Surviving a Caramoan Camping Trip with PhP2,500

On April 10, 2013, Marv and I received invites to spend the weekend in Caramoan Islands in Camarines Sur, Bicol. Initially, both of us planned to turn that weekend into our favorite lazy-day Saturday/Sunday since we just spent 6 days in El Nido, Palawan.

READ: Dreams Do Come True: El Nido, Palawan

But really, those who know me would understand that I find it hard to turn down out-of-town invites, especially to places/beaches I've never been to yet. Plus my parents were already in Bicol so I'll be getting a chance to travel with them again.

Teddy, one of Marv's friends, who has been to Caramoan before, were coordinating with us. I asked him if he had an idea how much money we'd need for this trip. He told us to prepare PhP 3,000/pax/all-in. Not bad, I said to myself.

One day before we were set to leave for Bicol, I began to ransack the internet for travel tips to Caramoan Islands. I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the website of Journeying James' Caramoan Travel Tips. In this site, he declared that it is possible to reach Caramoan with only PhP 2,500, excluding drinks and personal necessities/expenses. I immediately accepted that challenge and started preparing for a weekend trip in Caramoan, the land where the TV show, Survivor, frequently shoots.

On that same day, I went to Cubao to secure bus tickets to Sabang. I bought tickets (Cubao to Sabang) from AC Raymond Bus. I also bought my supplies (or what I call "baon"). Luckily, I work in Universal Robina Corporation (URC) which manufactures Nissin Cup Noodles, Jack 'n Jill snacks, & Great Taste/Blend 45 coffee. I knew I could save some money by buying all these from our Company Store instead of the grocery or bus terminals / stop overs.

I know that most people don't normally do this as they opt to pack light and just buy food/drinks on their way to their destination. Unfortunately, my trip to El Nido made me realize that I can save even more by just bringing my baon instead of buying from vendors who usually sell these grocery items at a higher price (or even twice the price). I also have the freedom of choosing what brands/items I like instead of just settling for what's being sold by the vendors.

Day 0
April 12, Fri

So equipped with my backpack, drybag, tent, malong, slippers, and PhP 1,760 (I already bought a bus ticket, remember?), Kuya Ryan (one of Marv's colleagues), Marv, and I boarded the 7:30 PM Raymond Bus to Sabang, which to our dismay, left an hour late.

There are a lot of ATMs in Cubao and you may want to withdraw enough cash since you might have a hard time looking for ATMs in Caramoan. I only saw one bank there, UCPB, which is still under construction.

Once seated, I quickly wrapped myself up in my malong and slept. I woke up at our 3rd stop over since Marv wanted something to eat. We took our cup noodles with us and only paid PhP 5 for hot water (good job, right?).

Day 1
April 13, Sat

The bus that we rode had so many stop overs and it was already 8:45 AM, the following day, when we arrived in Sabang, Camarines Sur. The driver told us that they won't be able to drop us exactly at Sabang Port since the street there was narrow and he'd have a hard time maneuvering the bus. We dropped us near the Sabang Port and there were tricycles and porters waiting for tourists. The porters were energetic and would grab our bags even before we could go down the bus -- we told them politely that we no longer needed help bringing our bags. But those who would need assistance with their stuff may pay them PhP10.

People there told us that we would still need to ride a tricycle to reach Sabang Port, which we realized when we were already there, that it was just a few meters away from where the bus dropped us off. Those who aren't in a hurry and/or are comfortable bringing their heavy camping bags may actually just walk to the port. But since we didn't know that, we rode the tricycle and paid the driver PhP10/pax, which is actually not that bad since we had a strict schedule to follow.

We met our friends, Teddy, Pao, and Ate May at Sabang Port; they were already in Naga and we decided to just meet in Sabang. They got there before we did and already queued for the next boat trip to Guijalo Port. We wanted to get the 9:00 AM trip but there were a lot of tourists ahead of us in line, hence, we were able to get the 10:00 AM trip. While waiting for our boat, we decided to have breakfast first at a nearby eatery.

Tourists and locals bound for Guijalo Port, Caramoan

It was kind of tricky to get inside the boat. Passengers need to enter via boat's windows and carry their bags on their laps or put them under the seats. The boat ride from Sabang Port to Guijalo Port, usually takes 1.5 hours to 2 hours, was peaceful. Some of us slept (Pao, I think, haha) while some took pictures of the view.



Thanks Kuya Ryan for the photo



Ate May also called Kuya Ramil (contact number at the end of this article), our boatman, to inform him that our trip was delayed. He told us that he''ll arrange someone to pick us up from the port to take us to his house.

