Calaguas is a group of island located in the province of Camarines Norte. It includes three major islands namely Tinaga Island, Guintinua Island and Maculabo Island and some other small islets.
Tinaga Island is the most famous among the three major island due to its popular long stretch of white sand called Mahabang Buhangin which literally means “long beach”.
Our Journey to Calaguas:
Our group, consisted of 6 persons, were mostly based in Makati, so we decided to meet up at Guadalupe. Our plan was to take a bus ride bound to Daet, Camarines Norte. There are several bus companies offering this service route, but we decided to ride the Philtranco bus. We took the 9PM trip in their terminal in Pasay, the last trip for the night. It was an 8-9 hour cold bus ride.
Now there are two jump off points going to the island. First is through the town of Paracale, wherein the boat ride will take an hour and a half. While the other jump off point is through the town of Vinzons, which will take two hours.
Our preferred jump off point was the town of Paracale, where we have hired a boat man in advanced to take us to the island.
At around 6 in the morning, we got off the bus at the Talobatib Junction. It’s just a 30 minute bus ride going to Paracale. But first we ate breakfast at the local carideria.
Since we came in very early, there was no bus available to take us to our next destination. Good thing that there were tricycle available around the area where we got off.
When we got to the town of Paracale, we contacted our boat man and asked to buy us our water supply for our stay and a bunch of ice. We went to the local market and bought everything we needed for our stay in the island.
One thing i love most about the province is that people seemed to be friendlier, so while were doing our shopping at the local market, we had some funny moments with the sales ladies.
We met up with our boat man in the fishing port of the town. When everything was in place, we started our 1 and a half hour boat ride journey with such excitement.
Calaguas Group of Islands
Several minutes and a thousand waves after, we got to see some beautiful islands. They were indeed beautiful beyond belief.
When we arrived in Mahabang Buhangin, we were all in awe. It’s as if, what were seeing was not real. It was the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been to.
So the name speak for itself, it’s literally a long stretch of white sand beach.
After spending some time taking pictures of the surrounding (as we got really excited about the place), we helped our boat man unload all our stuff and settled down on the resort.
After eating our lunch, we played volleyball and dodge ball with the local kids. They were really friendly. :)
In the afternoon, we decided to have a little tour in the nearby islands.
The first island that we went to was technically a part of the island that were staying.
This part of the island is a little rocky but the view and the water were still spectacular.
The next island that we went to was really good. There were hills that one can trek up and it gives you a 360 view of the surrounding islands.
Our island hopping was cut off short because of the rain, we had to go back as the waves were getting really strong.
The sun was already setting when we got back. The sky was beautiful.
For our second day, we trekked the little hill in the island and watch the sunrise unfold its beauty.
The trek was fairly easy, with just a little hint of challenge as some part of the trail were really muddy and slippery.
We stayed for a couple of minutes and watched the sun rise. Then we explored the hills.
Overlooking the resorts
When we got to the resort, we had our breakfast and we spent our whole time in the water.
One of the many group shots we did on the beach. We surely had a blast. Thank you Calaguas.
DIY Calaguas Trip Calaguas is a group of island located in the province of Camarines Norte. It includes three major islands namely Tinaga Island, Guintinua Island and Maculabo Island and some other small islets.