Explorera: CARAMOAN Day 2

We woke up early (530 am) not to waste our time in this serene place. Kuya Tope reminded us the night before that we have to be on our way at 730am so we have more time to explore the unexplored places...WOhhh!!! We had fried rice, fried danggit ( am not sure but it looked like danggit ,it was just bigger) egg and pansit .I totally forgot my diet...hehe!!

danggit!!!!!

After breakfast, we then proceed to our next adventure. The sun is up and we hope for a good day!Our first haven was the Grotto. When I first visited Caramoan I was not able to go here because of lack of time. So, this time I made sure that I will be able to see it. You can see the grotto from afar. We were greeted by Kuya Paul (our tourist guide in this island ). By the way, before we start the trip, let me just remind you that we need to take 553 steps to reach the top. REALLY??Can I do this?Oh sure, I told myself. Kuya Paul explained the necessary precautions to avoid any untoward incidents.Going up is not a joke, this is what I realized halfway the trip. Bring a liter of water, my strict reminder!!!

the ENTRY!!

many of the stop overs!!!to catch our breath!!

stairway to heaven


lost count of the number of steps:(

picture..picture..as we catch our breath!!

view from atop

the grotto

the church on top

Yes,it rained!!!I had so much fun walking in the rain:))

We bid goodbye to Kuya Paul, (yellow shirt) (btw he is current president of tourist guide in this island)

According to Kuya Paul, the people in the island worked together to build the grotto. A missionary initiated this because he saw it in his dreams. Amongst the island in Caramoan,the Tabgon island has the biggest population with 400 households. As far as I remember they started building the grotto 1998. The trip took us an hour and a half.You say a little prayer to HIM for you to finish this challenge.IT really was a challenge!!But as the saying goes "No guts,no glory"!

On our way to our second destination, we were all quiet probably because we were all saying a short prayer for a good weather. The rain started on our way down the grotto. Though it started raining, I was still thankful because the water was not rough and we had a smooth travel until we reached Manlawi island ( the biggest sandbar in the Phil. during low tide). We arrived there with a couple of bancas already and people were already enjoying the neck - deep water with very fine sands under. When I was here 2 years ago, it was low tide so we were able to see the sandbar but now unluckily it was high tide.Nothing has changed except that the huts were replaced by floating huts which is much much better..

taken april2010

This is how the sand bar looks like if its low tide.There are huts that you can rent for P50 the first time I was there.


taken may12012

Now, huts are already floating that you can rent for P200.00. As i said much better because you can rest here and no worry that your cameras might get wet.

me playing like a kid ( apri2010 ) low tide

beautiful sand bar!!!

star fish within my reach

we got to see local children in the island

high tide taken may12012

our balsa

It was raining but the water is not cold, would you believe it?So its better that you go swimming rather than stay on the balsa. Though, we are little worried because it was getting dark but Kuya Tope assured us that it will be ok and need not worry so we just enjoyed the place. By the way, what we experienced there was "agua de mayo" (first rain of May when translated in English). We had inihaw na tulingan ( grilled yellow fin),ginatang langka (jackfruit cooked in coconut milk) and adobong pusit (marinated squid) for lunch. When the rain stopped we decided to leave the place and headed to our would -be -next stop which is Sabitang Laya. As luck was not on our side, we were not allowed to enter because of the on - going Survivor U.S.A. I hope that they can do something about this. We are very happy that they get to appreciate our country but please do not deprive us to see what is OURS. I hope that they can at least arrange or assign a specific day for their shooting. We just took a picture of the island from where we were.

But of course, I would like to share how Sabitang Laya looks like when I was there for the first time.

I also would like to share some photos taken last april 2010 in CUTIVAS island. This is one of the island in Caramoan but didn't get to see it during this trip. Kuya Tope mentioned to me that from this island you can see Catanduanes. During that time SURVIVOR France was in Caramoan so as you would see there were a lot of props and we were told not to touch any of those ( of course we didn't listen..hehe)

We set our sail for our final destination, for this day is a newly discovered island.I kept thinking about this since this island is so near the dropped off point( i dunno the name of the place ) how come it was only a year ago that they discovered this place.Anyway, I love it. Given a chance again to come back here I'll spend my night here. They have 2 rooms for rent here and allowed an overnight stay.Don't worry about electricity because CamSur Electric Co. provides for them until 10pm then they have a generator ready to use after it. As soon as we arrived in the island we got off the boat and checked on the 2 nipa huts in front of the shore and a swing at the side. This is called KUBO island because of the nipa hut built on top of the big rock.There was a small store behind those nipa huts,and I would say that this was one of the best coffee - moment i had. Taking a sip of coffee matched with the sound of the rain plus the cold weather = PERFECT!!!We didn't swim anymore but played around the island and savor the moment.