot  from people who  have been there  and witnessed the beauty of nature.   I got amazed when I see the island myself.   Heaven, just heaven! 


We  always spend our annual summer getaway  in Batangas or Laguna hot springs  or just somewhere near around.    Our   kids then  enjoyed  our  vacation  as long as there is water   they never mind if  we chose the same destinations over and over again.  Since they're all grown ups now,  we let them organized and planned the trip and we just followed and agreed  to what they have set in.  Originally,  we rented a coaster van and it could have been more fun together  but the resort owner told us  that it's wasn't  available so  we ended up to  two vans  instead.  Our  driver also served as our tour guide in our  two-day trip.

So there, off we went to Zambales.   We  stayed in one of the dormitory rooms in  Sir William's Cottage with a capacity of 20 pax.  We left Manila at 5am and reached the destination at around 10am.  As soon as we arrived, we were welcomed  by the owner himself,  Mr. William and showed us the room where we would  stay.     The dormitory type room  has 3 double size beds and 2 double size double deck beds with pull-out, split type air-con, cable T.V. and a comfort room.

After we settled ourselves we then asked  the boatmen   for island tour package.  We were given the following options:  P450/head Anawangin Cove, Camara Island, Nagsasa and Capones.   P300/head Anawangin Cove, Capones Island and that  includes entrance fee of P50 to Anawangin Cove.   400/head Anawangin and Nagsasa Cove.   The   rate  depends upon the size of the boat and how many  islands to visit.

Because we only have little time,  we  settled for two islands  and charged us P300/head including the entrance fee  to Anawangin  then off we went  island hopping.    I suggest to waterproof  a gadget especially if  one  is  going to take a small boat.

It took us more or less thirty minutes on the boat to reach  Anawangin  cove.  We rode  a  mega boat   that can accomodate 35 pax. We were only about  20 or less  and the rest were left in the cottage.  I chose to stay up on the deck  and had a smooth sailing all the way to Anawangin.  I captured the  better view from the second deck.   Though  there were some waves,  it was a calm  boat ride  because  our  boat  was big and  didn't easily  sway in.

The view  on our way to Anawangin was just so wonderful.  I  am running out of  words to describe it.  I was quite entertained on the  boat ride  and did not notice the time.  It was the shortest boat ride I've ever had in my life.  I used to be always in panicky state when taking a boat ride,   not this time.   I can't help myself but be amazed  and  behold  of  the beauty of  Anawangin.   Magnificent paradise, wonderful! 

Just perfect.  I took this shot just before we landed the shoreline in Anawangin. We did not  go up  hill but it could be  more breathtaking  to take a photo from  above.  I never knew there is such place in the Philippines like this,  so beautiful.  I hope that this  little piece of paradise be spared  from commercialization  and  stays this way forever.  I've read in some blogs and saw the photos years ago.  If  I may compare, the place is already far different.  It is no longer a secret  paradise and is is being  discovered slowly by many beach goers and campers.

This is Queen  Josephine boat,  owned by Sir William Cottage that we used in island hopping.  A mega boat that  can accommodate 35 pax.

This is mandatory.  Haha.  In all the places we've been, they need to jump shot for me.  Hurrah!

It  was my first time to see Singkamas this white. I  may sound like a fool   because  I even  asked the local what he was selling.   He said that  singkamas is white when freshly harvest and  just  turns brown  when delivered to Manila.

Because it was weekend,  there were a lot of campers as expected. I could imagine a more serene view on a weekday  where  there are  lesser people on the island.

Btw, there are  no faucets,  electricity,  network signal and  hotels here.  When you need to wash the salt and sand from your body,  you need a little effort  to get some water from the  pump.

I took more shots before we left Anawangin Cove with high  hopes that the scene I captured today would still be the same  tomorrow.   It was so beautiful but I wasn't really  convinced with my  photos. I have no view from  top  and panoramic view of Anawangin. The photos here were  captured along the way and  viewed  just  a  few meters from our picnic hut.  I could  have   taken  more beautiful shots if not  because of   hot  temperature  that   added up to my pms-ing mood that day.


See more photos..



The sky was blue and perfect to sail when we went to Capones.   I was glad that   my lens  captured  this beautiful sight.   The  color of the sky reflects in the  sea that turned so blue as we sail the boat.   Just wonderful!


Off  to Capones Island

Capones Island is just about twenty minutes away from the mainland.  I asked the boatmen about the place and   gave me a few information.   The island is owned by the government and maintained by navy forces. There's an old ruin on the western part of the island, unfortunately we did not see it and the abandoned lighthouse.  I  just  took some photos from where I was seated  and did not explore the island anymore  because    I traveled with  a group and I  have to look after my two children and two nieces.   We  just enjoyed the fine white sand and clear blue water at Capones Island.

The view as get closer to the island. Breathtaking!

and more beautiful as we get closer...

There were some foreign and local  tourists  who just set up their tent in the island. There is no entrance fee here.  You just need to find a place and  set yourself where you  want to. We have no tent so we just stayed near the rock that gave us a  temporary shade.

My daughter  was amazed by the fine sand. I put a life vest for my niece just in case a heavy waves sway her in the deep.  She enjoyed the water a lot.

I should  have explored more of the island.  I couldn't believe it that I have no single photo here.  I honestly got overwhelmed with the view.

On the next day, on the shore of Pundaquit,  we spent our remaining hours  doing  other activities like  swimming and playing volleyball. 

I know I missed a lot in this travel like  trekking,  going up hill in Anawangin Cove,  camping out in one of the islands,  exploring Capones,  Nagsasa Cove,  Camara and Magalawa island and more.  There could be other reasons why.   The nature  may  have some explanation for me and so  I'll just   wait  for that answer  to come.  teehee.

I documented the fun and uploaded  the  photos  here.   The rest of the photos are on my  mind stored to last forever,   memories.





How to get to Anawangin Cove

By private vehicle.  Anawangin is located in Pundaquit Zambales. It will take about  three or four hours from Manila. You may opt to stay in a resort in Pundaquit  or just go directly to  Anawangin cove where you can set up a tent.   Head to end of  NLEX  and pass  DAO exit. Follow the signs to SCTEX then   Subic which is heading to the right.  Exit  Subic.  Turn left when you reach Olongapo Public Cemetery.  Towns  to pass by:  Subic Town, Castillejos, the San Marcelino.  There is an intersection at  the public market in  San Marcelino.  Turn left to San Antonio.  Follow the signs to Pundaquit.


By public transportation.   Take Victory Liner  from Pasay or  Cubao Stations  going to San Antonio, Zambales.  From San Antonio, take a tricycle ride  and ask the driver to bring you  to Pundaquit.  From Pundaquit, get a boat that will take you to Anawangin or any islands.  I heard that there is a standard boat fare now  so you wouldn't need a good negotiation skill  to haggle for a lower  price.