We arrived at Guijalo Port at around 12PM and rode a tricycle to Kuya Ramil's house in Paniman, which is also the jump off to the islands. We needed to pay for the environmental fee first at the port.

 

Guijalo Port

The ride to Kuya Ramil's house took us around 30-minutes but we had to stop by the public market to buy food that we'll be cooking in the island; we also bought our lunch there, which we'll be eating inside the boat. Around 1:00 PM, we finally arrived at Kuya Ramil's house/homestay. We met his wife, Myrna, who made sure that we were comfortable and she also let us use their guest rooms since we needed to change into our swimwear. Myrna and our boatman, Reynante, were kind enough to help us carry our stuff on the boat that we'll be taking us to the island.

Before leaving, we asked Myrna if we could borrow a large container so we can bring freshwater to the campsite since we read beforehand that there was no freshwater there that campers can use to rinse themselves. Myrna let us borrow one big jug and said that we can fill it up in Cagbanilad Island before we go to Matukad Island, where we'll be staying for the night.

Paniman: jump off to the islands. Also where Ramil's house is situated.

Our small yet heavy duty boat!

Our boat was good enough to fit 6 people with awfully lot of bags. Along with us were Reynante and anoter boatman. The waves were huge even if it was already low tide. We quietly ate our lunch, carefully sealing the plastic bags of our food everytime a wave hit our boat and would soak us.

Apparently, this was my first trip wherein all of the people in my group knew how to swim and no one needed to guide anyone. The boys, especially Pao, were all strong swimmers -- they would jump off the boat and would help Reynante guide it to the shore since our boat had a hard time going near the islands because of the strong current. Ate May and I also knew how to swim although not as brave as the boys.

Reynante advised us that we had to wait a little bit for the waves to calm down before we proceeded to Lahus Island. He "parked" our boat near Gota Beach, which was famous since this is frequently used for the Survivor TV Show, and beside Gota Beach Resort.

Gota Beach Resort

Marv and Teddy, with his newly-purchased snorkel

The sea was full of small jellyfish like this. Don't worry, they don't sting. Kindly ignore the chest in the background hehe.

After a while, we eventually got tired of swimming and being hit by the waves. We requested Reynante to take us to our next destination, Lahos Island!

What we saw in Lahos Island is powder-like off-white sand with beaches on both sides. One can arrive at one beach and cross the hill of sand to reach another beach at the opposite side. Since it was just mid-afternoon, the sun was still doing its job so all of us frolicked towards a shaded area, beside the island's rock formation.

Here we spent a few minutes taking pictures and swimming. However, we could only swim near the shore because of the raging waves.

Marv and Teddy still eating their take-away lunch

Here you can see one side of the island. On the other side is another beach where our boat is docked.

Team Gummybear in Lahos Island

We decided to go to our next island, which is Cagbanilad Island, to rinse off and collect freshwater. We wanted to arrive at Matukad Island, before dark so it'll be easy for us to pitch our tents and cook dinner.

No one bothered to take photos while we were in Cagbanilad Island. All of us happily rinsed off under the fresh running water which they say comes from the mountain.

We were greeted by a beautiful island with the whitest sand among all of the places we saw that day. I was glad to hear that this is already Matukad Island, where we'll be spending the night. Matukad Island has very fine white sand so soft that it made me want to just stay on the shore until dark -- but we still had to fix our sleeping area.

So to summarize our one-way travel to Matukad Island, here's a list of what we rode to go there:

• Bus
• Tricycle
• Big boat
• Tricycle
• Small boat

Whew!

Matukad, unlike Lahos Island, had a big shaded area because of the trees. It was a perfect beach to camp out. This island is usually being closed down by the Survivor team and we're very fortunate that it is open for camping during our visit.

Kuya Ryan cooked for us sinigang na isda and grilled fish which were very delicious and made us forget that we were actually just camping on an island.

After dinner, we transferred near the beach to gaze at the stars -- I saw the most beautiful night sky in my life, with so many stars shining brightly on us. Too bad Marv didn't bring his tripod so we weren't able to shoot the night sky.

We spent the rest of the night playing Pinoy Henyo (thanks to Teddy's apps and gadgets), King's Cup, Mafia Game, & the 1-2-3 pass. We hit the sack around 1:00 AM and promised that we'd wake up at 5:30 AM to catch the sunrise.

Pinoy Henyo

King's Cup

Sinong tanggera? HAHA.

Day 2
April 14, Sun

The next day, Pao, in spite of consuming the highest volume of alcohol, was the first one to wake up. I immediately went out of our tent when I heard that he was already awake. Sunrise in Matukad Island was at around 5:10 AM; that's why we woke up earlier than our alarm clocks.

