A Great Day at San Antonio, Zambales (Part III): Anawangin Cove
The last stop in our San Antonio, Zambales trip is Anawangin Cove. After the group had their share of sunshine, sea breeze, great views and lots of fun at Camara and Capones Islands, we then headed to Anawangin Cove where we are going to have lunch and spend the rest of our remaining hours before going back to Jimz Resthouse in Pundaquit.
Anawangin Cove is one of the coves created by the fateful eruption of the nearby Mount Pinatubo in the 1990s. Hence, with its pretty landscape of near white sand beach and agoho trees, the island attests to the saying that out of bad comes good sometimes.
I read about Anawanging Cove several years back from one of the top travel blogs, and I was sort of expecting that it would still look the way it was described back then--an islet of tranquility, where one can spend hours of peaceful solitude with nature. I was excited. But apparently, this beautiful place is no longer a secret to the traveling public (the fact that we even learned about it!hehe). What we saw was far from such peaceful picture, as the cove was literally packed with campers!There were families and barkadas happily spending their afternoon there and who knows how long they've been there--the whole weekend perhaps. Some campers were possibly mountaineers who traversed Mount Pundaquit to reach the cove.
Tents are scattered across the large camping area, where the towering agoho trees provide shade and also a scenic view. People were singing, eating, daydreaming in hammocks, drinking--having fun, in other words. And we were bound to do exactly the same. So my slight disappointment eventually dissipated and was replaced with excitement as the contagious joy of others seemed to have rubbed on us also.
Our banca driver helped us to set up our own "camp", as we were obviously unprepared for that hehe. We didn't have a tent with us, so the bankero provided us with tarp or canvass where we can sit and eat our lunch of tocino (cured pork, or was that really pork???) and tortang talong (egpplant omelet) cooked by the caretakers of Jimz Resort =)
After lunch, we exchaged stories, took pictures, lied down, enjoyed the view...relaxed. Then we decided to take a dip at the beach nearby. Eds and Kresta opted to swim; Liza ate a halo-halo at the store while watching over our things; and Grace and I had a brief tour of the place.
At around 3PM, the boat arrived and took us back to Jimz. Actually, it was so nice of Jimz Beach Resort to have allowed us to park the car for free while we were out island hopping; they also even allowed us to use the bathrooms where we rinsed and changed. So that caps our fun adventure at San Antonio, Zambales =)
Recap of the Trip:
We left Manila Friday night @ 7pm
We arrived in San Antonio Zambales @ around 12 midnight (5-hr drive), after a number of stopovers and after getting lost in Subic; checked in at Jimz Beach Resort where we spent the night.
For those who would be taking the bus, ride the bus (Victory Liner) going to Iba, Zambales and alight at San Antonio town proper. Bus terminals are in Cubao, Sampaloc, Caloocan and Pasay. Fare is around P350. Rent a tricycle to any of the resorts at Pundaquit, fare could be between P30 to P50 per head.
Saturday early morning, we had an early breakfast and asked the resort caretakers to prepare lunch for us for a minimal fee. The resort also contacted the boat for the island-hopping, the cost of which was P350pax.
Finally, we got to visit Camara Island, Capones Island and Lighthouse and Anawangin Cove =) FIN.
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| Anawangin Cove |
Anawangin Cove is one of the coves created by the fateful eruption of the nearby Mount Pinatubo in the 1990s. Hence, with its pretty landscape of near white sand beach and agoho trees, the island attests to the saying that out of bad comes good sometimes.
I read about Anawanging Cove several years back from one of the top travel blogs, and I was sort of expecting that it would still look the way it was described back then--an islet of tranquility, where one can spend hours of peaceful solitude with nature. I was excited. But apparently, this beautiful place is no longer a secret to the traveling public (the fact that we even learned about it!hehe). What we saw was far from such peaceful picture, as the cove was literally packed with campers!There were families and barkadas happily spending their afternoon there and who knows how long they've been there--the whole weekend perhaps. Some campers were possibly mountaineers who traversed Mount Pundaquit to reach the cove.
Tents are scattered across the large camping area, where the towering agoho trees provide shade and also a scenic view. People were singing, eating, daydreaming in hammocks, drinking--having fun, in other words. And we were bound to do exactly the same. So my slight disappointment eventually dissipated and was replaced with excitement as the contagious joy of others seemed to have rubbed on us also.
Our banca driver helped us to set up our own "camp", as we were obviously unprepared for that hehe. We didn't have a tent with us, so the bankero provided us with tarp or canvass where we can sit and eat our lunch of tocino (cured pork, or was that really pork???) and tortang talong (egpplant omelet) cooked by the caretakers of Jimz Resort =)
After lunch, we exchaged stories, took pictures, lied down, enjoyed the view...relaxed. Then we decided to take a dip at the beach nearby. Eds and Kresta opted to swim; Liza ate a halo-halo at the store while watching over our things; and Grace and I had a brief tour of the place.
At around 3PM, the boat arrived and took us back to Jimz. Actually, it was so nice of Jimz Beach Resort to have allowed us to park the car for free while we were out island hopping; they also even allowed us to use the bathrooms where we rinsed and changed. So that caps our fun adventure at San Antonio, Zambales =)
Recap of the Trip:
We left Manila Friday night @ 7pm
We arrived in San Antonio Zambales @ around 12 midnight (5-hr drive), after a number of stopovers and after getting lost in Subic; checked in at Jimz Beach Resort where we spent the night.
For those who would be taking the bus, ride the bus (Victory Liner) going to Iba, Zambales and alight at San Antonio town proper. Bus terminals are in Cubao, Sampaloc, Caloocan and Pasay. Fare is around P350. Rent a tricycle to any of the resorts at Pundaquit, fare could be between P30 to P50 per head.
Saturday early morning, we had an early breakfast and asked the resort caretakers to prepare lunch for us for a minimal fee. The resort also contacted the boat for the island-hopping, the cost of which was P350pax.
Finally, we got to visit Camara Island, Capones Island and Lighthouse and Anawangin Cove =) FIN.
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