Violet Voyager: March 2015

At last, almost a year of just staying indoors and adjusting to my new environment, it's now time to reunite with nature and TRAVEL!

As soon as 2015 started I told myself this year would be a year of TRAVEL, since 2014 became a year of FANGIRLING (and I did it to the extreme!!!)

And to start that TRAVEL 2015 goal... this came to the picture.

Well not literally this picture but this is just how it was described to me till I saw the real thing

Zambales is a province in the Central Luzon region with its capital, Iba. It is the second largest among the seven provinces of Central Luzon. The province's name came from the word zambal which refers to the language spoken by the early Austronesian inhabitants of the place. A contending version states that the name was derived from the word samba, meaning worship, because the Spanish supposedly found the native inhabitants to be highly superstitious; worshiping the spirits of their ancestors. (from Wikipedia)

Anawangin Cove is located near Barangay Pundaquit, 2206 San Antonio, Zambales. It is a crescent shaped cove in San Antonio, Zambales, Philippines. Anawangin Cove is famous for the lush pine forest surrounding its white-sand beach and crystal clear waters. Rugged mountains add to the mystic landscape of Anawangin Cove. (from Facebook Anawangin Cove Page)

We went there via Victory Liner Pasay Station. We rode the 11:30 pm trip to Iba, Zambales. It was a more or less 4hour trip (since It was night and yes minimal traffic) and since it was a long ride and it was dark (nothing to see rhat much) we decided to sleep on our way there. There is one stop over in Lubao, Pampanga called Double Happiness (I bet movie geeks are hey! That's a movie) but anyways, they sell hot lugaw & other hot meals 24/7 and they have a huge CR for those who wanna break free!

We arrived at San Antonio, Zambales at around 4am. Since boat rides start at 6-7am, we have decided (prior to our trip) that we would stay in our friend's house to spend breakfast as well and have a good rest & get ready for the real adventure!

The fantastic view of my friend's backyard

After our good morninght sleep we went to the shore to ride the boat, we were a group of 13 so we got a big boat .

We got a cheap deal since our friend is a local & had several trips with the bangka owners already. Our contact person for the bangka is Ate Olive, you can contact her at 09065156823. It was not just a transfer but we had an island hoping tour. First stop, the island has a lot of stone formations that we decided to have a guess what?!?! PICTURE PICTURE!!!

Next stop is the famous Capones Isalnd with it's lighthouse!

We were able to go inside the lighthouse, but I recommend those with claustrophobia & hypertension or heart ailments to pass this one and just enjoy the view from below. I'll be totally honest and tell you I wasn't able to get to the very top or the giewing deck simply because I was very tired already & I was worried about my freaking fonewho unfortunately swam before I even did. So yeah totally perspiring a lot during that time and I was HEAVY! But my friends were willing to give me a helping hand (then of course laugh after) but I decided to conserve my energy nonetheless same thing you can see from the viewing deck even without going in there! 😊

Then after a few pictures we headed down back to our boat and headed directly to Anawangin cove.

From there they charge PHP 50 for day tour and additional PHP 100 for overnight (total of PHP 150).

Then we decided to rent a cottage (Costs PHP 300, but they forgot to charge us for the cottge rent. hahaha we just remembed when we were already on board the trike to the bus stop) but you can opt to just pitch your tent in the camping grounds which is a bit farther for FREE! (but if you want to be near the beach then just rent a cotage & pitch your tent near it! Like we did!)

The whole day was spent with laughte rest & swimming! Of course we had meals too. We bought charcoal from rhe market & brought also some cook ware. We bought also meat & other raw ingredients to cook it there (well i'm used to this because of our college community immersion or COPAR we only had charcoal as oven and believe it or not we can cook even spagetti & tinola with it. I actually mastered the art of making it hotter and sustaining the coal's fire)

I feel it in my finger... I feel it in my toes... <3

But if you're not that kind of adventurous you can opt to buy food from the food stalls. Though they sell it a little higher (similar to Manila's prices in Jolly jeeps in Makati) they also sell utensils so if you run out of plates paper plates are ready. But then i recommend just bring your own plate & clean it afterwards. We had fun with drinks as well till the night fell. And since we were up so early we also retired as soon as the sun said good bye.

The next day we woke up and tried swimming in the sun! It was indeed relaxing! Then we decided to view the place & have some pictures taken. And yes when you look at the pictures you will surely say it is postcard quality, no matter how amateur the photo is shot!

It actually looks like a postcard from another country,maybe like New Zeland or somewhere in Texas. It just have that feel.

Then we went back by the boat we rented last time. It was also nice that we were also able to take a quick shower there before heading back to manila. We rode a trike back to the main road and a bus again to Dau area then from there a Victory Liner bus again to Pasay. Though there may be buses that go straight from San Antonio to Cubao but usually they get full already before reaching San Antonio, so if you're a smaller group may be you could sacrifice a little time staying in the middle if you wanna return earlier!