Sunday, March 21, 2010

Life's a Beach... in Caramoan

I know, I know... this blog entry is long overdue. I've been busy lately with some projects (and trying to ask for payment from a certain client.)

READ: I've learned an important lesson. Never ever ever ever ever work without downpayment... even if that project is from an old friend... especially if he's working for the government.

Anyway, back to this blog entry... a few weeks ago, or should I say, a month ago... I went to Caramoan, Camarines Sur with two of my very good friends, Tom and Jojo (pretty much sounds like Tom and Jerry, eh? and yes, they're a couple) to celebrate their Nth anniversary (6th, I think). Jojo, being the oldest (hehehe) prepared everything. He booked our whole tour, the place where we stayed, and our transpo. Touring Caramoan is pretty cheap, I must say. It costed us 6, 000 PhP per head, all-in (transpo, accommodation and food for our 3days-2nights stay). There are no five or four star hotels in Caramoan. If you are the maarte (snob) type then I suggest you go to Boracay or Dos Palmas instead. What I love in Caramoan is of course, the beaches, they are all (well, the beaches we visited, six of 'em) pure and untouched by civilization and you're gonna miss this if you are "maarte."

We left Santa Rosa, Laguna (our hometown) at around 6PM to go to Alabang where we embarked on the bus going to Naga. Before embarking the bus, we had our dinner and bought a few snacks and drinks in Festival Mall, Alabang to prepare ourselves for the long trip ahead. The bus arrived in Alabang at around 10:30PM and left at around 11:00PM. Jojo, booked a bus with lazy-boy seats so our 8-hour trip was pretty comfy. We slept most of the time during our trip and tested if google map would work in places were 3G is a bit, umn, low. We arrived at Naga Terminal (beside SM City Naga) at around 7:00AM. We then took a two hour-long van ride going to Sabang Port and another two-hour long ride, this time by boat, to Caramoan.


(all pictures with dates are from Tom's camera. Click on the images to zoom in)


Port going to Caramoan and view of Mt. Mayon from the boat

DAY 1

We arrived at Rex Tourist Inn an hour before lunch. Rex Tourist Inn is located in the town's poblacion or bayan. We rested, had our lunch and started our beach-hopping tour with our guide, Eli.


way to the Inn and front view of Rex Tourist Inn


our room and what's inside Rex's


Eli helping me embark the boat we used to beach hop

first stop... Matukad Beach, Matukad Island


next stop... Bitchara Beach, Lahos Island. hmmm... dontcha just love the name of the beach? hehehe

on our way to our final stop for the day....

Carbanilad beach, Cagbanilad Island


by 5:00PM we were back in Rex's and rested for a couple of hours and ate our dinner.

view of the "bayan" from the inn's balcony and our dinner

there's nothing much to do in the "bayan." most shops are closed before 7pm so i just went online to post some photos and do some facebook updates. if you love beach partying, then this place is not for you.

DAY 2
We had our breakfast at around 7am and had our lunch packed so that we won't go back to the inn to eat our lunch. Food are included in the package (breakfast, lunch dinner). Eli (our guide) advised us to have heavy breakfast. We had no idea why but did what he said. After some rest, we started our travel going to the first stop for the day's itinerary...


road to...


Mount Carmel, Brgy. Tabgon


500 steps... (nah, just an estimate. lol)


halfway there. catching our breath. with our guide, Eli


view from up there


view from up there and Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

Lunch in Manlawi Beach, Sitio Manlawi, Lahuy Island
This place is absolutely stunning. We ate our lunch in a hut about a kilometer away from the shore but the water is just below our knees.


...and the last stop for the day was the location of Survivor Israel...
Sab-itan Laya Island (a.k.a. Bagieng Island)


we spent a couple of hours here, dozed off a bit and cam-whored.

DAY 3
The sunburn...


on our way home, since we expected that we'll all be tired, jojo booked us a plane back to manila.

more photos posted in my facebook albums... Caramoan and Caramoan from tom's camera

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