So its been ages since I had guts to put up another blog post and it happened to be one of the most memorable getaways that I’ve had with some of my favorite people, in the middle of nowhere, somewhere around the Pacific.

For just a quick flashback, I haven’t been out of town with these guys since 2011 and the last quick but fun adventure I’ve had with them was way back 2011 in Davao.

So the plan is to do a beach camp to Alibijaban Island in San Andres Quezon, but there were last minute plan changes which started to make us feel that this trip is gonna be more exciting.

Watch this Trailer to Start with the Journey…

DAY 0:  DEPARTURE FROM THE METRO AND INTRO TO THE ROLLER COASTER

We agreed to meet-up at Caltex Buendia corner Pasong Tamo at 8:00pm of a Friday night. And as expected, since Makati traffic on a Friday is a bitch, we had to push back a little later that our ETD. We ended up leaving at 9:30pm because I am such a pain in the ass. Wahahaha! Sorryyyyy!!

Along the way, we stopped over Caltex in Alabang to pick-up some of our southsider buddies July, Jeff and Mikay.

And then off we go further South.

DAY 1: THE HOTEL-LIKE RESTROOM STOPOVER, AND THE REAL THING

So our first stop over in the down South is at Lucena, so we did our own thing, bladder break, fresh air break, and change costume. To our surprise that there is such a cool restroom situated in the province! (well technically, Lucena is still a city though)

These are the photos as shared by Drix. Have I already mentioned that you can use the restroom for free? But of course, we encourage giving them donations to maintain this very cozy spot.

And of course, to do our first group photo!! (Without the tarp, hehe)

After the photo, were off to San Andres via Road Rafting aka Rollercoaster to where were going to have breakfast, do our Market errands and park the Van to head on to our real ride for this adventure. We arrived at San Andres Market at around 6am-ish. Few steps from the Market, we reached the port to where we had to prepare for the real thing.

FIRST STOP: ALIBIJABAN ISLAND

The boat ride from San Andres port to this island is approximately 15-20 minutes. We managed to have our perfect strategic seats for tanning purposes at the side of the boat.

To me it is a nice chill spot.. somewhere you can go when you want silence and um… beige sand, that still has good 3G signal so you will not completely be disconnected to the world. As opposed to the original plan of spending the night here, I honestly agree that we won’t be maximizing the trip if we’ll just play beach volleyball and looking at each other which were here in this island.

But it is undeniably beautiful, with an amazing blue water and quiet facade, and surprise sea urchins so better be careful.

We explored the shores of Alibijaban for 30 minutes and went on to our journey, as we are planning to settle and build our campsites in Burias island and have lunch there.

That is where the real deal have started.

SECOND STOP: BURIAS AND SOMBRERO ISLAND

The travel time via boat was estimated to be 2 hours. While on the boat we managed to enjoy ourselves with ourselves as there is nothing else we see, but water. Haha.

After 2 hours of sailing, we can finally see the island, i mean islands!

PLOT TWIST.

After not containing much excitement, our boat suddenly stopped.

Apparently, it had a machine malfunction and our boatmen had to fix it.

There goes those stuff being said like.. “Putulin mo na yung ulo” and materials being brought out like a jigsaw. It made this trip more and more exciting.

We saw another boat going to the same destination, who we were waving to so we can ask help from, but I guess they were too busy that they ignored us. But don’t worry, were surely gonna see you on the final round guys.

After two hours of being stranded and grilling ourselves under the sun, and not to mention losing my sunglasses to the sea, we finally made it! Thank you to our hero, Kuya Big Boy!

Burias island welcomed us with its stunning white powdery sand and crystal clear water. There’s also a small sandbar that invites us to take a dip!

While the Lakbay Pinas crew and the others are exploring the beach, we decided that we take a dip!

And then finally its time for lunch. Kuya Chris’ cooking is very good that we did not care eating too much rice, oh noes. Haha.

the whole group agreed that we go on with the island hopping as planned. We do not want to waste time since we want to maximize our entire weekend to this wonderful place.