We swam a little bit, prepared breakfast, and fixed our things because Reynante will be picking us up around 7:00 AM so we would still have some time to visit other islands before we head back to Paniman.

Ramil was there and asked us how we were. He apologized because he didn't have much time to entertain our group because he was busy with other guests. We told him it was okay and that we understood; Ramil was very nice.

Best beach in Caramoan. So lucky we camped there!

Marv and his officemates doing their signature pose. Cute!

You might be asking why we needed to leave that early. We had to since we wanted to catch the last trip from Guijalo Port to Sabang Port at 11:00 AM. We had no extra money to pay for a special trip amounting to PhP 2,500.

On our way back to Paniman, we stopped by Minalajos Island, which we couldn't approach yesterday because of the strong current. Yes, the current was still strong but we didn't want to miss the island again.

We arrived at Paniman around 9:00 AM -- we still had an hour to bathe and prepare for our travel back to Naga City.

Myrna welcomed us again when we got back. Again, she let us use their home for free. To return their kindness, I told her that I'll post photos and information about their homestay here in my blog.

Based on Journeying James' article, Ramil used to offer only boats for island-hopping. But probably due to the success of his business, he was able to transform part of his house into a home stay.

For PhP 300/pax/night, one can stay near the shore of Paniman Beach. Ramil's Homestay was the closest to Caramoan Islands than the other tourist inss. Since this is a homestay, please don't expect that much. For an affordable price of PhP300, tourists will already have a room with a private bathroom.

Myrna also provides guests with towels at no extra cost.

Those on a strict budget but prefer not to camp at the beach may choose to stay at Ramil's Homestay. Since it's just in front of jump off to the islands, people need not ride a tricycle anymore and save a few minutes of travel to reach the islands. Ramil can also arrange roundtrip transfers from Guijalo port to Paniman and vice versa.



Heading back to Guijalo Port

We arrived at Guijalo Port at 10:45 AM and the 11:00 boat was still there, unfortunately, it was full already. People there assured us that there was still another boat that was going to leave at 12:00 PM, after all, there were still plenty of tourists going back to Sabang.



Have to pay PhP5/pax for terminal fee

Boys still playing cards!

We reached Sabang Port at 2:00 PM and missed the last van going to Naga City. There were men there who told us to just rent a private van for PhP1,300 to reach Naga City. Way out of our budget! So thanks to Plan B, this is what we did -- we rode a jeep to Goa Terminal and from there, we rode a van to Naga City.

The van dropped us at Naga City Terminal at around 4:00 PM and we proceeded to the Piltranco Office to pay for our bus tickets which Teddy, Pao, and Ate May had reserved the day before. Good thing we had reservations because buses were fully-booked already!

We went to Cucina Conchita for a very late lunch after and boy were we hungry for lechon, Tinumok, and Bicol Express!

Famous in Naga for its lechon. However, I liked its Tinumok better than the lechon.

After eating, Marv and I stayed in Cucina Conchita while the others attended mass. We met in Biggs Diner in SM City Naga for snack/dinner before boarding our 8:00 bus to Manila.

Biggs Diner, famous fastfood in Bicol

Smiles from me and these potatoes

And to summarize our journey back to Manila, here's another list of what we rode on Day 2:

• Small boat
• Tricycle
• Big boat
• Jeep
• Van
• Bus

 My Take on Caramoan

Caramoan Islands is an astonishing place to visit, espcially Matukad Island, which has very fine white sand and a comfortable camping area. Unfortunately, I find the travel to Caramoan challenging, especially when going in and out of the boats, because of the strong current.

I won't recommend the place as a family-friendly beach where you can take your babies or grandparents with you. Remember, the waves are big and they might hurt themselves when going in and out of the boats.

Nevertheless, for those who seek adventure and a different place to camp, aside from Zambales, Caramoan is the perfect place for you. Enduring the butt-numbing and tiring travel will be easy once you get a glimpse of what Caramoan has to offer.

Expenses

Was I able to win the PhP 2,500 challenge? The answer is no.

I exceeded my budget by PhP 76, oh yeaaaah! Which is actually not bad since this already includes alcoholic beverages, a lot of food, and everything else required for a trip to Caramoan. What it excludes are my lunch in Cocina Conchita and dinner in Biggs Diner because these are already optional.

Expenses per head would have been cheaper if there were more of us on this trip. After all, the more, the merrier, the cheaper hehe.

Sample Itinerary for an overnight camping trip
This was our original itinerary which we weren't able to follow because of the delayed arrival of Raymond bus in Cubao

Contact

Kuya Ramil
Contact Number: 09074351962