I am the Sexy Nomad: Dampalitan Island in Padre Burgos Quezon

Friday, April 16, 2010

Dampalitan Island in Padre Burgos Quezon

This post is still about the places my husband Peter, and I, explored last Good Friday… If you want to start this Padre Burgos beach travelogue from the beginning, please click the following link:

Padre Burgos Beaches

~~~oOo~~~

After our island hopping experience, we headed to Dampalitan Beach just before lunch time. This was where we camped the rest of the day until the next morning. On our way there, we passed by 3 nice private beaches called Bacongan which is also the name of the town where these beaches are located...

Even from afar, the Bacongan Beaches looked so serene, quiet and peaceful. Sigh. I really, really, really want to own a private beach like that. The sand is a very light beige, almost ecru; the waters are clear; there were so many coconut trees; and it's not too far away from Manila. Peter and I were daydreaming that one day, we can own a beach just like that. *We're crossing our fingers* We dunno how that will happen but if it's meant, then the universe will conspire for us to get what we want. Dreams do come true after all. ^_^ Even the way we live our life now is already a dream come true. ^_^

Minutes later, we were woken up from our reverie by the sight of this long stretch of white sand, lined with colorful flags, coconut & pine trees, cottages and a number of tents. Weeee! It's Dampalitan Island!!!

As we disembarked from our boat, we immediately took photos of the surroundings, while at the same time, looking for a nice spot to pitch our tent. We noticed that most of the tents were on the right side of the beach (if you're facing the sea). Good thing that our boatmen docked at the left side where we saw this semi-private area in between pine trees, with two hammock-like swings made of rubber wheels, and a huge wooden table and benches. It was love at first site! Perfect! It was as if the site was reserved for us. Weeee!

Peter then pitched our tent. It was almost noon and we wanted to just relax, make some lunch from the food we brought and start exploring the island. Oh by the way, we only paid Php300 for our overnight stay. Ate Mercy, the caretaker of the island, is also selling gallons of water for shower & washing purposes only. Per container is priced at Php20.00. There is no running water on the island which is why we didn't really bring as much food except for bread, canned goods and some fruit. We didn't want to do number 2 there. Mwehehehe!

At last, we can relax! Thanks to my baboo's industry in pitching the tent without any help from me. Hihihi. I took his photos though. Then it was time for him to take photos of me as well. Camwhore galore, here we go!

Then, I spent some time with my books -- Archie & Nicholas Sparks' THE CHOICE. This is the life! Lounging at the beach, curled up with our books!

Then out of nowhere, we saw these cows prancing on the beach!

We napped for a while after that. It was still too hot to go exploring, anyway. At around 2pm, we started our little exploration. We walked at the left side of the island (if you're facing the sea), passing by this bamboo-made floater where we stayed for a little while. Then we walked a little further down left...

We passed by this amazing rock formation. Was it limestone? I'm not so sure. Maybe. It was so pretty I had to have a photo with it.

Then we walked some more until we discovered this nice little mangrove forest. There were some locals picnicking so we stayed only for a few minutes, admiring these wonderful trees, before we headed back to the main beach.

As I was posing here, I saw some little fish swimming in circles around my feet. Hihihi.

Afterwards, we decided to just go back and swim. This was the view of the beach from where we came from:

When we went swimming, I wasn't wearing my contact lenses. So when I bumped into something big, I panicked and swam in the opposite direction! I told Peter about it....

So he went to that spot and saw the turtle instead. It's a pet of the owner of the island and it's tied to the bamboo floater. Awwww... Poor turtle.

Afterwards, we went to other side of the beach. As we were walking, Peter noticed a purple starfish lying on the sand, upside down. Our heart went out to the poor starfish. Peter picked it up so he can return it back to the sea in its proper position...

...but not before taking these shots with the starfish first. ^_^

Is it obvious that I look scared? Yeah, as much as I love to go on beach and nature adventures, I am usually scared of many things. I think it's just a perfect reflection of my personality... that despite the fears I have in life, I still manage to face most of them (even with quivering feet and all). ^_^

These are the shots we took from the other side of the beach where most tents were pitched. After snorkeling some more, we headed back to our camp.

I was supposed to sleep already. I haven't had any sleep since the dawn we left our house that Good Friday until we got here. So by 5 pm, I was already drowsy. I took a bath in their public restroom (it's not as comfy as I'd hoped but what did I expect, this is an island away from civilization!) using the water we bought from Ate Mercy. Then I changed into my sleeping attire which consist of jogging pants and a long-sleeved shirt (coz I didn't want to be bitten by insects and bugs that night). But then Peter was still enjoying his time. He even saw that the turtle surfaced and called me to have my photo taken with it.

My Gosh, it weighed a hundred pounds!

Then we noticed that the tide was getting low. All the other coral and rock formations were starting to show. Peter urged me to change into another attire so we can go to the coral bed and take some more photos. Being the obedient and loving wife that I am (naks!), I of course obliged.

The coral bed was mossy and wet. We saw a couple of starfish, but this time they looked like this:

The sunset at Dampalitan Beach was so majestic! The water was starting to get a lot calmer and the bluish, reddish, pinkish hues of the sky was just so beautiful...

We waited for the sun to come down before I again changed into my makeshift pjs.

I super loved the shape of the rugged mountains of Quezon. It felt like we were in another country, in another time...

As I was getting ready for bed, Peter couldn't help but read a few more pages of his book. He is such a book lover, just like me!

And before we finally slept that breezy, cold, summer night, we enjoyed gazing at the star-filled sky. I noticed that every time we go out of town, the sky always gets filled with stars at night. If only Manila wasn't as polluted and bright at night, perhaps, we can also see more stars even from our homes. Anyhoo, we also saw fireflies flying among the pine trees. I counted the fireflies I saw. There were ten! How I wish there were more! ^_^