It was 02-03 April 2016, and the world smelled of ocean breeze and salty air. I was, once again, at my happiest!
A few months before I went home to the Philippines for my vacation last April, my forever friends in college (Algend, CJ, & Liz) had informed me that they will be visiting Camarines Sur (CamSur) for the group’s yearly reunion. In addition to that, they’d be joining I and Ms. Wonderwall’s planned summer getaway to Calaguas Island. I haven’t really given much thought about it, to be honest, considering that they said the same to us—a lot of times—when we were still based in Manila. The fact that we’re now extra farther from their respective places in the metropolis, put my expectations in a quiet corner. Guys, I have a free pass for saying things like that to you here, right?
Until I received a text message from my younger brother from another mother, Algend, that they were already aboard a bus bound for CamSur. I lied when I said I wasn’t expecting much from them. One of the many preparations I and Ms. Wonderwall did was we bought special bottles and finger food. We also cooked plenty of their favorite desserts not to mention stuffed the fridge with something edible. They’re not special. They just have big sacs that don’t get filled up—easily.
Receiving visitors like them is no pressure even though their confirmation only came a few hours before their arrival. Until they also signified their intention to join us in the getaway. No. The right words were “confirmed their attendance”. Thank heavens we had such a flexible travel and tour agent, Liza Concordia, of Calaguas Island Tours and Packages by Anthony’s Travel and Island Tours. The last-minute changes were quickly settled, with a mild headache.
The next thing we knew was we (Algend, CJ, Rosh, Liz, Harry and Tayshaun) were setting out to the getaway in the early morning of Saturday, 2nd of April. That was just a couple of hours after their arrival. We needed to catch the first van going to Daet, Camarines Norte otherwise we wouldn’t be able to make it to the agreed pick-up time and place (i.e., 8:00 AM at Jollibee).
It’s suffice to say the agreements fell into place so we had a very smooth travel via the jeepney in Daet, where we met Liza’s husband (Anthony) son (Melo) and right hand (Jiero). They’re the commendable team behind Calaguas Island Tours and Packages by Anthony’s Travel and Island Tours). From there, we were transported to the penultimate destination, Vinzons’ Port Logpond, which impressed me with its amazing panoramas. The smooth cruise transformed into a challenging one—at least for some of us—during the two-hour boat ride to the ultimate destination, Calaguas Island. CJ and the son described their experience as one hell of a ride. She couldn’t stop screaming whenever the boat resists the violent moves of the sea. We were literally riding the waves. The Cyclopean slaps of the waves made the boat succumb to the moving ridge’s course. For someone like me who already had countless, for lack of a better word to describe it, waves’ experience, I was just like watching a pair of dancers gracefully moving to a pelagic tune.
A few minutes later, I started seeing a strip of white beaches nearby. I wanted to plunge into the water and swim my way through right then and there.
I was that excited! For a year of being confined in a desert scenery, this kind of reaction is expected of me, a beach lover since birth.
You could just imagine how my feet itched when we were finally approaching Calaguas Island.
The sight of Mahabang Buhangin beach on Tinaga Island, which is now the one being promoted by the provincial government of Camarines Norte as Calaguas Island, made my heart skip a bit.
The beautiful scenery during the stopover at Port Logpond proved that it was a just a prelude (“A Sneak Peek At The Astounding Landscape Of Vinzons’ Port Logpond In Camarines Norte“) to this perfect microcosm of paradise. The port reminded me of the Amazon River while the island reminded me of the movie, “The Beach”, and one of my favorite songs: “Pure Shores”. I, Ms. Wonderwall, and the rest of our forever friends couldn’t stop exclaiming beautiful adjectives to describe what our optical organs were feasting on.
The sun was directly overhead by time we reached Calaguas Island. The paradisaical scapes were overpowering that we didn’t mind being toasted.
How cool it is to watch the water mimicking the color of the sky, to hear the hypnotic murmuring waves of the pulsing turquoise sea, and to gaze out at the offing that seemed to have been stitched with a silver line. The picture was a far cry from the scene described earlier on our way to this place.
And when we started walking on the island’s long strip of white powdery sand—the finest of its kind—we were completely swept away. The beach looks like a well-scythed sward one would die to play on. Our toes were happily sand kissed.
We became all the more invited to immediately settle in our spot upon hearing the laughs of children and adults frolicking in the crystal clear water simultaneous with seeing fellow weekend sightseers wearing tanned but joyful faces passing by.
When Anthony and Liza were cooking for lunch, they prompted us to go lollygag in the sun or swimming.
We chose dawdling the hours away as the sun was already too unforgiving by that time.
An hour passed and we were eating three authentic mount-watering Bicol viands. Great local food and an atmosphere of humming waves accentuated the scene. By time we finished lunch, our accommodations were already pitched, waiting for us right under the trees in front of a lush vegetation. What a perfect hive.
We let the kids roam around a little bit later so we could finally catch up. The countrified environment may have been too persuasive to make us sleep but our conversation was far engaging then that of nature’s force. We didn’t notice that we had consumed almost three hours talking about everything under the sun. Time flies faster when you’re having a good conversation I must say.
When the sun’s rage began frittering away, the sea began casting it’s spell. It was about time to give in to the serenading calm, azure water. This is one of those extremely rare moments when the least that I could think of is holding my phone let alone pressing the shutter.
I took that very moment to look at the ineffable natural wonder that is Calaguas Island. It’s now all clear to me why most of the blog posts I saw on the net used this word to describe it: paradise. I say, indeed!
