Destination:
Caramoan, Camarines Sur, Philippines
What to see: Beaches
Duration: 3 days and
2 nights
Price: Php 3,000.00
package tour (accommodation, food, boat, etc.) via Kuya Rico Salazar (0912 678 1930)
Companion/s: Family
Travelling with
Family
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| (L-R) Mama, Lucy, Johanna, Papa |
My family loves to
travel. We are used to driving, or rather sitting in the car while Papa drives,
and we can survive road trips as long as 24-36 hours. For this year's Semana Santa (Holy Week), we opted to go
north. Our last Holy Week destination was in Sagada and while that was really
invigorating and very apt for the season of sacrifice, Mama wanted a different
setting - beach!
The Way
Since there are seven
of us, buying plane tickets would have been so much more expensive. So we rode
aboard our Montero on the first of April. We drove to Allen, Northern Samar
where the ferries are and we had our car shipped to Matnog which is already part
of Luzon. There are several ways to reach our destination but going there, we
didn't pass through Naga City until our way home. We arrived at Sabang port, a
part of the municipality of San Jose then rode a two-hour boat trip going to
Caramoan.
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| The gang, somewhere down the road. |
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| (L-R) Mama, Papa, Epoy, Nanny, Johanna, Nic, Lucy |
That boat trip sure was a memorable one! The waves were huge and we
had to ride an improvised "ramp" from the shore to the boat that a
few men had to push. The Php 10.00 "service fee" was worth it though.
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| The "ramp" express worth Php10.00 |
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| The two-hour boat ride |
Tour package
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| Manong driver, the guide's brother |
From the port of
Caramoan, we had to ride a tricycle going to a Barangay
called Paniman. Our rented place was a small bungalow with four rooms, all of
which have their own bathrooms. We rented two since we surely won't fit inside
just one. The place was right in front of the beach where the boats would also
dock.
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| Our home for two nights |
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| Beach front accommodation |
All our meals were prepared by the guide, Kuya Rico and his wife. They
were so nice and friendly. If you would go to Caramoan, skip the bigger travel
agencies and hire Kuya Rico instead. It's so much cheaper plus you'd also be
helping him out. The boat rentals during the island hopping were also included in
the package. When we got to Paniman, we literally did not spend a single peso
and we had nothing to worry about. All we did were relax and have fun. I highly
recommend that you get your own guide.
 |
| Nothing fancy, just healthy and delicious food |
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| Nothing fancy, just healthy and delicious food |
Caramoan
The beach where we
stayed was not the white sand beach that I was dreaming of. It turns out that
it's only a docking area for boats that travel from island to island, where the
white sands are. I'll be honest with you, I didn't list all the names of the islands
that we went to but boy were they awesome! I'm not one for island hopping
adventures and I'd prefer a one-stop sort of beach but the experience was
really great, much like a hop-all-you-can adventure. There were not as much
people as I've expected and the islands were really preserved.
But the thing is,
other than the pristine white sand beaches, there's nothing else to see in that
town. There were a few souvenir shops but they were too pricey. I didn't really
buy any souvenir. Their "downtown" area was quite small but I liked
the feel of it. On the afternoon, a day before we left, we asked the guide to
take us to any snack place that served local food. He took us to a
house-turned-eatery. I believe that they only served one kind of food - kinalas. We realized later on that kinalas was a specialty in the region. Kinalas is like a regular lomi (noodles) but with different and unique
spices. It was really cheap and very tasty!
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| Foodtripin' |
My family and I were
so lucky that we went to Caramoan just in time before a storm hit Bicol region.
On our last day, all the boats were not allowed to travel anymore so we had to
ride a van from Paniman to Sabang which took about four to five hours. A lot of
the tourists had to cancel their itineraries because of the storm.
Home-bound
On our way home on
the third of April, my mom insisted on stopping by the Cagsawa Ruins.
Initially, we planned on staying one night at any place that offers hot and/or
cold springs. By late afternoon, we decided otherwise and just headed home
instead. We also stopped by CamSur Watersports Complex. I wanted to do
wakeboarding but I was the only one interested and I didn't want to enjoy while
my family waited for me to finish the short experience.
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| Cagsawa Ruins |
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| Behind us is the famous Mayon Volcano |
This ends my travel
diary for Holy Week 2015. How about you? Where did you spend the week?
Ciao!
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