Donsol Whale Shark Adventure: Bicol - Caramoan Adventure Series Day 2

This blog post is the second part of our awesome Bicol - Caramoan adventure... 

So, after our trip to Lignon Hill where we did the zip line, then visited Cagsawa Ruins and the nearby LCC Mall, off we went to Donsol in Sorsogon the following day to swim with the gigantic whale sharks. Unlike the ones I saw in Oslob, the whale sharks in Donsol are huge... even bigger than the buses here in Manila! They were so huge (about 12-18 meters and weigh as much as 40 tons) that it was difficult for me to take a photo of its whole body. As you can see from the pictures below, I was only able to capture a portion of its body one part at a time. 

Mamon Island in Siargao

Mamon Island is part of a two-island package tour which we got from Patrick's on the Beach for Php3,700 during our second day in Siargao. It is already inclusive of food, drinks, use of kayak, surfboard and snorkeling gear. The other island is La Januza island (also called La Janosa) which is just a few kilometers from Mamon island.

Dako Island in Siargao

After our refreshing stay on Naked Island, our boatmen brought us to the biggest island in Siargao, hence the name DAKO island. "Dako" or "Daku" is a Visayan term which means big or huge.

Dako island is not just huge. It is also lush with a vast coconut plantation and other shrubbery covering most of the island. See our video below:

Naked Island in Siargao

Naked island is one of the best white sand islands we have ever visited. As its name implies, Naked island is a small round piece of white island that is basically naked, meaning, it doesn't have any trees except for a small patch of greenery on top.

The Starfish @ Magalawa Island

My favorite hobby whenever I'm at the beach is snorkeling. So while my two girlfriends were sunbathing on the beaches of Magalawa island last weekend, while Peter was skin diving, I was out there in the middle of the sea, on full snorkeling gear, trying to take a peek at what's underwater.

Magalawa Island Water Rafting & Snorkeling

To see Day 1 of our Maglawa trip, please head to:
Magalawa Island - Day 1

To see Day 2 of our Maglawa trip, please head to:
Magalawa Island - Day 2

To see all posts about Magalawa Island, please click the link below:
Magalawa Island
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Part of the package we paid for when we went to Magalawa island last weekend was a 45-minute snorkeling adventure at Magalawa's coral garden.

Boracay Island Hopping

One of the things I love to do when I'm at the beach is snorkeling. So it was quite tragic for me when I suddenly had my period during my last few days in Boracay. I was planning to bring Peter to Carabao Island on Easter Sunday so I can at least stay at the shore while I watch Peter swim in its virgin waters from a distance. Unfortunately, the people we were supposed to go with backed out the last minute. They must have been so wasted from the previous night with all the parties that were held. Tsk, tsk. Our tickets got refunded and we had no other choice except to make the most of our time in Boracay.

Sardine Run @ Pescador Island in Moalboal, Cebu

It was supposed to be the last day that our team, Motivating Minds, will train the staff of Club Serena. However, when Carelle and RR decided to stay late the previous night to finish the training, we had the whole morning to ourselves. It was a perfect set up which means my friends get to dive while I get to snorkel at no other than the most famous marine park in Moalboal, Cebu --- Pescador island.

Carelle, RR and Ian were all raving about it. I just hoped it wasn't like my experience at Gato island where I couldn't see anything underwater because of the illegal fishing going on causing the water to be murky with dead fishes floating. On the other hand, I was still excited. They were hoping to catch the sardine run on video and I was hoping to catch it too from the surface where I'll just be snorkeling.

The boat ride from Club Serena to Pescador island was about 30 - 40 minutes. The boat docked near the shallow part of the coast where I can already see the beautiful and colorful corals from where I was sitting. I thought I'd snorkel there too. Unfortunately, as soon as all the divers went underwater, the boat moved to the deeper part of the coast where the water was so choppy. I was scared to snorkel at first. But thinking that we'll be going back to Manila later that afternoon, I gathered enough courage and just went into the water.


I was dumbfounded with what I saw. There were like a billion sardines swimming all around me! I snorkeled right into the middle of the sardine run! I couldn't explain how I felt. I was just too happy that I didn't have to dive just to see this! I was one with the multitude of sardines swimming all around me.

Illegal Fishermen at Gato Island in Malapascua

I'm back to my regular programming now. Teehee. My goal is to finish blogging about all those travels I did in 2010 so by the time I live in Boracay come summer, I can finally do a near real time travel blogging. I've never done that before. I always wanted to enjoy my travels first then just blog about them much, much later.While this method of blogging has been very enjoyable, it's also been time-consuming for me. Since it's a brand new year, I figured, I can try doing a more real time type of travel blogging starting this summer.