THIRD STOP: TINALISAYAN ISLAND

This island is almost 2 hours away as well from Burias, but we did not mind. Neither the incident that we had in the boat did not stop us. We were aiming to spend sunset at the breathtaking spot there.

We just managed to enjoy the sun, the beautiful waters, and each other.

And after the wait.. there you go!

 

This was my favorite among all islands that we visited, not because of my #relationshipgoals photos here, but because of this very long stretch of sandbar that lead us to these greenfields.

of course what should we do next?

And then on our way back to the boat was the start of the sunset. One of my favorite parts of the day..

We then went back to our boat to head back to the campsite for dinner, and to our surprise. there is another…

PLOT TWIST.

Remember when we were stranded this morning in the muddle of the sea while on our way to Burias and we are seeking for help and a bunch of peeps in another boat ignored us?

This time, its them who needs our help. And because were like having a heart of gold or some sort, of course we did. But what happened is really strange, on a serious note. Were just thankful that everyone was safely back to the campsite.

DINNER AND SOCIALS

This time, it was Norlan who prepared dinner for us and I have to say that it was reaaally good. We started pitching our tents right after dinner and washed ourselves up, accepting the challenge to wash ourselves thoroughly using a pale of water at a cost of p50. I was proud to say that I was able to use only 1/4 of a pale and just consumed the rest to make it well-spent, so to say. Haha.

And then, its time for Socials!

We just had a few drinks and of course my friends teased me to do series of songs for them since there is a videoke machine available for use, with some shots of light brandy to make the game more exciting and to make my voice more acceptable.

We had our official lights-off at 2am.

DAY 2: IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACIFIC TO OUR JOURNEY HOME

The last to fall asleep and the first to wake up: Nowy. Because…

I was up at around 7am-ish. It looked like everyone was up already then, even our next planned departure for the next island will be at 10am. Amazing. Hypersouls indeed.

We had breakfast and right-on went to the island that we really wanted to see since our first day, the Sombrero island.

It really looked like a hat, regardless if you are near or far from it.

What is left there to do? But swim!

The water was so inviting that even Aiza and Jaz’ mobile phones took a dip! Lol.

Meanwhile… some wants to just chillax…

Time flies fast. We then have to head back to the campsite and go to our next destination before heading back to the port.

FOURTH STOP: ANIMASOLA ISLAND

This island will make you feel like you are lost in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as you have nothing else to see, but water. To add, the coldness of the water is like it has been coming from the freezer!

You can also feel the underwater current that will just take you somewhere you do not know in the event that you stop being careful.

But nonetheless… it is indeed wonderful, and not to mention, virgin.

So what do we do next?

We just really had to do this…

And then… we go for a dip!

Up for a #safetygoal?

Move over, Carrotman. We have our own.

Here comes the Lifevest Man.

After enjoying all of the photoshoot-ing and the cold water and the breathtaking view, and after they saw this dangerous friend, I guess its time to bid farewell to Animasola. Haha!

We were anticipating a short and quick washup at Alibijaban before heading back to the port, but there comes another…

PLOT TWIST.

To which I did not have an idea why, but to our surprise, the long almost 3 hours boat ride ended up to us being taken back directly to San Andres port in our extreme haggardness and swimwear. Thank goodness that San Andres locals were very accommodating, that some of us were able to get washed up on some of the locals homes, and some managed to make magic to wash up in the public toilets.

After everyone was able to clean up, were now ready to eat our lunch-snack-dinner combination at San Andres Market, where we also had our breakfast during Day 1. It was quick, so we can still leave on time as planned.

GOING BACK TO THE METRO

As we just had our dinner fix and all in a good mood, at approximately 50km drive, and more than an hour or travel time from San Andres, we were ready to take there memories way back home as we plan on how are we going to maintain the travel plans by making me join Tawag ng Tanghalan and be a Champion and not to mention the new travel agency dreams.. plus being Lakbay Pinas’ number one competitor. Haha.

where we had another…

PLOT TWIST.

While driving around an unlit road in Mulanay, San Narciso Road, we saw a random man, roughly on his early 20’s crossed the street. He seems to be drunk and not in good frame of thought. Our driver then avoided him by leaning towards to the left lane, but it was so strange that the man ran towards the van so our driver tried to hit the break hardly to stop. Unfortunately, the man still hit the right side of the van.

