Discovering Mahabang Buhangin of Calaguas

The first time I saw Calaguas online, I was eager to go there and explore it with myself. So after months of planning and looking for perfect dates, finally the long wait is over! It’s time for me to uncover the beautiful beaches of Camarines Norte.

Calaguas is a group of islands in the Philippine province of Camarines Norte. It includes the following islands: Tinaga Island, Guintinua Island, Maculabo Island and several other minor islands. Most of the islands are under the administrative jurisdiction of Vinzons, Camarines Norte while the minor island of Maculabo is under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Paracale, Camarines Norte. The famous long beach called Mahabang Buhangin is located in Tinaga Island. There are no accomodations available so better bring a camping tent and experience its powdery white sands.

Going to Calaguas from Manila

Since our trip is during the Holy Week, we expected bus companies to be fully booked. We booked our tickets 1 week prior to our travel date, good thing Amihan Busline had still available seats for us, the bus ticket cost PHP 580 per person one way. (TIP: Better buy tickets as early as 2 weeks prior to your departure date). We left Manila at 8:30 PM, and it took us 8 hours to get to Daet.

Since we didn’t have tickets yet going to Manila, we went to Daet first and see if we can buy ticket back to Manila. Unfortunately, the office is still closed (Oo nga naman, 5AM pa lang!). So we went to Daet Centro / Market and buy some goodies and foods for our trip. Once were done, we took our breakfast first at the nearby eatery. The minimum tricycle fee in Daet is PHP 8.00 per person.

At 7:00 AM, from Daet we rode a tricycle going to the bus terminal bound to Paracale. It was a slow bus ride to Paracale, expect to have numerous stop overs. We arrived at Paracale at 9:00 AM and called Mang Nelson (09203179315). While waiting for Mang Nelson, we contacted Amihan Bus Line to ask if there are still available seats back to Manila tomorrow and asked to reserve it for us. The person from Amihan Busline told us to call us tomorrow to check if there are still available seats.

Moving on, when I contacted Mang Nelson few days prior to our trip, he told us that he had no more available boat that can take us to Calaguas so I asked him if he can help us look for a boat that can accommodate our trip. Thanks to Mang Nelson, such a good man! He fetched us at the market and took us to the docking area / port. The port is more of a fish port. 🙂

The boat fee costs PHP 3,000, round trip with a side trip to Kumalasag and Makulabo Island. We didn’t haggle the price anymore since it’s Holy Week (some boatmen I contacted charged us PHP 3,500 and PHP 4,000). By the way, there are already life vests provided. Mang Mario was our boatman plus 5 local young ones, whose seems to be the boatman’s assistants.

Anyways, I would like to thank Chyng and Lakwatsero for their Calaguas travel stories that serve as my guide for this travel. 🙂

Beach Buddies

Thanks to my officemate and ex-officemates, if it wasn’t because of them I will not be able to experience Calaguas (sila lang kasi sumakay sa trip ko sa Calaguas and most of my friends have worked during Holy week). I also brought my best friend during the trip. 🙂