How to Get there
Our first destination was Borawan Island which was around 20 minutes from the small port. Our boatmen told us that Borawan is a coined term for Boracay and Palawan because Borawan Island has the beauty of the white sand beaches of Boracay and the spectacular rock formations of Palawan. There is a minimal entrance fee of P89.00 upon entry to the island. Cottages and beach huts are available and situated along the beach for a certain price. But if you are not staying for long, just take a stroll to the long white sandy shore of the island. You may also indulge yourself into small and short adventures by climbing the huge coralline boulders and take advantage of the beautiful sceneries on top. Its sands are not as fine and as white as some otherbeaches. Beach swimming is personally not recommended because the beach suddenly deepens which you may not be able to notice once you start enjoying the waves. The waves are also slightly turbulent which may turn off your beach experience.
Fifteen to twenty minutes from Borawan Island is Dampalitan Island. The beach here has finer sands and calmer water ̶ perfect for swimming. Because of its clear pristine water and the presence of many shallow beach creatures, the place is also perfect for snorkeling and ecological appreciation. Although we were unlucky to witness the sunset because of the intermittent weather, we enjoyed the fresh buko juice and the stories shared while swinging in the pre-installed hummocks.We have also decided to spend the night in the huts available. For P800.00, the cottages are bit pricey because they are just made up of bamboo and roofed by nipa such that it becomes very cold during dawn (especially that we are not prepared for a camping-type of accommodation). As recommended by our boatmen, we already brought our dinner (plus beer and chips) since meals are not available in the island. We set-up a bonfire, ate our dinner and enjoyed the starry night with a bottle or two of beer. After a long night of stories over beer, we dozed off in our bamboo-floored cottages.
Kwebang Lampas
is the best beach among the three. It is a cove with calm and clear water. At
one end of the cove is a short cave. There is not much things to do inside the
cave but take pictures. Although it is the best beach among the three, be
cautious with stinging jellyfish which may accompany your swim. By the way, the
beach owner will charge P50.00 per head for the entrance and another P50.00 for
a gallon of water if you decide to take a bath in their cubicles.
Because of our pre-dated appointment with a friend in Tiaong, we had to cut our trip short so we can ride the earliest jeep travelling to Lucena City.
Tips:
- If you are planning an overnight at Dampalitan Island, bring comfortable and portable sleeping stuffs.
- There are places to stay in Padre Burgos such as Tamarind tree and Villa Anita, but these are around 10-20 minutes from the beach (based on locals)
Based on
previous entries from other travel bloggers, the trip from Manila to Padre
Burgos in Quezon Province takes about 5 hours. With this information, we rode
the 6:00 am bus of JAC Liner to Lucena City. There are not much of sceneriesto anticipate
while on the bus ride except for the stature of Mt. Banahaw and Mt. Cristobal
which are best seen when you arrive the town of Tiaong.
It was around
9:30am when we arrived at Lucena Grand Terminal. We then took our breakfast on
fastfoods within the vicinity. Aside from fastfoods such as Jollibee and
Chowking, you may also trycheaper carenderias inside the terminal. They cater native and traditional
viands such as longganisangLucban, adobo, sinigang, and many others.
After eating
breakfast, we rode another bus that will take us to the town proper of Padre
Burgos. This bus ride took another hour. Warning though, the bus that we
alighted seems to be old, rusty, bumpy, and they play loud broken music. However,
you may choose a number of alternative buses and vans that may drop you to
Padre Burgos. Some buses wait around twenty to thirty minutes before leaving so
better ask the dispatchers or drivers first before choosing a bus.
Upon arrival at
Padre Burgos Town proper, we immediately asked the tricycle drivers to refer us
to any transient house that we may stay for an overnight. The tricycle driver
then took us to an informal local travel agent. After a while of discussion, we
finally decided an itinerary we planned to start after lunch.
What we did
 |
| Borawan Island's long white sand beaches |
Our first destination was Borawan Island which was around 20 minutes from the small port. Our boatmen told us that Borawan is a coined term for Boracay and Palawan because Borawan Island has the beauty of the white sand beaches of Boracay and the spectacular rock formations of Palawan. There is a minimal entrance fee of P89.00 upon entry to the island. Cottages and beach huts are available and situated along the beach for a certain price. But if you are not staying for long, just take a stroll to the long white sandy shore of the island. You may also indulge yourself into small and short adventures by climbing the huge coralline boulders and take advantage of the beautiful sceneries on top. Its sands are not as fine and as white as some otherbeaches. Beach swimming is personally not recommended because the beach suddenly deepens which you may not be able to notice once you start enjoying the waves. The waves are also slightly turbulent which may turn off your beach experience.
 |
| An almost rainy afternoon in Dampalitan Island |
 |
| The Dampalitan beach during a low tide afternoon |
 |
| Sun rising over the beach in Dampalitan |
 |
| The sunrise covered by thick clouds at Dampalitan shore |
Fifteen to twenty minutes from Borawan Island is Dampalitan Island. The beach here has finer sands and calmer water ̶ perfect for swimming. Because of its clear pristine water and the presence of many shallow beach creatures, the place is also perfect for snorkeling and ecological appreciation. Although we were unlucky to witness the sunset because of the intermittent weather, we enjoyed the fresh buko juice and the stories shared while swinging in the pre-installed hummocks.We have also decided to spend the night in the huts available. For P800.00, the cottages are bit pricey because they are just made up of bamboo and roofed by nipa such that it becomes very cold during dawn (especially that we are not prepared for a camping-type of accommodation). As recommended by our boatmen, we already brought our dinner (plus beer and chips) since meals are not available in the island. We set-up a bonfire, ate our dinner and enjoyed the starry night with a bottle or two of beer. After a long night of stories over beer, we dozed off in our bamboo-floored cottages.
Before last
night ended, we contracted our boatmen for another trip to Kwebang Lampas.
Normally, the trip would only cover boat ride to Borawan and Dampalitan Island
and additional trip to Kwebang Lampas cost us another P600.00, a total of
P2400.00. I think we could have haggled the price but the cost actually also
included the “service charge” for cooking and transporting our dinner and
breakfast from Padre Burgos to Dampalitan Island.
Kwebang Lampas
is the best beach among the three. It is a cove with calm and clear water. At
one end of the cove is a short cave. There is not much things to do inside the
cave but take pictures. Although it is the best beach among the three, be
cautious with stinging jellyfish which may accompany your swim. By the way, the
beach owner will charge P50.00 per head for the entrance and another P50.00 for
a gallon of water if you decide to take a bath in their cubicles. Because of our pre-dated appointment with a friend in Tiaong, we had to cut our trip short so we can ride the earliest jeep travelling to Lucena City.
Tips:
- If you are planning an overnight at Dampalitan Island, bring comfortable and portable sleeping stuffs.
- There are places to stay in Padre Burgos such as Tamarind tree and Villa Anita, but these are around 10-20 minutes from the beach (based on locals)
- Be careful of the jellyfish floating (:))
- We spent around 2100 per head (we were four) for the whole trip including transpo and meals.
- We spent around 2100 per head (we were four) for the whole trip including transpo and meals.