Nowy, because #Nowyknows thought he was part of the incident and tried to look away and avoid the collision, he was in 3d Cinema, with 4dx cinematographic effects. Meanwhile, Jacklord and Mikay, witnessed the collision of the man and the Van on a slow motion way.

The man’s drunk friends then blocked the road so we cannot get away with the collision. The people continuously bumped and banged the exteriors of the Van with rage as if they wanted to eat our brains. Suddenly we were in Zombie apocalypse. We can almost hear people outside say “BRAIIIIIIINSSSSSSSSS” and I can feel like I am in “Tikling: the Aswang Chronicles” because I have Jacklord as my Dingdong by my side.

Kuya Chris came into the rescue and helped us deal with the situation. Good thing that they had their own radio as there was no network signal in the area. But the police had to detain our driver, Kuya Ote as long as there is still no ruling out of any injuries of that crazy man.

We went straight to the precinct of Mulanay so that we can show support to Kuya Ote. Hehe. Well we just have to be there. We would want to have a group photo with a tarp of Lakbay Pinas taken but we might get into trouble if we do that so might as well just get a photograph of whatever.

At least there is already a network signal available in the area and I was able to update my mom as to what has been happening.

Para sa pagbabago.

We patiently waited until the family of the man agreed to have the case settled, only if we will be shouldering the X-Ray of the crazy man, so we can rule out all injuries and complications that were caused by the collision.

The nearest hospital in town is 2 hours away (144km) from the area, so we had to drive them to the hospital so that we can endorse the man for X-Ray.

The man looked really drunk, and disoriented. I really wanted to give him a punch in the face. But since I have a heart of gold, I won’t. I am personally thankful though, that the man is okay.

Kuya Chris, together with Norlan had to stay in Lucena until afternoon because the X-Ray results will only be released earliest is by 1:00pm. I guess everything will be okay for them since the man and his mom, together with the kagawad had free Chowking for breakfast.

We just went for an early breakfast fix as well and the rest of us continued to our travel to Manila. We safely arrived to our last drop-off point at around 7am. At around 2pm, we confirmed with Kuya Chris that all issues have been ruled out and we are all clear.

LESSONS LEARNED:

All in all, it was such a wonderful experience. Circus family never failed to make anything fun, being it planned or otherwise.

But of course, in any experience, there are lessons. To me they were:

1. When going on a trip to a VERY remote island, bring a sim of each network. So that if there will be no Globe signal, you can be reach or call people via Smart or Sun.
2. When people did not help you, don’t help them. (Pun intended) It delays your schedule and changes your plans.
3. When someone helps you, say thank you. Do not be like the people you helped. They do not know the attitude of gratitude.
4. Do not put your shades on top of your hat. If it falls off the sea, you will be chinky eyed on all your photos.
5. Invest on aqua shoes. Stepping on little stones, shells, corals really hurt. It might damage them, or damage your slippers.
6. Invest on air-tight mobile phone pouches and dry bags. It saves your life.
7. Its okay to skip breakfast. So you can buy a GoPro like Nowy’s, because #NowyKnows.
8. Practice your videoke songs. So that during the videoke night, you can finish all the songs that your friends wants you to sing.
9. Practice to drink according to your friends’ english tolerance. The more alcohol you drink, the more english you say.
10. Avoid drinking with friends who sleeps early. You will end up alone. Because #NowyKnows.
11. Ipagpatawad mo.
12. Most of all, KICK AND PADDLE!
13. If you are with me during this trip and you have an additional lessons learned and want to share your experience, feel free to write in the comments section below.

I would like to thank all of my friends who I am with during this trip for taking amazing photos, and for Lakbay Pinas for hosting our trip.

For the super actual itinerary and average expenses that we paid per pax, you may refer to below:

Do note that the price changes per total number of pax on a trip. Good thing we were 11 in the van. 🙂

For a spectacular trip like this, of course let us just focus on the fun, contact Lakbay Pinas Travel and Tours. They have a facebook page, or you may contact Chris Molina directly at +639063052235.