Anyway, moving on, here are snippets of my visit to this not-so-wonderful marine sanctuary that is Gato Island. I'll tell you why...

Seeing Gato island from afar...

Gato Island is supposed to be a marine reserve which is about 1 hour boat ride from Malapascua Island. I went there together with our team of divers (Carelle, RR and Ian) for their Monad shoal dive. They were excited to see white tip sharks! Gato island boasts of a cavern that runs through the island, about 25 meters in length. Since I'm no diver, I thought of just snorkeling instead.

RR ready to dive...

Unfortunately, by the time I hit the water, I couldn't see a single thing. The water was so murky and dark. When I did see a pair of huge lapu-lapu, I thought they were sharks so I panicked and went back up the boat and just sunbathed instead.

That's me catching some sun...

I thought the murky water was the worst of it. By the time my friends came back to the boat, Carelle was cryings coz she saw some dead nemos and dead swordfish (photos below).

Malapascua Highlight: Exotic Dive Resort

I gave you a bit of a background before about this whole 1 week Malapascua-Moalboal trip. This is the continuation. But if you'd like to see everything that I've written so far about this trip, head to Malapascua 2010.
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front view of Exotic Dive Resort

As I mentioned before, our team was accommodated by the most high end resort in Malapascua Island, which locals call "Exotic", short for Exotic Dive Resort. The last time I was in Malapascua (November 2009), Peter and I checked in at one of the more affordable resorts (Hippocampus). Even then, we already noticed how nice Exotic Dive Resort was, we were just not willing to stay there since it was out of our budget and we had no plans of diving anyway, plus, we were out most of the time exploring the nearby islands. So I was really happy that I got to try staying at Exotic Dive Resort this time around.

Exotic offers air conditioned concrete apartment cottages with balcony.

Potipot Island in Zambales : Our Last Day

This travelogue is a continuation of my previous Potipot blog post. For all posts about Potipot island, please click the link below:

POTIPOT ISLAND

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Sunrise at Potipot Island

Early the next morning, we woke up a few minutes before sunrise. It was cold and breezy, so I got our C-2 mini-tent and sat there while we waited for the sun to take a peek by the mountains...

It was such a beautiful sunny morning.We noticed that some people were already frolicking in the cool waters. As for us, we couldn't wait to explore Potipot Island some more like we promised ourselves the previous day. And so, our journey began...

Potipot Island Camping Adventure

This travelogue is a continuation of my previous Potipot blog post. For all posts about the island, please click the link below:

POTIPOT ISLAND

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Finally, at past 3 in the afternoon on April 11, we arrived at Potipot island. We were both surprised by the number of people camping and swimming in the area. We didn't expect this and it made us both feel a bit down. It was only later in the aftenoon that we found out about Potipot Island having recently been featured on TV, no wonder people were so gung ho to explore it.

We surveyed the beach for a little while hoping to find a nice place to set up our tent. Unfortunately, there was no better spot than the first one we saw, which was between a big group of friends lounging under the tree on our right, and another huge group of friends camping on our left. So that's that. As cramped as it felt, I didn't allow it to ruin our weekend together.

Donsol - Swimming with the Butanding Whale Sharks

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

That's me and my guide as we were swimming on top of the Butanding whale shark... scary but nice. ^_^ Photo was taken by Peter by the way.

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

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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...

Padre Burgos Beaches in Quezon - Puting Buhangin,Mag-asawang Bato,Kwebang Lampas

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

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After our short stay at Borawan Island, our next stop was at Puting Buhangin Beach. On our way there, the boatman showed us Mag-asawang Bato, a stretch of rocky island that was divided in two, perhaps, by the tide and passing of time. The water surrounding it was full of corals so we didn't stop over anymore. We just admired this magnificent formation of islets from a distance.

Borawan Island in Padre Burgos Quezon - How To Get There

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

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After waiting for about a hour, the boatmen finally arrived. I told them about the arrangement I made with Kuya Vic. We wanted to visit all possible islands in the area for the price of Php1,500 (Borawan, Puting Buhangin, Maliit at Malaking Talabaan, Kwebang Lampas, Mag-asawang Bato and Dampalitan Beach where we will camp for the night). They obliged and a few minutes past 7 in the morning, we were on our way to our first destination which was BORAWAN island.

