Apo Reef and Pandan Island

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Months before hearts day, I was excited - not because I found the day itself worth celebrating, but because I'll set foot on one of my dream destination in the country: BATANES. Leaves? Approved! Savings? Enough! Tickets? Ready! Companions? Game!. Excitement? Overwhelming!

Days rolled by, but the unwanted occurred. ZEST AIR CANCELLED ALL THEIR FLIGHTS TO BASCO. No more trip to Batanes! Looking at the bright side, it was just strike 1 for me, not like some friends of mine... Peace friends. Batanes is not yet for me. Maybe next Valentines? We'll see.

Suddenly I'll be staying home on a supposed to be adventure weekend. That can't be! I scanned for the parallel tours which I can transfer to. Calaguas is too soon. Donsol. unfamiliar. Apo Reef & Pandan Island. hmm. 2 hits in 1! Seems like a good deal. Need to tag someone along to share the adventure with.Tadaaan! There's Sheila! Thanks for saying yesJ. We bought our tickets, send the forms and paid the fees. We're in! We're going to Apo Reef & Pandan Island!

5J 515
MANILA-SAN JOSE
Friday, Feb 13, 2009
Depart 1540H Arrive 1630H


I thought I wouldn't make it to Terminal 3. I thought I'll oversleep. I even thought that I won't make it to Manila that day (that's another story). Hahaha. Upon arriving at the airport I saw Dean (Sagada Survivor 8!), Ver, Marge, Jerome and Glen (from Calaguas!). Rap and some of her friends, Jon and his wife, then there comes Leia and AJ, with all our stuffs - tents and their heavy Scuba gears. Got the tickets, paid the taxes and we're now on the boarding area, where even more familiar and new faces emerged.

Time to board! Cebu Pacific was not delayed that day! It's the small plane again like what we rode when we went to Tuguegarao last January. My heart skipped a little. We arrived in San Jose a few minutes after 4PM, waited for the vans, stopped over for supplies and after 3 bumpy and dark hours we arrived to the resort we'll stay in. Resort that we didn't had the chance to explore. We ate dinner - fish and veggies (which my Mom would approve), got the chance to know new friends, knew what pink and yellow was and then went to bed.


APO REEF VALENTINES

Call time was 4AM. It was still dark and we were all still sleepy when we left the resort (the resort we hardly knew and remember). Boarded the van and went to the coast to ride the boat to bring us to Apo Reef. I learned that it was a water taxi - with an upper and lower deck and a CR. It was big enough to transport 30 people. The sun was coming out when we had breakfast at the boat, and our sleepiness totally wore off when while eating we saw not only flying fishes but also lot of dolphins playing and circling around the boat - boasting their majestic beauty. It's as if they were saying "Hey human friends! Good morning! Welcome to the sea! Have a hearty breakfast!" What a way to start the day. Their show lasted for a while, but the boat ride didn't, thank God the waves weren't that big, still sleepy I went back to slumber. After I guess more than 2 more hours, we have arrived at the island. APO REEF. Check!

Apo Reef is paradise. Fine white-pinkish sand, serene atmosphere, clear waters, rich marine life - what more can you ask for? We beach bummed a while upon arriving, took lots of underwater (and over water!) pics, then we cling ourselves to the raft attached to the boat that dragged us to the sea to have a chance to have close encounters with the marine life. Talk about snorkeling for the non-swimmers and lazy people (or is it just me? haha). We saw different kinds of fishes (Nemo being the most popular one), a couple of shark sightings, and pawikans! It was a good one hour while it lasted - body aches soon followed. We had lunch... fish and veggies again. this trip is fastly becoming the healthiest trip I've been so far. Rested a while then we had a chance to explore the reef and had our photo ops, imitating survivor and whatevers. Jump shots, high-fashion shots and model shots by the tumbled tree and a lot more photos at the old house on the island. Thanks Ver and Prec for being our models. We headed back to our camp to again, beach bum - this is what the trip is about!


