Chocolate Hills on blue water

This is the famous view deck at Governor's Island wherein you can most of the islands.

          I was born and raised in Pangasinan and might sound weird but this is my first time to go to Hundred Islands and explore the place. Hundred Islands is a national park in the Philippines which is also famous tourist destination. It is also one of the 7 Wonders of the Philippines.

“Chocolate Hills on blue water” this is how I would describe the Hundred Islands and beyond doubt it was marvelous. Amazing how GOD places all this islands and large rocks together.

In this island you could see the statue of the Virgin Mary that's why they called it Cathedral. 

 

To get to Hundred Islands we rode a Victory liner bus going to Sta. Cruz. The fare from the Dagupan to Alaminos is 66 pesos. This was the funny part my friend and I thought we got on the wrong bus because it was heading North instead of West. But then again the bus just took a shortcut through the diversion road to get Lingayen.

We ate breakfast at a fast food chain but there are lots of canteens in Lucap serving local delicacies if you want to eat sea foods. From Alaminos City we rode a tricycle going Lucap, we paid him 80. Yap!  It is pretty expensive but there were 3 of us so we just shared.

Waiting for our boat at Lucap.

At the left side of the harbor you can find the registration area. We were lucky because the counter we registered in didn’t have a long line unlike the others. After that we paid our bill in the ruin establishment. There were many lines and it definitely lack order. Luckily, kind female workers helped us with the line. There was a line for small boat, medium boat and large boat; the line inside the office was for the small boats so if you don’t know which line is for you boat since there is not signage just ask the people uniform. We paid 1400 pesos for the boat, 30 pesos for the entrance and 20 pesos for the insurance.

The smile on our face shows how happy we are and we just can't hide it.

There are many different activities offered in islands but my heart and soul was set for the zip-line. There are 2 zip-lines Hundred Island, the 546 meters island to island zip-line in Governor’s Island going to Virgin Island would cost 250 pesos but the line of people was too discouraging and we were get thirst because of the heat so we decide to continue our island hoping. The second zip-line is found at Quezon Island, 120 meters for 100 pesos and I was lucky there was no line. My trip to Hundred Islands was complete because of this experience and of course the white sand. The boat ride would take you around the Hundred Islands, drop you off in two islands, and come back to pick up. We were so bless that our boat driver was so nice to us, he drop us of in 4 islands Governor’s Island, Quezon Island, Mayor’s Island and Clave Island. We also had a stop near an island that doesn’t have a shore where my Rezzie could dive and swim. Our boat driver stayed with us the whole day so we didn’t have trouble going back to harbor because at some point there was no signal at some island.

120 meters zip-line at Quezon Island.

 

Relaxing under a weathered rock at Clave Island.

We ate lunch, swim and relax at Clave Island. I love the white sand; it was my first time to actually see and hold white sand and to be honest yes I couldn’t resist to bring some home, it was in my clothes hahaha. The sand is only at the shore of the beach so once you go to the water you’ll be standing on rocks which made thing complicated because you might get scratch, your feet might get in between the rocks and it was pretty hard to balance unlike in walking on sand. I also notice that beach had many leaves and branches in the water but the good thing is I also saw some tourist taking it out to keep the beach clean.

Travel Tips

I’m not exactly an expert in traveling but here are some tips that I find important in traveling.

1. Put your clean clothes in a plastic bag. Here’s thing, while we were traveling on the beach of Clave Island my backpack got wet because of the waves, end result some of my clean clothes got wet. So learn from my mistake, PUT YOUR CLEAN CLOTHES IN A PLASTIC BAG and after you changed clothes you can put your wet clothes in the plastic bag.

2. Bring a small bag. The small bag is intended for your wallet, lotion, alcohol, tissue, shade, etc. In short, the purpose of this is to get easy access to you important thing. I only brought one medium size backpack and when I was looking for my wallet I really need to dig in my things to find it I even thought it was lost. OMG! Panic attack.

3. Prepare hygiene kit. One time I went out on trip with my friends I thought I pack very thing I need but I didn’t and I was a horrible experience for me. From then on I prepare hygiene kit which I could easily grab every time I travel.

Here are things inside it: tissue, alcohol, deodorant, sun block, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, dental floss-pick, sanitary napkin, eyebrow liner, bra, panty, plastic bag, money and medicine for my allergy, colds, LBM and Vitamin C.

4. Don’t place your money in one place. In the event that you did lost your wallet at least you still have extra money hidden in your bag, pocket or slippers and you can go home.

5. Bring ICE COLD WATER. Trust me, under this summer heat you’ll be drinking like a dog.

6. Keep your gadgets safe. Put your camera or cell phone in a plastic bag or a zip lock because once it gets wet with salt water, its goodbye. 

7. Don’t wear stretchable clothes. This is just an advice ok if you want to wear stretchable clothes in the beach the go ahead but the sand will get stuck in it and it would be hard to take them off. I wash my shorts and it look clean as in no more sand but when I pull it I saw all the sand inside, it was really hard to was it.

8. Protect your skin. Use sun block and reapply it every 2 hour or as instructed. Wear shades and cap. I honestly prefer to use scarf then umbrella at times like this because aside from the fact that it is fashionable, I can use it as a towel and I won’t have to think about the strong wind inverting my umbrella.

9. Check the weather. You can easily check the weather in the internet; it could show you an hourly update so you could make necessary precaution. Remember you need to ride a boat to get to the Hundred Islands, it wouldn’t be a nice ride if it rains special if you are on a small boat.

10. Stay in a cool and shaded area. My friends and I stayed under a weathered rock near the beach which was a great idea. A true-blue nature experience, sitting on the white wet sand while the wave splash on your feet and admiring the weather rock above your head and clear blue water on the beach. This is the best.

My lunch Spicy Century Tuna and rice.

11. Travel light. Yap! After all those things that I said you should bring I’m still advice you to travel light bring what you need. My friends and I agreed to pack our own food so we don’t have to bring a pot of rice. You don’t need a buffet just the right amount of food though there are some stores in the island the price is pretty expensive.

12. Bring a bucket of patience. Going to the Hundred Islands during Summer or Holidays means crowded areas, long line of people, lack of water and some ill-tempered people so keep your and be patient. Trust me seeing the Hundred Island will be worth it.

13. Know your time. It is important to keep in mind the time that you have. We left Dagupan City at 5am and we got to Alaminos around 6am. There were a lot of people in Lucap when we got there. We left the islands around 1:30 pm and when we got to shore there was long line at bathroom waiting for us which consume most of our time, again bring a bucket of patience. Around 3pm we were at the bus station to take the 3:30 pm bus going to Dagupan City. It wasn’t the last trip to the Dagupan City but most of the passenger we’re already standing until Bimaley so if we stayed a little bit longer we have been standing too.

14. Enjoy. This is the main reason you want to go to Hundred Island to explore the place and enjoy. To escape from all the stress, so don’t let some hassle ruin your trip because we certainly didn’t.

To wrap it up I would like to thank my good friend Ayesah and his cousin Rezzie for the great adventure. It’s always feels amazing, stress-free and fun every time we go out. Jeffrey, you should come next time so we’d be complete hehehe! We might have had unclear plans on where to go but I still love how things went. You guys taught me that travel isn’t expensive thus we should explore. It was just a one day but beyond doubt the experience could last a life time.