It’s summer once again! For the past weeks we have been
planning and dreaming of our Hundred Islands escapade. As usual planning before
the trip is a must, that is to avoid overspending and wasting of precious family time. As usual, I
made a list of our itinerary and expenses. Also, I have done an
extensive research online to make sure we get the best events out of our travel experience.
Since the travel time from our hometown Binmaley to Lucap
Wharf, Alaminos is only about 45 minutes, we decided to spend the night at home
and book for a day tour to explore Hundred Islands.
A day before our escapade we were doubtful if will pursue our trip. My brother got hospitalized a day before
we travel, thus they are unable to join us for the tour. Since our daughter is
so excited for this trip we decided to continue, we will just revisit the place
with them next time.
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| Excited Kiddo! |
Road Trip to Pangasinan
We want to make sure we have the needed energy for the trip
so we decided to travel a day before our island escapade. It was around 3:00 AM
in the morning when we started our road trip to Pangasinan.
For our breakfast we planned to eat Bulalo in Lusita Tarlac, but just in case we won’t be able to I prepared some fried hotdogs and rice.
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| Our Packed Breakfast on the go! |
As usual we enjoyed the scenery along the way. Even if we traveled the same road, each trip is always special and filled with new things and experiences.
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| SCTEX Luisita, Tarlac |
It was around 6:00 AM when we arrived in Lusita, Tarlac via
SCTEX. At that time we are not yet that hungry so we decided to skip our
stopover for some Bulalo. We continued travelling for another 2 hours and
finally we arrived at our home in Pangasinan around 8:00 AM.
Upon arriving we ate some hearty breakfast at home. :)
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| Boneless Bangus and "Urang" |
We were planning to grill some Boneless Bangus for our lunch
in Hundred Islands but instead we opted to prepare some Grilled Tilapia. There
are a lot of seafood at home, usually sellers go to “suki” houses to sell some seafoods
like talaba, tahong and various kinds of fishes.
For this visit, our neighbor sold to us some huge Tilapia for
grilling. We stuffed it with some onions and tomatoes and added some salt to taste before
we freeze it for 24 hours.
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| Huge Tilapia for Grilling |
Aside from Grilled Tilapia we also prepared some Barbeque on
Stick, Hotdog on Stick and Fruit Salad. We also thought of cooking some “Pinakbet”
in foil but we decided to slash that from the menu and replace it with
Carbonara and Chicken Adobo.
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| BBQ, Hotdog on Stick and Fruit Salad |
Our "Baon" for the Hundred Islands Day Tour
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| Carbonara and Chicken Adobo |
Off to Lucap Wharf Alaminos
We originally planned to leave the house by 4:30 AM but we
decided to wait for the sun to rise, so we left around 5:30 AM. It was around
6:30 AM when we arrived at Lucap Wharf. Upon arriving me and my daughter went to the Tourism Office to settle our environmental and boat fees.
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The countryside view to Hundred Islands
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| Alaminos City! |
While I settle our entrance fee and boat fees at the Tourism Office my Dad and my husband secured the car before we sail out to tour the
islands. My nephew Dennis and his girlfriend Jovie on the other hand toured around Lucap Wharf before we depart to our island tour.
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| Rates for the Tour |
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| Environmental Fee |
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| Boat Fees |
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| Lucap Wharf |
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| Rhian at the Tourism Office and Lucap Wharf |
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| Service Boats for the Island Tour |
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| Lucap Wharf Lighthouse |
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Waiting for our Boat :)
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Island Hopping
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| Lovely Morning :) |
We originally wanted to go to Marcos Island for my husband
to experience the ultimate cave jump but it was decided upon that we will just do that
activity on our next visit.
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| Early Island Explorers |
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| Happy and Excited for the Island Tour! |
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| Crystal Clear View |
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| Chikahan Moments! |
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| Island View |
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| First Timer! |
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| Excited to Swim! |
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| Another Chikahan Moment :) |
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| Another Serene View |
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| He takes a picture! We take a picture! |
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| One more shot before we dock on the first island! |
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Governor's Island
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For our first island, we went to Governor's Island for some trekking and island viewing.
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| 7:00 AM at Governor's Island |
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| Island View |
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| Souvenir Picture at Governor's Island |
On our way up I was the slowest. With the burden of being
overweight, I was really thankful I am able to maintain my diet for the past few
weeks. It is such a relieve I lost 10 lbs. before this trip. I cannot imagine climbing up
the stairs with too much bulges. After the climb, I was highly motivated to
continue my quest for my ideal weight. :)
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| Whew! |
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| Rhian enjoys her trek to the top! |
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| A few more steps to the top |
It was hot at the top of the island, but the heat can be
easily ignored once you see the view. It is also best to sweat up a little bit
before cooling down in the beach area.
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| Governor's Island Viewing Deck |
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| Hundred Islands from the top |
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| The floating bridge |
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| Verdant Islands |
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Relaxing View
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| A trip to remember! |
After the trek, we went to walk by the floating bridge. These
are one of the new things in Hundred Islands. Years back, when I first visited
this place, each island is in its purest form. For one whole day, you
can choose your own island and camp up in the area before sunset.
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| It's time to experience "The Floating Bridge" |
Today, there are a lot of things to experience in the area,
one of which is the floating bridge and the zip line. We really enjoyed walking
by the bridge to view the fishes swimming around the area.
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| Snakes hides under the Islands... Scary! |
While you past by the floating bridge you will see the Big
Brother Lodge built in the island. The place can be rented by those who
would like to spend the whole night in the island.
Sneaking under the island are sea snakes, most of it are
also found inside caves.
