Saturday, November 9, 2013

Puting Buhangin also known as Kuwebang Lampas-Pagbilao, Quezon Province

Front Beach
Our first destination for our Borawa-Dampalitan-Puting Buhangin Islands Adventure was the Puting Buhangin also known as Kuwebang Lampas. Among the three islands the finest sand is in this Island, Puting Buhangin or White Beach. This island has a cave called Kuwebang Lampas because the mountain made of limestone with a huge hole, which makes it looks like a cave. Kuweba in English means cave and Lampas means through. The passage has been formed by waves. That’s why during high tide visitors should be careful because it is almost covered by the water.

Front Beach
The view coming from the cave is stunning, very panoramic. On the right side there is another short stretch of shoreline, white sand too. We tried to reach that area, as we were walking we saw crabs, fishes, shells, the marine ecosystem is so rich and half way I saw a sea snake (walo-walo) crawling near a crab. I got scared that we decided to come back to the cave.

Kuwebang Lampas
Right Side of Kuwebang Lampas
On the side of the island facing the Pagbilao point of entry, the shoreline is different, it’s rocky. If you would come from this entry the trail is rocky and muddy. You have to trek. The light house can be seen from this side. My friend and I went to this side but we went back to the camp site because it was already getting dark, but she asked our other friend to come with her and they explored this side of the island. Some tourists coming from Pagbilao, this is their point of entry. But in our case we took the tour coming Padre Burgos that's why we dropped off the front beach.



While we were resting on the sand we saw a cat climbing the coconut tree. So we took picture of it. Nice cat knows how to climb with style.


One of our companions said that he knows how to eat sea urchin because when he was in Bohol he was taught how to clean and eat it. Our group decided to get some sea urchins, the good thing in this island the tourists can go fishing and collect some sea shells without fee. We saw some had fishing rods, catching fish. Eating the sea urchins was a challenge for each of us; all of them said that the taste was like of oyster. I cheated didn't try it, maybe someday I could.



The water is crystal clear that we could see the sand clearly. We enjoyed snorkeling because too many fish and they were literally swimming with us.


We spent the night in here; the tents were included in the entrance and overnight fee of 180.00 pesos per head. We were 7 and we got 3 tents, the zipper of the one we got was broken. I called the attention of the caretaker he said he would look for another one and we should not get worry because during the night he would transfer our tents to the open cottages. But sad to say he didn’t do what he said, the lesson you should bring your own tent. I covered the tent with a shawl. It's good the island is safe although in the middle of of the night the rain fell. Stargazing and endless talking were the activities of us during the night. 



In this island it’s a real survivor way of living. The grills for barbecue and stove for cooking are on the ground. The bathrooms are just two, one for boys and one for girls, no lights and not so clean. They have makeshift shower room made of coconut leaves without roof, the flooring is the weeds. Using the bathroom one has to pay 10.00 pesos for urinating and 20.00 for pooping.  No free water for rinsing, one container of water not purified is 50.00 pesos. That’s why before you go to this island better bring your own water, what we did was we used the purified water that we brought. Purified water is 55.00 pesos in Vista Playa, asked your boatmen to buy some for you. At night there were mosquitoes because there is a swamp in the middle of the island where mangroves are. Don’t forget to bring your own lights/rechargeable lamps for there is no electricity, extra batteries for gadgets and camera, mosquito repellent and sunblock cream too. The irony was that the signal of the smart telecommunication company (3G) in this island was strong that we could do live streaming and video calling, different from Manila. 
Have Fun and Enjoy your stay in this island.












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