Calaguas Island Package Tour

Calaguas Island is located at Camarines Norte, Philippines. The island is around 10hours away from Manila and many travelers attest to it's beauty. Some even say it's more beautiful than Boracay.

If I had the luxury of time, I would have gone DIY. I find it's best to travel long hours via comfortable lazy boy bus seats. But since I don't, we opted to avail a package from Travel Ventours. PHP3400 for 11 persons including Manila-Daet-Manila van transfers, boat transfers, tent accommodation and 3 meals.

We left Quezon City at around 10:30PM and arrived at Daet at exactly 7:00AM. We had breakfast at Daet and bought some supplies. Drinking water, chips and booze to name some.

Then we rode a small boat from Daet (9:00AM) to Calaguas (11:00AM) for 2 hours.

small boats

As we near Calaguas, the first thing I noticed is the long stretch of pristine white sand. It may not have the purest white sand but it has the clearest waters I've ever seen.

After we set foot on the island, to be honest I was quite disappointed of the number of cottages already built along the beach.

 <photo credits to Kirk>

I was expecting a secluded island with only tents.

There were tents setup under the small trees' shade

But there are already a lot of cottages making it look crowded.

Each tour agencies offering Calaguas packages have already claimed a piece of the island which is sad really.

It was too hot to setup a tent so we rested a bit on the cottages provided then we went for a swim.

I know I've already said this, but I'd like to emphasize that this beach has the clearest water I've ever seen.

The water is already chest deep and you can still see through my feet.

The sand was also fine and there are no rocks or pesky seaweeds.

We really enjoyed swimming and the sun took its sweet time turning us to toasts.

Then we availed an island hoping tour for PHP100 each excluding the PHP20 each entrance to the island.

 First stop was a rocky island which was nice for taking pictures, not so much for swimming.

And second stop was on another part of the same island which is a nice snorkeling spot. There are a lot of corals but the water level was too low and you need to bring or rent snorkeling gears.

 

You can also climb a small hill which gives you a nice view of the island. There's signal on the top.

 

After island hoping, we enjoyed the picturesque view of the sunset and went to swim some more.

 

In the evening we ate dinner and bonded with a few booze. There's no signal on the island so cellphones are pretty much useless. It's a good thing though since you'll really have time to talk and enjoy the things around you.

 There are generators, so there are lights and even music. There are a lot of small stores offering necessities and food.

To give you an idea how much things cost in the island: Halo-Halo PHP30, Pancit Canton PHP25, Red Horse Stallion PHP60, Red Horse Mucho PHP120

There are a lot comfort rooms around. You'll have to pay PHP10 for a pale of water though.

The night was hot and breezeless. The next day I woke up at 5:00AM and wondered if I overslept. It was just 5 in the freakin' morning but it was already bright outside. There are already activities going on outside. Music playing and people chatting and walking here and there I even wondered if the time on my phone was wrong or something. But oh well I woke up everyone else (>,>) to ask if they're interested to see the sunrise.

We climbed up at one end of the hill to watch the sunrise. It was covered with clouds but still a beautiful sight.

There are at least 2 entrance fees (PHP20) when you climb on the east side. Then we walked to the west side to get a view of the island's shore line.

We ate breakfast and then left the island at around 8:00AM. We then went to Bagasbas for lunch and surfing lessons.

Surfing board rental costs PHP200 and another PHP200 for the service of a surf instructor for an hour.

The beach has what they call a break sand. There are no rocks and the sand was also soft just not white but gray. It would have been fun to swim with the waves and all but there are a lot of seaweeds and probably jellyfish as the instructor warned.

 Surfing Orientation

Surfing

 <photo credits to Kirk>

After that, we took a shower and ate our lunch at Catherine's. I love their halo-halo! The ice used was a frozen creamy and sweet delight.

  <photo credits to Kirk> 

I really enjoyed every part of the trip and I hope to be back here and stay longer at Calaguas probably at those posh huts even.

<video credits to Glai>

And that was how we spent our weekends at Calaguas Island. :)

Caramoan!!!

My friend found a package for a 3 days and 2 nights stay at Caramoan for PHP2800. The package includes accommodation, food and island hopping.

To get to Caramoan, you need to take a bus or a plane to Naga then a van to Sabang port then a ferry to Caramoan. Huh tough one I know.

Going by plane only takes an hour. You can land on Naga or Legazpi but taking the bus is the cheaper option for us. Taking a bus to Caramoan takes about 8-9 hours when you're riding a lazy boy or a sleeper type bus since there's only one stop. (PHP950-PHP1200) While ordinary buses take 11-12 hours (PHP500-PHP850).

We reserved seats with Isarog for their lazy boy extreme bus PHP1100 at Cubao terminal near Cubao mrt station south bound since the sleeper bus type is not available for that date.