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| We are always-- Happy :) |
After touring Governor’s Island, we are bound to visit
Quezon and Children’s Island, but we decided to skip that part and decided to settle at Lopez Island. My daughter has been nagging for some swimming escapade since we arrived.
Fishes! Fishes! and Giant Clams!
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| Windy boat ride! |
Before we settled at Lopez Island, we were taken to the snorkeling
area to view the Giant Clams and of course to do some snorkeling.
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| Fearless Kid! |
My husband is
the only person equipped with swimming skills for this activity. Even without a life
jacket he can dive in and view the beauty beneath the sea. We were unable to bring our underwater camera
so we were not able to take some pictures. We will probably do that on our next
visit.
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| Laking Dagat! |
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| Beneath the Ocean |
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| Laking dagat talaga! |
While my niece Dennis and my husband Raffy snorkeled around
the area we devour some sandwich for breakfast. I made a large Chicken Steak
Sandwich with Mustard and Mayo Sauce.
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| Quick and Simple: Fried Chicken Breast/Lemon Chicken, French Bread, Mayo-Mustard Dip and Tomatoes |
Swimming Escapade at Lopez Island
Upon arriving at Lopez Island we tried to look for a good
spot to set camp. We actually found a cove like area that connects directly to
a snorkeling spot. It was also perfect for swimming since there is part where
the water is shallow.
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| Perfect for Swimming! |
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| Cool and Relaxing |
It was only around 8:30 AM when we arrived at Lopez Island
so we decided to swim for a while before we cook some food for lunch. It was
around 10:00 AM when we started cooking for lunch. It was also refreshing to
eat under one of the island while submerged underwater.
It was indeed a hearty lunch -- we had BBQ, Grilled Tilapia,
Adobo and Fruit Salad for dessert.
An hour before we left Lopez Island, we ate some Carbonara and Grilled Hotdogs. We really enjoyed each minute of our swimming escapade.
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| Dennis, the grill master! |
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| Best Lunch Ever! |
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| Swimming! Swimming! Swimming! |
There are also a lot of jellyfish in the area, but such are harmless, it can simply be scooped out of the water with bare hands . We spent
swimming and eating for the rest of the afternoon. It was around 2:30 PM when
we decided to leave Lopez Island.
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| Blue and Spiky Jellyfish |
Cuenco Island (Spelunking and Cliff Jump)
Since we missed the ultimate jump at Marcos Island our
boatman took us to Cuenco Cave where kids like Rhian can experience spelunking
and cliff jumping.
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| Spelunking! |
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| To the Cave! |
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| J-U-M-P shot! |
Bat Island
On our way back we pass by Bat Island, from the name of the island you can actually infer that this is a sanctuary of bats.
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| Bats, Bats, Bats |
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| and more bats! |
So far the islands where we have been taken are just right
for this trip. Since we have a 5 year old kid with us, the adventures that we
had are just enough for her to enjoy and remember her first time in Hundred
Islands.
There are still a lot of activities offered in the area, one
whole day is simply not enough to complete all of it. For now we will reserve
some of it on our next visit.
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| Time flies fast... |
On our way back home we bought some souvenirs in Lucap
Wharf. Each time I visit a place I always buy souvenirs from roaming sellers
instead of souvenir shops -- key chains and ref magnets are always on sale. Also,
it is always an experience to watch the seller transform each shell into a
chain of memories. I think that what travelling is all about, it is more than
just visiting the place it means creating good memories.
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| Key chain for 10 pesos each! |
Side trip to Dagupan City Market
Upon arriving home I remembered that we are not able to buy
some Alaminos longganisa. So by Sunday morning before we went back to
Manila, we went to Dagupan City to buy some of our favorite goodies and
pasalubong. We bought a lot of daing from Ate Liway, my sister-in-law’s “suki”
for her daing business. It would be best to always have a “suki” in the market
to be able to get the best deal with the best quality.
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| Breakfast Fave: Daing na Espada |
For seafood we bought some Pingaw and Malaga. It is a bit pricey as compared to
bangus which is usually sold for 110 pesos per kilo, but you can always make “tawad”.
In our case each kilo was sold for 250 pesos, but we are able to bought it for 210 pesos per
kilo.
We are able to buy Bulasi for 40 pesos per kilo. We usually cook it with just
salt and siling labuyo.
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| Bangus and Bulasi (Banak) |
We also bought a lot of boneless bangus and puto.
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| Boneless Bangus |
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| Sinigang na Malaga |
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| Puto Calasiao |
Also in Dagupan Market, we are able to buy some tomatoes for 10 pesos per kilo.
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| Kamatis for just 10 pesos per kilo! |
Before we head back home to unpack we dropped by Magic Mall
in Binmaley Public Market. We bought a lot of Peanut Butter in
Magic Mall and some vegetables like squash, okra and white bitter gourd or ampalaya.
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| Yummy Veggies |
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| Magic Peanut Butter for Kare-Kare |
Aside from that, we bought a lot of salt that can last for a year. Everytime we go home to Pangasinan it is an ordeal to stock up some salt. It
is one of the secret of creating good food. You will notice that using salt from
Pangasinan results to a more umami taste.
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| The secret to a perfect home cooked recipe: Pangasinan Salt |
With so much in mind, we thought we will not enjoy the trip, but the beauty of the place made our travel worthwhile. We are able to gain precious memories that we shall cherish for a lifetime.
It was around 2:30 PM when we head back to Manila with my
Dad to visit my brother at the UST Hospital. We would like to bring some of his
favorite goodies for his fast recovery. It was indeed one happy summer at the
islands. We really enjoyed each moment and we will definitely go back to
Hundred Islands. :)
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