It is officially rainy season but I have not gone yet to the beach. This would be my first time after previous quarantines. Since we are already on Alert Level 1, COVID-19 test is not necessary but there are things to fulfill on the LGU for contact tracing purposes. My first beach trip was on Cagbalete, Quezon. Since I was very excited, I will take you there with me.
It was friday night when me and my friends decided to stay overnight on our friends' condo unit. This was our 2nd overnight get-together on this post-COVID-19 quarantine period. We spend the night drinking light alcoholic drinks, chatting, laughing, and ofcourse eating as if we did not have a trip on the next day. 5am, we were on the road heading to Quezon Province. There are many beaches in Quezon that can satisfy your Vitamin Sea and offers delicious delicacies of its municipalities. Having no breakfast, our first stop was on Mcdonalds along SLEX.
Such a lovely weather right? It took us 4 hours traveling from Mandaluyong to Mauban, Quezon. Upon treveling, you can see a mountain. I am not sure if it is Mt. Banahaw. Anyways, I would like to share with you what I have seen.
It was pass 9am when they went to wet market to buy some meat, fish, and fruits. Us, we strolled around the church area. Unfortunately at this time, there was a wedding going on so we can not go nearer and have a sight inside the church. For now, just appreciate the church and the vicinity though the church is under renovation.
I am not sure how long it took for them to shop; we enjoyed the place anyway. We went to tourism area afterwards for attendance confirmation and also to get such contact tracing accesorries.
We spent some time and had our boat scheduled: incoming on this day and outgoing on the next day. Cagbalete is an island so you need to ride a boat to get there.
Since we were early and their staffs were still cleaning the room, we rest for a while. And when the room was ready, we get there then prepared food and ate our lunch. In the afternoon, they went on swimming. I was with them but I prefered not to since it was raining and it was low tide. I get back and took a bath. They get back. We ate snacks and after sometime the rain stopped. The sun was not yet setting and at this time, the water level was getting too low so my friend and I went to the beach and walked on the shore. You can see that the people are almost walking on sea bed and there are sea grass and some corals.
We had fun chatting and we walked far enough. We get back now and she took a bath. We prepared dinner. I have not seen a squid as big as what they are selling here though a cook from the resort said that if not cooked rightly, it will become chewy so we let them cooked it for us.
In the evening, we stayed to a cottage free of charge. I just remembered, during the day there are times that there would be no electricity but there is supply at night. So at this time, we asked the staff if we can stay on one of the cottages. They allowed us but if only there was available. Luckily, there was. Also, we did not expect that there would be a fire dance and fireworks display. It was enjoyable.
We came back to the room at maybe 10pm and slept. On the next day, we woke up around 6am and some of them already prepared breakfast. I took some time to go to the beach to took some photos and to have a sight of sunrise.
Grateful, I have friends who are generous enough to extend their diligence. We ate scrambled egg, rice, and instant ramen. After doing some cleaning, we changed clothes and get ready for the beach. The weather was good and the water level was also in good condition. The sea was calm and not too salty though I am not a swimmer, I enjoyed it.
We stayed for hours enough on our wanting. And since it was still early, they tried to contact the boatmen to asked if we can leave earlier than scheduled so that we can stroll to lucban, eat there and buy some pasalubong. Sadly, they had a schedule for this time so we stuck to the original plan.
We then changed clothes to get ready just in case the boat arrives early but first, since it was already noon we then ate lunch. We ordered their pancit habhab and bihon for all of us and for personal order, I ordered sweet longganisa, plain rice, and egg. I enjoyed the pancits, Pancit Bihon on the left and Pancit Habhab beside it on the images below.
Afterwards, the boat arrived earlier than expected. Since it was already low tide, we need to go to other port where we can ride the boat safely. The resort arranged a service for us because the port was far compared to where we came before. It was a good ride, charged to experience. By the way, our resort where we made our accomodation was Dona Choleng Camping Resort.
We then rode the van and proceed to Lucban, Quezon. Lucban is famous to its Pahiyas Festival and Lucban Longganisa. We went straight to Buddy's Restaurant and ordered plates of plain rice, Pork Kare-kare, Sisig Plate, and a bilao consists of Pansit Lucban, Pork Bbq, and Vegetable Lumpia. They are all delicious. Due to hungryness, I had only an image of bilao to share.
While waiting for our food to serve, we strolled around and seen Lucban Church. The mass was on going, as far as we want to come in, we could not because of us wearing shorts. We just appreciate the place.
After eating, we were on the rode going home. I went home around 9pm. We had a good time and waiting for the next. This is us at Cagbalete Island.
Some photos grabbed from friends
