Northern Samar: Visiting New Places

Just wanna share my vacation in our province 2 years ago.

My mom and I flew together for the first time to Samar via Tacloban. We booked a promo fare through Cebu Pacific Air. I guess I did miss Samar that much. I returned 3 months later, after not visiting for about 8 years, for the town fiesta. My uncle's car wasn't in good condition so he wasn't able to pick us up at the airport so we made several trips from Tacloban to Victoria via Grand Tours (UV Express Vans) that took about 5 hours. It was exhausting for me who came straight from work and been up for almost 24 hours. Anyway, the vacation was fun because my cousin Katz was also there along with her mom.

The day after the fiesta, we went to San Antonio Island, just us three - Katz, Ate Maritess and I.  We strolled along the beach, took pictures, had brunch and stayed by the floating cottage and just chatted for a good hour or so.  It was funny coz Katz literally pulled the cottage away from the shore using the rope that holds the cottage in place.  The water was clear and so blue and so inviting that we hated being 'girls' in such a lovely summer day. We went for a quick swim before heading back to Victoria for Uncle Marcos' birthday lunch.

The boat ride, I think, is around Php 50 per person. It was morning and there were no other passengers so we tried to haggle and got a total of Php 200 deal that will bring us to and from San Antonio island.

We stayed there for just a couple of hours so I can't say much about the resorts. At first, we went to Haven of Fun but they charge for using the beach cottages (forgot how much) so we just walked around  and took some pictures then transferred to Seashore Spring Resort where there is no charge for using the cottage as long as we order from the restaurant, which we did.

the shore was lined with nipa huts

Looking Back. Beach Camping in Calaguas, 2011

Calaguas, Camarines Norte. 2011

At first, we were having second thoughts if we’re gonna push through with the calaguas trip because of ‘bebeng’.based on my research, the pacific waves is just crazy even in an ordinary sunny day.and for someone who has a fear of drowning, 2hours in the pacific is not really something to look forward to.so geared with life vest and love for adventure, we braced ourselves and left everything to God’s hand.and man, it was worth it.

yep, i have photos to prove it.♥

This was in mid-May of 2011. We left Makati at around 2AM Friday, in an old Toyota Revo FX with a 60+ yo driver, who was my friend's officemate's grandfather. There were 8 of us including the driver. We arrived at Paracale around 9AM. My friend's contact who has a boat met us and accompanied us to the town's market for all our needs for the 3day camping in Calaguas island. We left Paracale around 1PM and arrived 2hours later in the pristine island. The part of the island where we docked was packed with people. We walked about 10mins away from the crowd and found a nice spot under the trees with a toilet and a waterpump nearby. There was someone who collected 100 per person as a maintenance/environmental fee or something, I forgot. Let me just inform you that back when we visited, there were no resorts whatsoever in the island yet - or atleast along the shores - and no electricity at all. So we had our little paradise away from technology and it seemed like we were disconnected from the rest of the world and it was perfect! Every second that we were there was pure bliss! It was made more fun with the people I was with who were just awesome and so much fun- my friends, of course, and their friends who I just met on that trip but we all clicked and got along really well. We started drinking as soon as we were able to set up our tents and finished eating dinner. At night, we just laid a blanket on the shore, put drinks and food at the center and talked about anything under the sun moon. There was no electricity, but the moonlight was bright enough for us to swim and we can still see our feet underwater. No kidding! It was that bright and the water was that clear! It was just us girls in the beach while the guys were drinking and somebody suggested skinny dipping. Lol! That was really funny. I can still remember it. It was one of the most unforgettable and best night of my life.