After a while we'll have a guided tour around the reef. We were divided into 2 groups of ten - and went opposite ways. Our group first went to the far other side of the reef, where the pawikans lays their eggs - their prints were everywhere, but we didn't see any. We saw some diggings and according to the guide, this is where the mother pawikans keep their eggs. On the farther side of this place is a restricted area, so as to not disturb the ecology in the area. Next stop in the tour are the mangroves, it is located at the center of the reef. A long, creaky bamboo pathway leads to the lagoon, where according to the guide, we can see baby sharks and sting rays if we're lucky. We rode a raft across the lagoon to get to the other side, where we met with the other half of the party. We passed by the old house again, and headed straight to the Apo Reef Lighthouse. The lighthouse is somewhat modern in structure; we've learned that it was built by the Japanese. Up above, you can see a breathtaking view of the whole reef - the lagoon, the limestones, the mangroves, trees, the beach and even the coral formations. We headed back to the camp to again and again, beach bum, while some played Frisbee and Volleyball.

It was already getting dark when we started gathering dry woods for the bonfire, and when we started pitching our tents. We had a healthy dinner again, then with the early socials; at first we were at camp but later on transferred to the beach. SOCIALS UNDER THE MOONLIGHT! Perfect. As it was from other socials night, we went down one by one - some went back to the tents to sleep, some slept on the sand, some were busy partying (thanks to Pom's song collection), and some were just too drunk to move or even lie down. Before 12 midnight, there's no more drinks and most of us are down (literally, on the beach).

We were awoken the next day by the rain. Not allowing this to ruin our fun, we did a very new game to entertain ourselves - CHARADES! Funny categories we have, ranging from Sukdulan to Daimos. We had breakfast, the rain stopped, and for the nth time, we beach bummed again. After lunch, we packed our things up and prepared ourselves for the next stop - PANDAN ISLAND. Goodbye Apo Reef, you'll be missed. I will never, ever, ever, ever, forget this place. PINKED!

PANDAN ISLAND POST VALENTINES
Tired, I easily fell asleep on the water taxi. I just woke up when we were already at Pandan Grande Island. I was a bit pissed off here because my and Shey's water supply was left at Apo Reef - it's not ok, because like in Apo Reef, the supply of fresh water here is as scarce (2-3 tabo per person!). We learned that the island is a Pawikan sanctuary, but unfortunately it's just eggs that are currently available. We need to snorkel to see them on their natural habitat. Because I'm afraid of deep water, and because of life vest scarcity, I have no choice but to snorkel a bit later. and dimmer. Everyone had their fair share of pawikans, but what I just saw was the dreaded lionfish. Days of healthy leaving ended when we had a buffet dinner - a feast of different delicious foods! No pork yet, but there's beef! Hurrah! After freshing up and some bonding moments, we hit the resort's bar. Had beer and cocktails, some played billiards. I tried the Dolphin, upon Leia's suggestion and it was great and not pricey.

Breakfast was yummy as well; their bread was enough to fill me in. After eating, some went to pictorials, some went to the bar and some went beach bumming again but me and Shey shared quality moments under the coconut tree.

After a quick buffet lunch we boarded the boat and as we the island grows smaller and smaller, one thought keeps running in my head. like Apo Reef, I will miss Pandan. I will never ever,ever, ever forget Pandan Grande.


Actually, I will never forget this trip.

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Photos

apo reef1
Welcome To APO REEF

Apo Reef 1
The Beach

Apo Reef 2
Pawikan Sanctuary

Apo Reef 3
Mangroves

Apo Reef 4
Lagoon and Lighthouse

Apo Reef 5
The Lagoon

Apo Reef 6
Apo Reef Lighthouse

Pandan Island 1
Pandan Grande Island

Pandan Island 2
Pandan Island Beach

Comments

[TinNiE]

Happy
Happy because .... ? Will never forget this because ... ? hehe

[misha]

its meant to be
So happy to have you. yiiii.

[MELODY PESTAÑO]

amazing beach
panalo ang apo reef at pandan island sa sablayan, occidendental mindoro (beaches) ang saya ng grupo namin sa pandan island at apo reef!!!!!!! grabe sa asaran!!!! (march 26 & 27, 2010)

[charlz1838]

melody - true! ang ganda ng place.