Malapascua Island Weekend in Cebu: Day 2

You might want to check the previous posts on this Malapascua travelogue:

Malapascua Island

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After 4 long months, it's only now that I found the time to continue blogging about this fantastic trip we did in Malapascua last Nov. 28-30, 2009. It was just two weeks after our Cagbalete Island Getaway and we were off to another destination onceed again. I was browsing at the photos which I didn't even get to review after the trip and man, not only did I miss this wonderful island, but I missed my long, wavy, sunburnt hair! Haha!

Bolinao in Pangasinan - Reminiscing Old Times

It's been a long while since the first time we visited Bolinao, Pangasinan last June 11-12, 2006. I only remembered it when our *foreman, Kuya Angie, saw all our beach photos hanging around the house, and he started talking about his hometown, Bolinao. I said, "Hey Kuya, we've been there!" How great would it be if we try to visit the place again this year, after 4 long years. I bet the place is still the same.

*we are currently having my bathroom retiled and the front yard renovated by constructing fences, trellis and gate.

It turns out, Kuya Angie's ancestral home is right over there, fronting the white sandy beaches of Bolinao. And whenever we want to visit the place again, he said to just let him know. Wow! My mind started ticking. It was the month of June when we last went there. We were surprised by the sunny weather that weekend but the water was not that calm. Maybe, if we go this month, we'd see the more serene, calm, and beautiful facade of its turquoise blue waters. I'm getting excited! I want to go this weekend (March 20-21, 2010). But Kuya Angie insisted it would be better to go during their fiesta on March 27-28. We're just waiting for word from his aunt, but more or less, it's a date! ^_^

I actually bought new Speedo & Finis snorkeling gear complete with mask, snorkel, life vest and fins. For some reason, I am itching to snorkel. Originally, I was thinking of taking scuba diving lessons, but because of my fear underwater (my ear hurt and my heart rate was abnormal the last time we went fun diving in Anilao in 2006), plus Peter is not so excited about it (he's already an excellent skin diver to begin with and he gets claustrophobic and bored when surrounded by an immense body of water and when he's underwater for a long time), we decided to forego the activity and just use the money to renovate the house. The whole thing turned out more practical and at least the money didn't go to waste.

So anyway, going back to Bolinao, here are some of our unpublished photos from our last trip there. Peter and I went with Brownman Revival's vocalist, Dino Concepcion, my GF Joan, and our friend Paw. Looking at these photos makes me all the more excited to visit Bolinao once again!

Setting foot at Bolinao's white sandy beach a few hours after midnight...

While the others were sleeping, I was waitin g for the sun to rise...

Camiguin, The Island of Fire (Part I)

 The famous serpentine White Island with Camiguin’s Mt. Hibok-Hibok (its only active volcano) in the background

To officially welcome summer, I’d like to do a feature on Camiguin, a quaint little island north of Mindanao, which I’m very fond of. The very  first time I’ve been there was when I was six years old.  My grandmother and I used to visit the place when she was still serving as the Dep.Ed. Superintendent of the region. It didn’t really change that much over the years. The air is still fresh, the people are still as friendly and the sites are still as breathtaking as I remember them to be. 

L: Riding a bus from CDO to Balingoan Port; R: Arrival at Benoni Port in Camiguin

The island is said to be born of fire because of its seven (seven!) volcanoes. Had I not seen hardened  lava rocks all over the island, I would not have believed it to be so. How freakishly awesome, right?

Puerto Princesa, Palawan Honda Bay Tour

We just boarded our boat.

On our third day, we decided to take the offer of the tricycle driver again (Mang Lito - 09184397471) for the Honda Bay tour. Because there were four of us (Peachie and her sister Marichit were with us), instead of paying Casa Linda P900 each, we only paid the driver P400 for transfers from Casa Linda to Pier and back again, then paid P1,100 for the boat that will bring us to three islands - Pandan, Snake & Starfish. Solo namin ang boat and kami ang bahala sa time. Unlike if we were part of a package tour, nakadepended sa tour guide ang sked namin. And since it was not a package tour, it was up to us to prepare or buy our own food. It’s a good thing that the driver of yesterday’s Underground River tour, Kuya Nervon (09059681215), was very nice to us. He knew someone who caters and so we were able to order food for P200 each consisting of 5 dishes (fried shrimps, fried chicken, squid, kinilaw na tangigue, chopsuey, rice, softdrinks, water and fruits).

  

In the middle of the sea, we saw the mangrove forest on our left and this lone native house on stilts on our right. 

By 7am, Kuya Nervon dropped our food  baskets at Casa Linda. By 7:30 am, Mang Lito was already outside waiting for us. By 8am, we were the first batch of tourists to arrive at the pier and so we were able to get a nice boat exclusively for our group only. Our first destination? Pandan Island.