Backpacking Pilipinas: Apo Reef

Showing posts with label Apo Reef. Show all posts

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Summer 2014 Travel Guide: 16 Best Unspoiled Philippine Beach Destinations

Summer hasn't officially kicked off yet, but the blue sky and the sun beating down hard outside are nature's way of reminding me that my favorite season is just around the corner.

I love summer! It's the season we see flowers in full bloom, the skies clear and the beaches are postcard-perfect; we get lazy basking under the warm summer sky and get much longer sleep; we go out at night for firefly-watching, camping, and road trips; and doze off to sleep in the cool afternoon breeze while on a hammock underneath a mango tree. For most of us, summer is synonymous to vacation. It's the time of the year when we plan out getaways, travel with our family and friends, and head to our summer refuge --the beach.

With our endless coastlines, there's definitely no shortage of white sand beaches we can go around here. But in the recent years, beach-goers have been mostly concentrated in the world-famous island in the Visayas-- Boracay. Year after year, this paradise has been seeing huge man-made developments to cater to the demands of the growing influx of foreign and local tourists. Yes, huge amount of money goes to the island's coffers, but I have to say that too much commercialism is also taking toll to this once pristine, quiet and immaculate island. I wonder how beautiful it must have been there before madness settled in.

This summer, my advise is to try to veer away from Boracay and explore the lesser-known but equally pretty beaches (without the party crowd).

After visiting the 80 (of the 81) provinces in the Philippines, I'm blessed to have been to many splendid beaches that boast of quality fine sandy shoreline, spectacular sunsets and sunrises, amazing dive sites, lush mangrove forests, and clear emerald-colored waters. The beauty of these beaches will blow your mind!

Top 30 Favorite Spots in the Philippines: 5.APO Reef Natural Park

A 50 ft scuba dive (my first ^_^), swimming with a shark (oh yeah!), green sea turtles (eeeee!! the best!) , barracuda (yeahaha!) and diverse bright-colored fish and corals in God's beautiful underwater garden (rrawwwr!), an overnight "accommodation" in a hammock, great company of friends (kaladkarins!!!) letting off colorful sky lanterns on a clear starry night, splendid sunset atop a lighthouse, and waking up to a magnificent sunrise with the sound of the waves humming melodies into my ears -- these memories spark happy thoughts whenever I think of APO Reef. Considered as the largest atoll like reef in the Philippines and nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, APO Reef Natural Park (Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro) deserves to be included in your list of top places to visit in the country.

For more details about my super weekend in Apo Reef, please check out my stories here.

The view from Apo Reef Lighthouse

Apo Reef Series: A Love Affair with Diving and Snorkeling

I grew up in a beautiful island where we live 10 minutes bike-ride away from the beach. But truth be told, I don't know how to swim. I've developed a certain animosity towards swimming after an unfortunate pool incident back when I was taking my swimming class in college. (For some mind-boggling reason, though, I passed the subject.)

When I started traveling and got the chance to see the best beaches in the Philippines, I've been handicapped not to cross the borderline of the shore and the sea unless a life-jacket is strapped around me. And since swimming and I aren't exactly friends, I've always thought that I couldn't enjoy surfing, snorkeling, diving and some other water activities.

Despite this, I feel so drawn to the sea that it has become my refuge each time I feel high or low (emotionally). And just recently, I have fallen in love with diving and snorkeling.

Here's what I learned: You don't need to be a pro swimmer to be able to dive and snorkel. You only need the proper gears, do proper breathing, and get a full sense of adventurous spirit. :)

Magnificent dawn at Apo Reef Island with the calm sea and the changing hues of the sky

I've been to some amazing diving and snorkeling spots in the country, but the underwater treasures of Apo Reef and Pandan Island are two of the best that I've seen so far. I found myself frolicking in its massive and diverse underwater garden when I went there. Everything down here awed me.

Apo Reef Natural Park is the largest atoll-like reef in Asia. Some of its dwellers include colorful fishes, schools of jacks, snappers, stingrays, manta rays, sharks, barracudas, crevice-dwelling moray eels and gobies amid gardens of soft and hard corals. Also, the 29-hectare Apo Island is a nesting ground for hawksbill and green sea turtles while the other two islets near it are home to migrating birds and some resident birds like the endangered Nicobar Pigeon. *Information from Sablayan Municipal Tourism Office*

The crystalline blue-green waters greeted us as we pushed towards the island

Apo Reef Series: A DIY Guide to and around Sablayan

I was caught off-guard when my friend told me that we’ll go camping at Apo Reef. I was unprepared for a tent accommodation since I thought we would just go snorkeling and beach bumming there. Who goes beach camping late November, anyway? But since I didn't do my own research about our destination, I conceded. The night before our scheduled flight to Occidental Mindoro, I had to crazily leave out some stuff in my backpack that does not qualify as a “camping essential.”

Little did I know that despite joining in a bit unprepared, this trip with my fellow kaladkarins Janet, Ciel, Muy, Lira, Marvs and Angel would rank high among my favorite travels this year.

Break of dawn at Sablayan Sea Port

The early morning sun was beating down lightly as we arrived at San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. Since it was just in time for breakfast, we managed to snag a quick fix of good-old coffee and tapsi meals in a carenderia near the terminal. We all know that it was going to be a long day so we had to prepare ourselves up well. After breakfast, we hailed a trike to drive us to the nearest bus terminal going to Sablayan. The bus we got into was Manila-bound but we were told that we would be dropped off at Sablayan. After about an hour waiting for the bus to fill up passengers, we started rolling along the dirt rough road of Occidental Mindoro.

The bus ride from San Jose to Sablayan was almost agonizingly painful. I find it very appalling to see a major thoroughfare left in such destitute state. I hope the LGU takes an immediate action to make better of the impoverished road system in the province.

After two hours, we safely made it to Sablayan. We headed straight to the town tourism office to register and pay dues for boat rental and guides. It was decided that the trip to Apo Reef will have to be put off for the next day so that we could prepare and buy all the provisions we would need in the island, and to give some more time to see what this small town has to offer.

The infectious smiles of the children of Mindoro

PHOTO BLOG: Apo Reef is God's Magnificent Underwater Garden

I’m having a serious case of writer’s block today. I'm eternally stuck in the first paragraph that I've been so achingly composing for about an hour now. I want to scold myself because I shouldn't be having this dilemma especially that I’m writing about one of my best and favorite travels this year – trip to Apo Reef.

How could I not write about my first 50 feet dive experience? How could I not weave words to describe how it was to chase sea turtles and a manta ray, or to spot a shark, or to swim alongside colorful and overly cute fishes, or to see a beautiful underwater garden?

Maybe I’m not in the mood to write, but I’m definitely not in the mood to be selfish. :) And because there are some things that are better seen than read, I’ll share here some of the pictures I took while exploring the magnificent Apo Reef. These wealth of still photos are but snap shots of the massive underwater wonder of the entire reef. Believe me, there's a lot more down there! For now, I hope the pictures could somehow suffice your curiosity.

I’ll share my prose in the coming days!

Special thanks to my friend Muy for allowing me to borrow her camera during my dive and to Angel for capturing some of the most adorable underwater photos. I wish I'm a marine biologist or scientist so I could properly identify -- well at least scientifically -- all the species I saw down under. :)