Hi! Some tips when taking a nature trip to Nagsasa Cove,
Capones Island, Anawangin, etc.
Nagsasa Cove is amongst the plenty beautiful (shall I call it) islets found in Zambales. This is the first time I am travelling out of the metro to hit the beach without my family so I was a bit nervous and thrilled. Upon checking the schedule of bus departures, Victory Liner offers a 6:30AM ride from Cubao to Zambales (which is the most favorable time for us since we do have different schedules on a Friday).
Tip #1 : Best time to pick when travelling from Metro to
Zambales (for a weekend vacay) are the buses on Saturday early morn (1:00AM-2:00AM)
for the following reasons:
- Cool travelling temperature
- Swift traffic
- Earlier arrival, more time for fun!
- Chances of not getting caught in large, forceful waves
Bus left around 7:00AM and we arrived in San Antonio,
Zambales 11:30AM, 30 minutes later than our projected 4 hours travel by land. P260.00
base fare plus P5.00 insurance for this ride. When we reached San Antonio, we
went straight to the market and bought everything we needed.
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San Antonio Municipal
Hall. Market is located behind this establishment :)
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Tip #2 : On top of your agreed food, see below list of
MUST-HAVEs that you can get from the market:
- Charcoal
- Matches / lighters
- Pork / chicken / fish
- Barbecue sticks when grilling
- Dishwashing liquid / sponge
- Salt / pepper / vinegar / soy sauce / seasonings
- Bread / coffee / powdered juices / snacks
After getting everything we needed, we were so loaded
with all our goods and setting lunch on the road is a no-no. We hit nearby
7eleven and grab our quick lunch. A local young guy made arrangements with Ron
on getting aboard their tricycle to Pundaquit and their boat as well to Nagsasa
Cove. I really find this place accommodating and fellow is just so good and
generous. Since we were 6, we rented 2 tricycles but the young I am referring
to a while ago, alongside with his uncle (I think) are just too good that they
let us ride 3 on each tryke adding another tryke for our bags / supplies /
goods making us pay nothing for the third tryke. P30.00 fare each for a 15
minutes tryke ride from San Antonio to Pundaquit.
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Ride to Pundaquit. :)
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We had some discussions on boat rate for some time and after
a series of bargaining, we arrived with:
P3200.00 ride to Nagsasa with side trip to Capones Island.
They have government-issued rates for all the tours and I must
say that what we got is not a bad deal after all, though some are arguing that
this is a bit cost-y compared to what they had. I don’t think that this cost is
BAD at all looking at the safety side of the ride. 6 pax on a boat for more
than 10 people, is it bad? :)
Plus, we get to experience Capones for just an additional cost of P200.00 (on
top of P3,000.00 they are charging us for Nagsasa Cove trip). I don’t want to
risk my life riding a smaller boat to save a petty amount. :) The usual rate they
charge for a big boat is P400.00 each (with minimum of 10 passengers on board) that
makes it P4000.00, right? So charging P3000.00 for a group of 6 people riding
on a boat good for more than 10 people is NEVER a bad deal at all. :) Pundaquit is the best
place to buy ICE and drinking water (they will let you borrow those blue
containers with faucet for a certain rental fee which you will remit after
returning those containers).
On our boat ride to Nagsasa, since t’was around 2PM, the
seas are already wavy. We are moving against current making waters splash into
our boat. So:
Tip #3 : Never forget to bring plastic to save your personal
stuff from getting wet. This applies to all your gadgets / even whole bags. I
highly suggest you change clothes in Pundaquit (if you have no plans of getting
those clothes wet) before riding the boat because a late lunch time to travel
is the most chaotic as per the bangkeros.
We arrived in Nagsasa, wet with salt water even before diving on to the waters.
That’s the reason why I am telling you guys to leave Manila earlier for you to
get the most comfortable boat rides on a morning.
Our ride by boat took us a little more than an hour but the
scenery and all the islets you will pass by are all fascinating and incredibly
awesome! :)
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Us, onboarded to
Nagsasa! :)
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| Touchdown! :) |
Once we got our feet on the shores of Nagsasa, friendly
folks immediately helped us unload our things and set a table for us. We started
unpacking goods and as FIRST TIME tributes in this arena, we are all afraid of
starvation. :P so, 1st things, first.. We set up fire for our food!!
:D
Tip #4 : If you know among yourselves that you are not
capable of making fire, never never forget to bring the following:
- Charcoal
- Newspapers
- Lighters
- Grilling tray (parilya / ihawan)
- Kerosene (only if you really needed to)
We cooked / grill all the food for our dinner and set up our
tents and swam and had fuuun.
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Loise, Ron and Jerome
setting up tents.
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Exhaust all the
resources! Gawing tripod ang patungan ng ulam! :P
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| Failed jumpshots, FTW! :D |
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Not-so-sunset, but
not-so-bad. :)
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It rained that night and my tent was filled with water (not
really my own, thanks Jay for lending me yours :P) We were not saddened by it,
but rather, we enjoy every raindrop that fell on our skins as we lavish every
moment of our stay. Good food, good drink, good company, good place. :)
The following morning was a bit hectic for us because we
were scheduled to be fetched by 9:30AM. So, we woke up and hurried all our
business. We ate, set up our things, and began swimming again and took a small
walk to get a better view of things.
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Resourcefulness.
HAHAHA! Man-made tripod for us 6 to be in one photo. :)
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Me with the beautiful sight
of Nagsasa cove. :)
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| Sight of Nagsasa Cove |
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| Anong sabi ng dalawang ito? ;) |
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| Bidding Nagsasa our final goodbyes. :) |
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| Hanggang sa muli, Nagsasa! |
The locals charged us 100 each for the overnight stay and
100 for the electricity we used for light in the cottage. Worth all the fun :) After bidding Nagsasa
our goodbyes, we headed to our side trip, Capones Island.
Capones is the
nearest island from Pundaquit and its shores is primarily composed of pebbles,
rocks of different forms and kinds, almost no sands. We had our lunch there and
tiptoed through its waters while the boat we rented fetched other clients. :)
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| Capones Island |
Our short stay in Capones surely brought us lotsa fun. The
waves are strong it can drag you to the shores with one blow. The waters are
clear, pure of life. The rock formations we had to crawl to reach the other end
of the island. All fun! :)
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| Sun-kissed. ♥ |
What an experience! :)
For only P2,000.00 each, we get to see these wonderful places in Zambales. :)
On our way home, we again were fetched by our bangkeros and head back to Pundaquit. There,
we bathe, and get ready ourselves for home. They charge P10.00 each for
bathroom use. :)
Going back to Manila was a little different route. From
Pundaquit, we again rode tricycle to San Antonio proper. There, buses to
Olongapo are lined up (there are no trips straight to Manila from Zambales) for
P40.00 each. From Olongapo, we walked to Victory Liner, rode bus to Manila for
P260.00.
MUST READs:
- Victory Liner in Cubao allows passengers on board even without tickets. So, do not waste time lining up on that ticket booth.
- We missed to take photographs on the small lake in Nagsasa. :)
- As per the native Aetas we talked to, there are various falls located in Nagsasa too. We just missed those because we failed to schedule everything before going there. One is 30 minutes walk from camp site and the other may take 2 hours trek and is best to check during December :)
- Check Camara Island/Cove as per kuyas, during low tide seasons (July/August) rock formation underneath the waters shows up and connects Caramoan to the nearby rock formation / island-like. :)
- Don’t miss Capones’ lighthouse for we failed to drop by that :( kulang oraaas!
Sharing you guys this wonderful experience and I hope to get
to other places the soonest to write something good like this again. :)
