A Great Day at San Antonio, Zambales (Part I) : Camara Island

Lakwatseras! The author with her friends and travel besties @ Camara Island :)

The Plan.

With all the travel buzz around us, my friends and I were also itching for our own out-of-town adventure. The girls are also uber biyaheras, only that we rarely travel in the company of each other and we think it's high time to fulfill that long overdue bloc outing :) Our idea of a weekend get-away, however, is one that is not so far from Metro Manila, will only take several hours of drive or commute, quite accessible and safe,affordable, and more importantly, idyllic for a relaxing weekend for a bunch of busy girls. This led us to decide on Zambales.

Our original plan was only to go to Anawangin Cove since we've been hearing a lot about this place already. Little did we expect that there is a whole lot more in store for us in Zambales--that apart from Anawangin, there are still other beautiful islands worth a visit, such as the Camara Island and the Capones Island.


View of Anawangin Cove from a distance


Capones Island, the steps on the way to the lighthouse

The Trip.Arrival.

Anyhoo, the girls are efficient planners. After some emails and texts, we finalized our plan. We'd go to Zambales on the upcoming weekend. Two days later, I packed my bags and was off to Manila (from Naga) to meet the girls. We left Manila at around 7pm and just grabbed some sandwiches along the way for dinner. Si Liza muna ang magda-drive. Expectedly, it was an easy ride; got a bit lost in Subic, but made it out of the maze anyway hehe. We dropped by at a 7-11 in Olongapo, bought some supplies (alcoholic drinks, junkfoods and other similar necessities hehe) and then proceeded to the resort--Jimz Beach Resort--which Grace, our girlscout na blocmate, reserved for us.


Our Liza, ang kaskaserang driver :)


Night travelers

We arrived at San Antonio, Zambales at around 12 midnight (we were scaring each other while on the road and Liza, our assigned driver, was the one who got frightened hehe). Travel time from Manila to San Antonio is around 4-5 hours. To find the resort, we had to pay a tricycle to lead the way since the beach is still several kms away from the centro. Jimz Beach Resort is just OK. It's a decent resting place for tired people who, like us, just want to wash up and rest their tired bodies on a soft bed. Our rented A/C room costs P2500 and is good for 4 persons (we, five, managed to squeeze in nonetheless). They have larger rooms though, for bigger groups. Ours has two queen-size beds, a CR with hot&cold shower, and it is just a few meters away from the seaside. Solb na din.


Jimz Beach Resort


Breakfast @ Jimz

What is more, the resort caretakers willingly cooked us breakfast and packed lunch. They also took care of the boat for our island hopping. Kudos for customer service! They helped make our trip hassle-free, but don't expect the food to be five-star quality (or any star for that matter!) though.




At Pundaquit Beach

After breakfast, we headed to Pundaquit beach where our hired boat was waiting. Boat fare was P350 per head for a whole day of island hopping, which covered the three islands of Camara, Capones, and Anawangin.

Be Wowed @ Camara Island

Our boat ride to Camara Island from Pundaquit Beach took around 30 minutes. The water was calm and the view on the way, relaxing.


On the way to Camara Island

Camara Island itself is very scenic! :) It is the perfect spot for a lazy day of beach bumming. With its immaculate white sand, clear blue waters and a nice of view of neighboring islands, Camara is truly an excursionist's paradise.













Nevertheless, we have to satisfy our photo-taking mania fast because we still have two more islands to see. Hence, after several minutes of swimming and picture-taking we rode the boat again and headed to our next destinations, the Capones Island and Anawangin Cove, which I will talk about in my next posts :) Ciao for now, more posts later.FIN.

How to get to Pundaquit for those who would be commuting:
1) Ride a bus (Victory Liner) from from Pasay, Cubao, Sampaloc or Caloocan going to Iba or Sta.Cruz, Zambales and get-off at San Antonio town proper. Fare is around P350.
2) From San Antonio, ride a tricycle to Pundaquit or to your chosen beach resort destination. Rental of tricycle depends on your haggling skills, but it could be P30 to P50 per person. There are plenty of resorts to choose from. Jimz is just one of them.

To Contact Jimz Beach Resort:
+63 927-777-0220 (Albert Joe Veridiano (Toots)-Supervisor)
+63 916-444-2172 (Miss Vilma Nazareno -Manager)
Or you may just visit their website.