When I only had a week to my birthday, I constantly searched for a quick weekend getaway that is close to Manila. Then I found Alibijaban Island in San Andress, Quezon. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough transport information in the web so I did not take a risk. I will bring some officemates with me, hence, I couldn’t afford for a possible misadventure. A day before the trip, we then settled for Borawan Island via the Municipality of Padre Burgos in Quezon Province.
After some research, we found out that we can do some island hopping to the neighboring Dampalitan Beach and Puting Buhangin (with Kuwebang Lampas).
We boarded a bus to Lucena City one Saturday morning without any itinerary and contacts at hand. I asked my friends to bring with them at least ₱2,000 as budget (that includes emergency fund already).
From Lucena Grand Terminal, we transferred to a minibus bound for Unisan and got off at the bus stop in Padre Burgos. The bus stop happened to be close to the Tricycle terminal. We asked one of the on-duty trike drivers if there is a closer resort for us to stay. The Tamarind Tree Resort was nearby and one of them took us to gate of the resort, which is facing the shore of Barangay Basiao.
We couldn’t find any caretaker so the trike driver suggested us to rent a tent and spend the night in Borawan Island instead, which we all agreed. Luckily, Kuya Niño was in the beach that time, fixing some of his outrigger bancas. He offered to bring us to Borawan Island Resort for ₱1,200, including the stopover in Dampalitan Island. Yeah, it was a bit expensive – but we had no other choice then, so we took it. We also rented a tent from him. Kuya Niño told us that he couldn’t bring us to Puting Buhangin since the sea is quite rough.
Dampalitan Island
We bought some supplies from the market then we set sail after few preparations.
We arrived in Dampalitan beach after few minutes. It was calm and tourist-free. In fact, we almost owned “Eden” during that visit. The water wasn’t that imposing though, because it was a bit rocky below. However, I liked the overall impression – the white sand beach with grown, tall pine trees (think of Anawangin, this is just a way silent).
There were residing families that manages the island. They took care of the sanitation and maintenance in exchange of the ₱60 entrance fee. There were also cabanas available for rent and you can opt to stay overnight for an additional fee.
We waited until sunset to witness something that, according to the rumors, is spectacular to behold. Sadly, the clouds weren’t cooperative – it blocked the sky from our perspective. We sailed to Borawan with a bit of disappointment.
Borawan Beach (Borawan Island Resort)
It was already dark when we reached Borawan Beach in Pagbilao Chica Island. The guard, Kuya Art, discussed us about the fees and the guidelines while staying at the beach. The entrance fee was ₱120 per person, unlimited use of fresh water and/or shower is ₱70, and the camping fee is ₱200/tent. He offered us a cabana for ₱1,000 for an overnight use but we did not buy it due to budget constraints.
Since there were only few guests in the island, they did not start the generator so we had to persevere the dim light of the makeshift kerosene lamp and candles. Yeah, we didn’t have any flash lights and we were saving our phones’ batteries. The moon shone brightly that night so we were a bit lucky.
We also spent some good time together with a bottle of brandy after dinner.
Though with a very little sleep that night, everyone seemed really energetic in the morning and was game for photo shoot.
Borawan, by the way (you probably heard of it already), comes from BORAcay and PalaWAN. They say that it possesses (or once possessed) the beauty of Boracay’s Whitebeach and the majestic limestone massifs of Palawan. If you’d been to Boracay and Palawan already, this will not impress you – not me either. I enjoyed my stay because of the good company that I had. As I always say, It isn’t all about the destination but with the people you’re sharing the experience with.
We bid goodbye to the island after the short beach bumming. The waves got larger at noon so we decided to return to the town. We texted our boatman to fetch us.
We also made some quick side trip to Hinguiwin Falls and I will share more about it later.
How to get there
- Jac Liner Bus from Buendia or Araneta Center Cubao to Lucena Grand Terminal – ₱220/pax
- Minibus to Unisan and get off at the bus stop (in front of QCRB Bank) in Padre Burgos town proper – ₱35/pax
- Tricyle to Barangay Basiao – ₱10/pax
- Boat Transfer to Borawan –
- ₱800/boat (Borawan only up to 10 pax)
- ₱1,200/boat (Borawan + Dampalitan up to 10 pax)
- ₱1,800/boat (Borawan + Dampalitan + Puting Buhangin up to 10 pax)