Calaguas Island - Daet, Camarines Norte

Ingredients:

Plane or Bus

Hired Van or a cab or a jeepney

Boat ride

Cooking Instructions:

Several travel groups can organize your trip to Calaguas. We booked our trip with Bak-Pak Travel. It was a lot easier to get to Calaguas with their help but a DIY getting to Calaguas is not impossible. All you have to do is get yourself to Daet, take a van or a jeepney to get to Paracale, then hire a boat to take you to Calaguas island.

• Via plane travel time is an hour (Cebu Pacific has direct flights from Manila to Naga)

• Via bus travel time is 8 hours - we took a 20-seater deluxe bus (no stop overs) to get to Naga via Penablanca tours (they have their booking office in Cubao bus terminal right in front of Ali mall.) One-way trip costs Php 980as of August 2010.

• From Naga, ride a van to Daet travel time is 2 hours *Seair has direct flights from Manila to Daet but have limited flight schedules only. You may go to http://www.flyseair.com/ to check their direct Daet flights.

• From Daet, take another van this time going to Paracale - the entry point to Calaguas Island and travel time is another 2 hours

• In Paracale, hire a boat that would take you to Calaguas Island. A boat ride would cost 7k-10k roundtrip, if you were to take a big boat. A small boat would cost 4k that can hold about 4 people. - travel time 2 hours.

So our total number of hours for travel time getting to Calaguas is a whopping 8+2+2+2 = 14 hours!!


Remember, nothing worth having comes easily... But you know, you can always take a plane ride to cut down 8 hours from the total travel time.


Nutritional facts:
Calaguas Island is considered the "Boracay of the North" - We have been to Calaguas and we have seen the powdery, fine, white sand beach. People who have been to Boracay and have witnessed how surreal Calaguas is said that Calaguas is like Boracay minus the overwhelming number of tourists and the conveniences of commercialization. So, bottom line is... Calaguas is indeed like Boracay, ONLY BETTER.


Oh! Before we forget, take note of the 5 NOs in Calaguas:

1. NO electricity and running water
2. NO mobile signal
3. NO stores
4. NO decent toilets (well, as of last year..hehe)
5. and most of all.... NO PROBLEM!

I know, you might be thinking, oh...kay then! So how in the world will I get to relax if there are so many essential things that are not available on the island? I thought so too, but believe me us, it's not about the running water, or the electricity, or the stores or even the toilet that will help you cool off - it's the Island itself... *wink wink

Tents are the main accomodation and for those who are on a day tour , the island has a few cottages for rent.

And here are some photos for your viewing pleasure...

Haven't been to Boracay yet and have no plans of visiting Boracay anytime soon. We regret not having the chance to see Boracay before it was discovered. Like, we wish we were in Boracay 20 or 30 years ago and have witnessed the unspoiled beauty of the island. Still, we're lucky to have witnessed Calaguas and we hope that Calaguas would remain uncommercialized and unspoiled 20-30 years from now.