Calaguas: The Quiet Paradise of the Pacific

It was a stormy night when we departed from a gasoline station along EDSA. We nearly thought of cancelling our trip but we replied that we’ll push through. Our van departed and the next day, we saw the sun smiling at us at Vinzons river. We had a breakfast of silog meals before the 2-hour boat ride to Calaguas. My dream is to visit the Pacific islands offcoast of Luzon known as Four CAs: Cagbalete–Calaguas-Caramoan–Catanduanes.

Actually, Calaguas is a group of islands off coast of Vinzons municipality in Camarines Norte. But the famous tourist spot, a powdery white sand beach cove called Mahabang Buhangin (Long Beach) is located in Tinaga Island (the one famously known as Calaguas). The “lime waters” were the reason why it was called in Spanish “Calaguas“.

We reached the cove before noon, and I already felt the serene atmosphere. Few cottages dot the coast with some huts selling basic needs, showing that it is still unspoiled and far from commercialization.

The sand is powdery white, almost close to Boracay’s except that the latter has maintained coast and more fine. It was high noon and we took refuge at the trees near the coast. We carried our bags and the boatmen started pitching tents while others are busy preparing our lunch.

While waiting, Dennie and I roamed the beach to buy some refreshments and chilled at one of the cottages with our bags held. We’re still sleepy after a long boat ride.

Finally, we had our lunch and took line in the queue to pick rice and viands. Some returned for second round, so was I.

We’re full already and rest a while. After fixing our things in the tent, we took a nap and at 3pm, we frolicked the waters of Calaguas for some serious dipping…lol

We spent few hours at the beach and after that, our driver/tourguide called us to ride on the same boat to Balagbag island for some hiking. If you’re facing the beach and look at your right, that’s the tiny island.

We caught sunset at the island and as we returned to our boats, some did snorkeling at the bay. As I felt tired of our hike, I leisurely watched them eating adobo and drinking tuba (coconut toddy) with boatmen and shared some stories of why did we pushed our Calaguas tour. I simply told them that we’re just humble employees at a private company deserving a weekend break and unwind far from the metropolis. (n_n)

Going back to our tent, it was nighttime and we gazed at the night sky full of stars. You can only hear chattering sounds of millenials while we had our own hut where we hid our bottles of liquor and continued our second round of drinking session. Dinner was finally served and we took our servings of Bicolano dish.

I really enjoyed our meals so far as I’m fond of dishes with coconut milk, because my father is a Bicolano and he used to cook those meals at home, where his specialty is ginataang santol/corned beef santol/sinantulan (wild mangosteen in coconut milk).

We continued drinking and bought one more bottle of Red Horse until we got tipsy. My friend slept at the tent first while I still have time to write my blog post in a notebook. After washing up, he initially asked me to wake him up at midnight, in time for his birthday, but since I forgot to turn on my phone’s alarm and powerbank was already drained, I failed to wake him up. The next day, he told me that he woke up on his own and had chat with millenials and boat men, sharing their stories of their lives and so much more.

I woke up alone in the tent and felt a bit of headache from last night’s drinking session. He offered me some coffee and had chat with our tentmates, ladies from Davao who also availed the Calaguas package tour. I was astounded to learn that they took flight to Manila just to experience how serene is Calaguas and they were never disappointed. As a matter of fact, they’ll still avail promo fares and discover more of the beaches around the country. We shared some travel tips and I felt happy that we had the same interests especially in backpacking.

Though our initially availed Caramoan tour package did’t push through, luckily we’re offered the Calaguas Tour Package at Php3000/pax for couple joiners and we didn’t regret it. Thanks Zero Two Travel for a relaxing 2D1N trip. They’re very accommodating and took utmost care of their customers. ‘Til next time! (n_n)