However we got disappointed when an isarog line representative informed us they were transferring us to Peñafrancia elite bus the same day of our trip!!! Plus we didn't get our designated seats!!!

Peñafrancia Elite Bus Seat (Benz8). Arm and leg rest not comfortable.

Warning: the flush is really noisy >_<

Not that we have a choice.. and so our 8 hour long bus journey began.. we left 9pm from Cubao and arrived 5am in Naga

Ok.. the dark zigzag parts with people manning the sharp turns with flashlights (bless them) freaked me out.. other than that the trip was ok.

Upon arriving at Naga bus terminal, there's a van terminal inside the Jessie Robredo Coliseum which is a short walking distance from the terminal. The van will take you to Sabang port for PHP100. Journey takes 1.5 hours. There are also buses that go straight from Cubao to Sabang port check with the Raymundo buses.

Boat ride from Sabang port to Guijalo port is available from 6am to 11am only and sometimes they leave earlier when its already full. To get to the boat you need to ride a balsa and pay PHP10 which is an improvement from the piggy back ride before. Boat ride cost PHP120 and takes about 2hours.

From Guijalo port a van was waiting for us to take us to La Playa Puerto Merced where we'll be staying. The ride took .5 - 1hour.

The resort was nice though the front yard is quite dirty.

We stayed at the vac house which was huge for 5 people. 

Living  and Dining Room

2 Rooms with private CR each

We went to 2 near islands in the afternoon.

This island has the finest sand in caramoan but there were lots of seaweeds and broken shells

There are lots of seaweeds in this island too.

It overlooks the private island where the survivor crew stayed

The last island we went to

There's a small cave here

The next day we went island hopping again at about 8am. First we went to the grotto which is 500+ steps up the mountain. There's a PHP30 fee and you can buy a candle for PHP3. We gave our guide PHP60 tip as well.

The grotto is the one at the top

There's a small chapel at the top too

The cellular towers ruin the view. 

On our way to Sabitang Laya Island, the boat stopped and manong bangkero told us the engine was broken so we're stuck in the middle of the ocean. Thank god for cellular phones!! He called the resort to send the rescue team which took about 30min. While waiting, manong bangkero and one of my friends went snorkeling. The tide was low so the water was just waist deep.

Manong bangkero knows how to take good underwater pictures I give him that

Sabitang Laya is the most popular and beautiful island in Caramoan. It is the shooting location for the famous tv show Survivor.

Next we went to the Sand Bar where you can pay PHP200 to stay on the floating cottages. We opt to eat inside the boat coz we're kuripot like that haha. 

Then we went to an island where there were lots of sea urchins.

The journey from Sabitang Laya to the Sand bar was scary. There were lots of big waves such that we were drenched with sea water. Its not advisable to bring gadgets on the boat unless its waterproof or if you have a dry bag that would work as well.

We arrived back at the resort at 5pm. We spent the last night with a bottle of beer and and a few songs on the free videoke.

The next day we checked out at 7am. We arrived at Guijalo port just in time for boat departure. Then we took the van again from Sabang Port to Naga. 

We arrived in Naga 12pm then bought our tickets to Manila we were lucky there were still seats left for the lazy boy type bus of DLTB which is cheaper PHP950. Our trip was 9:15pm so with lots of time to spare, we went to buy our pasalubong and food tripping in Naga.

We ate lunch at Geewan which is famous for Bicol delicacies like Pinangat, Bicol Express, Kandingan and Kinunot. Geewan is walking distance from the bus terminal we just used google maps to navigate. You can also ride a tricycle to Geewan.

Pinangat

After lunch we went to the public market which is also walking distance from Geewan to buy pasalubong. Naga is famous for their Pili Nuts and its varieties. 

@sm naga

 I wouldn't advise buying shirts here though. There are stalls in SM Naga selling souveneir shirts which are cheaper and have lots of varieties. 

Then we tried the toasted siopao with ketsup!

Nothing much to do in Naga really. There are lots of churches so we just went and visit some. 

St. Francis Church 

Ateneo de Naga University Church

We tried the famous Kinalas at Boloper's which was good.

Warning: don't put too much chili! You're in Bicol after all.

We ate putong bagas along with the kinalas to balance the chili since we put too much haha

We spent the rest of our time window shopping at SM Naga where we found the beautiful and cheap shirts too late. There's also a Geewan branch in SM Naga.

DLTB lazyboy seats were more comfortable and spacious but the driver was pretty wreckless so the drive home was quite scary.

Alas! we're back in Manila.. 

If you want beautiful scenery, food trip and relaxation then Caramoan is definitely a good place for you.

Note: Globe has no reception in Caramoan so if you need to stay connected to civilization you might want to buy a Smart simcard ;p