Ending February with a Day-Climb and A Beach GetAway at Pico De Loro

It's February and we are few days away to summer. We planned this trip last month with a supposed-to-be 5 day getaway, but was cut short due to time constraints. 

We left Makati at 5 in the morning and hailed a cab to take us to the DLTB bus station in Taft.

We caught the 6 a.m. bus and off to Nasugbu we went. The trip was three and a half hours long. We stopped at the bus terminal and hailed a trike to take us to Papaya. It's one hour of joyride to Papaya.

We stayed at my brother's humble abode and had fish and clams for lunch.

After our afternoon nap, my brother's brother in law (with his new boat) toured us around the coves of Papaya.

Our first stop was Hamilo Cove (the only commercial cove among the 13 coves of Papaya).

From the coves, the peak of the pico de Loro can be seen.

We stopped by the Cove of Layag layag.

We stayed there until sunset.

After our beach getaway, we went back to our temporary home for dinner. 🍴

At 5 a.m. the next day, we started our trek to the peak of Mount Pico De loro, with our guides Renan and Omar.

It was still dark when we arrived at the foot of the mountain.

Below was my first shot, one hour after we started trekking.

The first 1.5 hours was easy...

... Until we reached a close to 90 degrees, 6 ft-step, and it's all ascending all the way to the top.

After few more minutes, we reached one part of the summit.

It has a view of the coves of Papaya below.

The wind was gushing really hard so we stopped there for more than fifteen minutes.

There's a rope designed for rapelling but since the wind was blowing really hard, we went to the other side of the bird's beak.

And after a few more ascend, we reached the other side of the bird's beak. 👏

And then we reached the peak. 👍🗻🌄

We stayed there for an hour for breakfast. 🍴

Going down was more fun, but more difficult.

We reached the floor of the mountain after 3 hours, then rewarded ourselves with halo halo.

We passed by the Hamilo Coast before going back home.

Until our next trip! 👍

Cagbalete Days Two and Three: A 2015 Kickstart

Day Two: Chillax Day

We woke up early to eat our first meal before generators run out of power. 

We had pinagong, cup noodles and Swiss Miss to start the day.

Right after our first breakfast, we had our early morning walk.

It took us fifteen minutes to reach the shores across Joven's. The amazing sand bar invited us to stay there for the next fifteen minutes.

After a few more minutes, we reached Villa Noe's.

Our last stop was across Doña Choleng's.

More sand bars await us on the other side, so we decided to go back. As we move along, we passed by some sand formations created by the small waves.

It is low tide until 11am so we have so many time to explore the white stretch of sand.

Our tummies started shouting for food in the middle of our beach hopping so we went back to our resort to prepare for breakfast.

There's your chef (above) cooking breakfast. 

We also had fresh coconuts.

One local asked if we need something, and I said, "Crabs, Do you have crabs?". And he said, "Yes". So, I ordered fresh crabs for lunch. Isn't that amazing?

We went back to our room to prepare for our Bonsai Island trip.

Luckily, it was still low tide, so we don't need to rent a boat to the island. We just walked. 

After 30 minutes, we reached the island. 

We followed the sand bar back to our resort. 

It was lunchtime when we arrived and our crabs are waiting for us, fresh from the sea, cooked in garlic and butter.

And so, we had lunch by the beach.

We had another beach hopping after lunch, hoping to rent some skim boards, kayaks, or anything to kill time, but they only have activities during summer, so we  just went back to the resort and rest.

It's too cold to swim so we did not bother. The wind was strong and cold so we asked one local to set up a bonfire before it gets dark.

We had our dinner by the beach close to the bonfire.

Lights off: 8 p.m.

Day Three: City bound

Our plan to jog the next morning failed as it was really dark when we woke up, and the wind was really cold. No post lights were open and you can only hear roosters and geckos. 

We had out early breakfast instead. This time inside the room. 

After battling the ice cold water in the shower, we started packing our things.

The boat was scheduled to leave at 7:30 a.m. and we had our guides fetch us (one hour before embarkation).

The sun was already smiling when we left the resort.

The trek back to the port followed right after check out.

We had to wash our feet after the thirty minute trek.

And again, we need to ride a small boat to get us to the bigger boat.

Now, I had the chance to take pictures of the boat since it's no longer raining.

Don't forget the strong waves.

At last, after 45 minutes, we're close to the port of Mauban.

We had a tricycle ride back to the town center and had a shuttle to take us to Lucena Grand Terminal.

We had brunch before catching our bus ride back to the city.

It was another relaxing, fun-filled trip.

Until next time! 👍

Cagbalete Island: A 2015 Kickstart: Day One

Cagbalete is second of the 16 unspoiled beaches in the Philippines in our bucket list.

Planning this trip started last month when Leli decided to push thru with her beach escapades early this year.

The trip started with a cab ride from Makati to Jac Liner in Kamias. We took the 5 a.m. bus to Mauban. Bus fare is less than 300 pesos per person, one way.

The road to Mauban is filled with green rice fields and coconut trees.

After five long hours, we arrived at the terminal where we hailed a tricycle to take us to the port to Cagbalete.

We paid an environmental fee of 50 pesos per head before loading the boat.

It was raining when we arrived so I did not bother to take pictures of the port and the boat.

After 45 minutes, we arrived at the island. We were welcomed with locals and offered to guide us to our resort.

It's a good thing that the rain already stopped when we arrived. We just had to remove our shoes before alighting because the tide was low and the boat  cannot go straight to the unloading area.

The trek to the resort is 30 minutes according to most bloggers, and we took it for 40 minutes. The path was muddy. It's better to wear slippers.

There are signs to the resort so you will never get lost. 

We arrived at Villa Cleofas around lunchtime.

Since there are no restaurants in the area, most bloggers recommend going to the market before embarking to the island. We opted to bring canned goods and instant meals. We always pack light. ☺️

The camping resort has a kitchen area. Rental of LPG costs 50 pesos per burner for 30 minutes. Hot water costs 5 pesos per cup. All others can be used for free. Just make sure that you wash them after use.

We just had fried sausage and cup noodles with rice and soda.

It's a good thing that some locals sell fresh fish and crabs and offers "paluto" for a fee. We realized that camping in this island isn't all about instant meals. We ordered fried fish for dinner. 🍴

After our afternoon nap, the fish seller woke us up and reminded us that it's already dinner time. 

So there's our fried fish, fresh from the sea. 🎣

There is no electricity in the island. Generators only work from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. 

After dinner, we charged our gadgets and unpacked our things.

We haven't had a decent sleep since we came from shift last night, so we're signing off early.

Lights off: 8 p.m.