Blissful Escape: Calaguas 2014

My batchmates in college from my academic org decided that it is time we set for an out of town trip. The chosen destination was a virgin island in Camarines Norte -the spectacular Calaguas Island. So we packed our bags and headed to our destination with an awesome plan of having a photo-shoot session.

So upon arrival in Daet, Camarines Norte, we had a hard time chancing up locals who could bring us to the island as the waves are too high for us to cross. We thought of just going to Bagasbas for surfing then to CWC for some water activities. As we were about to abandon our original plan, a local confirmed that he could take us to the island and also provide service such as cooking our meals. We grabbed the chance and took the risk to go against the current and reach the beautiful Calaguas Island.

We have to travel at least an hour from Daet to Paracale Port. From the port, it took us 3 hours to reach the island. Everything - the dangerous waves, the long travel are all worth it.

From afar, the island stood out from the others. Magnificent view.

Upon dipping into the clear water of the island, I know I cannot do any justice to describe the beauty of the place.

The island is like ours. It's like my silent sanctuary. Words cannot come out how much I am blessed to have been able to visit the place.

It would be totally breath taking if we were able to see the sunset, but weather was not that cooperative. This was the best I could get.

There's always this part of me longing to have a simple life. Wishing, Hoping that someday I will be sharing these magnificent views with someone worthy of my time.

This place could take away the the negative vibes. It feels like stress has been suctioned out from my body just by looking at the view. I am blessed to have taken this trip even if it meant that I have to sleep in a tent and endure the makeshift CR. Even if the planned photo-shoot never happened because of the bad weather, we are still very thankful that we had a safe trip and we had a wonderful experience to just beach bummed.

Life is indeed full of surprises.

Lost in Paradise: Boracay 2014

To visit the most beautiful island in the world according to the 2012 international travel magazine, Travel + Leisure was definitely a dream come true. I was lucky enough to have visited it twice this year. I feel so blessed that the first time I stepped into the beautiful island was purely for leisure because the next visit was a business trip.

Even if I went there during the rainy season, the finest white sand beach of Boracay never ceased to awe me in so many ways.

During our visit, we were only able to try 1 water activity (Island hopping) because of the weather, so we just made sure that we try the best restaurants in the island.

First stop was the Mexican dish from Manana...



We then tried the shake in Jonah's for merienda.

For our dinner we tried the famous Hawaiian BBQ. The baby back ribs was so yummy!

Boracay nightlife was so awesome that we really have to bar hop to check out the infinite night life options. Too bad we did not try the pub crawl.

For our breakfast the following day, we tried Real Coffee...



We proceeded to the island hopping activity after our power breakfast. Weather was not cooperative, so we snorkle for an hour then we visited an island for lunch.

After the exhausting activity, we tried to beach bum. We were also able to attend mass before we head to Playa Asya for dinner.

What we had for dinner was also mouth watering and the view in the resort was also fantastic. Such a sweet escape from reality!

After a long day, we decided to still utilize the remaining time for a night life experience in the island. We tried to use shisha, which I find very difficult to understand. We had a couple of drinks before we called it a night and headed back to our hotel.

On my return in the island for a business trip, I managed to watch a fire dance. It was spectacular.

We were also fortunate to experience a dinner buffet with dancing chef on our last night of the business trip.

If ever I will return to Boracay, I will definitely wish that a special someone would join me. We will do all those exciting water activities. For the meantime, the 2 trips were a blessing to be able to experience the world renowned beauty of the island.