For the nth time, I noticed the tides ebb and flow languorously. I got fascinated by the way the waves gently crashed against the rocks and sands of the beach, their curling fingers painting the big and tiny stones with a gentle caress as the wind ushered them softly towards the shore.
When I looked at Ms. Wonderwall with our great friends merrily swimming, it gave me a sense of satisfaction with life in the moment.
Then I found myself floating in the turquoise ocean with them like there’s no tomorrow—free of gravity.
I realized that my affinity with the water element is intrinsic. No wonder I’ve always turned to water for sense of calm, clarity, and rebirth.
Our swimming chortles got stirred when Melo came over. He was yelling, “Kuya, ate, dudes, magha-hiking na daw po tayo para sa sunset” while cheerfully telling us to get out of the water as soon as possible. I wouldn’t mind being interrupted from my woolgathering if the reason is the same as Melo’s.
The next activity on the list is something I wouldn’t want to miss for the world. It’s been ages since I last hiked. My feet itched earlier because it wanted to get soaked and tickled by the fine sand. Now, it’s itching to hike the nearby hill where visitors can witness the most supernal nature feat in my book: sunset! (Stay tuned for the sequel.)
#storiesofthewanderingfeeandmind #travel #nature #wtnadventures #bicolbloggers #travelph #daet #camarinesnorte #itsmorefuninbicol #traversephilippines #thewanderingstenographer #iphoneography
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STORIES OF THE WANDERING FEET & MIND 
Great article, the pictures are beautiful. God’s paint brush is so awesome when humans don’t destroy the canvas.
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I feel you there. Actually, I’m aware that promoting tourism is double edge sword. I just hope that people would not contribute to the destruction of God’s natural masterpieces. I still believe in hope and responsible tourism.
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wow ang ganda talaga…..sobrang linaw ng tubig…libre sakay ba sa mga bangka?
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kapatid, di libre sakay sa bangka. Pero mga 500 pesos ata bayad back and forth sa arranged tour tulad nung in-avail namin. Pag di arranged or package, mga 800 to 1k ata presyo nila.
Puntahan mo din siya pag may time ha? Para maalala mo Maldives. hehe
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Ang mahal pala ng bayad hahahaha…makakapunta din ako dyan…tiwala lang
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at dasal, man! hehe
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yyahahah
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Finally your best friends said they will come and they did. The more, the merrier. Quite a big troop you led there 😀 If my friends would ever surprise me by coming on my holiday, I think I will panic – I am the kind of person who likes everything to go according to plan and wants everyone to have a good time.
Stunning shots all round of Calaguas Island. I can only imagine what the turquoises water must look like in real life, right before your eyes. It really is quite a sight and you are lucky that this place is so accessible to you.
Now you know we disagree on water…but I am very happy to hear that it felt like home to you when you jumped into the water for a dive after lunch. It must have been a blue world all round underneath the sea 😀 Your Ms Wonderwall is looking very fine. Very hot. Very nice 😉
I was wondering about that pitch or tent thing on the beach you mentioned. I’m quite slow at things, but what is that?
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Yes, Mabel. You were right about the accommodations I was referring to. That means you’re definitely not slow. I will never see you that way.
I so appreciate the compliments albeit we disagree on water…there’s no place like home, you know.
As to being a planner…h’m…you can’t count on me on that! Sorry. I’m more of a spontaneous type generally speaking.
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Oh wow…so you camped there. I supposed all the beds and rooms are right behind all those trees. Cheeky camera angle 😀
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Yes, we did! 🙂
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Calaguas Island looks amazing. I’ll bet the kids enjoyed their roaming. 🙂
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Oh they did! There is actually a supplement (in the form of a video where the kids’ pictures are the focus). I’m struggling with uploading a video so I was not able include it here.
The link is here just in case: https://www.facebook.com/CalaguasIslandAnthonysTravelAndIslandTours/?fref=ts
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Thanks for that. I’ll take a look. 🙂
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😉
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You weave magic with words!
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Thank you very much, Ambika! That compliment means a lot to me.
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Thanks Sony! It would be great if you could visit my travel blog. It’s fairly new. Please provide feedback if possible. Here’s the link: https://chalainblog.wordpress.com/
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Calaguas Island is truly a paradise for beach lovers. Just by looking at the photos melts our stress away. How much more if we were actually there!
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Please be there soon. I’m sure the both of you will love it
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This post made my day, I can really relate to the girl, during my first encounter with big waves I just released my scream without hesitation, but those were the days when I started travelling. Pero ngayon sanay na ako sa dagat di na ako takot. Hahaha. But this post really encourages me to contrive for my visit to Calaguas very soon. Thank you for sharing! Super ang ganda, I believe you have given justice to the place since you captured it stunningly.
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Moral lesson: If you don’t face your fears, you can’t conquer them–ever!
Siguro nasa dugo ng adventurers like us ang maging daredevil. hehehe
Thank you for the compliment!
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All I can say is WOW!
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Hey, what have you been up to lately?
Thank you for the kind words and the visit.
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Haha! I think you have to check my blog to find out 😉 Cheers!
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The colors of the water… clear and blue. Awesome! Great post!
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Thank you! Ang ganda talaga ho sa Calaguas!
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There are really a lot of wonderful places in the Philippines. It made me more excited to visit these places, hopefully soon. Salamat sir for sharing. 🙂
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Maraming salamat din for appreciating the post. I’m humbled.
Looking forward to seeing your post about your Calaguas experience!
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sana nga po sir.someday 🙂
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