All The Way To Caramoan...

After having a light breakfast (meaning no rice), my friend and I left Calabanga to Naga where we would be catching a van in CBD (Central Bus District) going to Sabang. The trip to Sabang port took more than an hour, and the trip was really tiring. Upon reaching the port of Sabang, there were a group of men who approached passengers. They would served as our human transport to the boat so that we won't get wet. This practice felt so ancient and backward, brought me back to the age of slaves. I had no qualms actually of getting wet, however it is the practice there, so whom was I to question the tradition. A guy probably smaller that me, loaded me on his back and brought me to the boat for a fee of 10 pesos, I gave him 20 anyway.

It was a 9:30 AM trip but the boat left the Sabang few minutes past 10 AM. The trip was not really a tough and bumpy ride. It happened that the boat we took had no back rest, so we were moving with the rhythm of the sea with no back support. My back took the strain. With a slight back ache, we reached the port of Caramoan in Guijalo. We were supposed to be picked up by a white L300 van to bring us in Gota Village Resort where I made a reservation a day prior to the trip. The van was nowhere to be found when we arrived. Since, we were already hungry and it was already lunch time, we explored the Guijalo town for some food. As we settled for some bread and chips, the van appeared, picked us up with few more passengers and brought us to Gota beach. The trip was more or less 30 minutes. The Gota beach actually serves as the gate to other islands. One has to pay 300 pesos if you are not staying in the Gota Resort.

I was very much impressed with the village resort. It is composed of 50 plus wooden cottages which are really pretty for a local standard, they are scattered on a hilly settings that made it really picturesque. This is not the normal local resort that I expected when we were deciding as to where to stay in Caramoan. And I am surprised that this is actually a government-owned resort. After enjoying the cottage that we reserved, we settled and we then headed to the resto near the beach for our lunch and we then went to the marine office for our boat that would bring us to the different islands of Caramoan. The boat that we rented was too small, only 3 could be accommodated. It was good enough since it would just be a half day trip and the sea was not that rough.

The Caramoan islands are quite isolated from the main land Camarines Sur. This added up to the beauty of the islands, not much people, still very rugged and it's really an extension of heaven on earth for me. We were only able to visit 4 islands among many islands of Caramoan. We lack time to visit all the islands. However, the 4 islands were already good enough. It was a visual feast of rugged limestone formation, of green trees, of powdery white sand (comparable to Boracay), of clouds against blue sky, of the sun and the beautiful people of Caramoan. I love the first island that we visited, the Matukad Island, the sand there was very fine like a powdered milk, my feet was the loving the feel of that. Then we went to Lahus Island, which I immediately claimed as my favorite among all islands there. It is an island where the middle section of it was pure white sand and on two sides are limestone rock formation. Just picture perfect. Then we went near the island of Hunugan ( I think (-: ) for some snorkeling. The only thing that I really don't like there is the condition of the underwater marine life. A gathered that due to years of irresponsible fishing, either with the use of dynamite or cyanide, the corals were too damaged. But there is still hope for that, the place if properly rehabilitated would see the result probably in a decade or decades. Yes, a decade to see the corals and colorful fishes there again.

We were able to catch the sunset while we were still aboard of our small boat. It was greater than the sum of it's part. This is what I said to my friend. And she agreed.

As the dusk breaking, my friend and I decided to stay on the beach, I was like espasol there, rolling and being carefree with the powdery sand sticking to my skin. It was a very serene experience. Dinnertime came, I had a simple pasta dish which I liked, then we were able to befriend another tourists, we talked and downed the night with San Miguel beer.

Whattalife...