Nagsasa, Anawangin, Camara, Capones adventure..

Its Summer time and its freaking hot, time to hit the beach!

My brother Sai asked me to tag along with them in Nagsasa Cove, Zambales [woohoo!]. They say Nagsasa Cove is similar to Anawangin Cove, where there are lots of pine trees and is still a virgin beach. It’s about an hour boat ride from Pundakit, Zambales. While exploring the different islands in Pundakit, we saw lots of flying fishes, some of them were even flying in a curve path [my first time to see that kind of stuff!]. The water is lucid allowing  you to view the bottom of the sea clearly.

You could also go to Nagsasa Cove via a 6-hour trek from Subic that requires you to get permits from certain tribes to avoid getting involved with their local tribe wars [literal Survivor-tribe wars ata to, parang panahon ni Lapu-lapu, kakatakot!].

Before going there, we had a couple of side trips in the surrounding islands. First stop was Camara Island. It’s a small island that isn’t inhabited, but it’s still a popular tourist spot in Zambales because of the beach. It also has a cliff where you could climb and see a breathtaking view of the surroundings.

After Camara Island, we headed to Capones Island. It was already my second time on the island since two years ago.  I really enjoy it there because of the fine sand and the crystal clear water. I remember he last time we went, there were big rocks under the water and we would stand on those rocks.  But because it was high tide that time and I forgot to bring my goggles [as always], I didn’t dare swim in the deep to find those rocks. And because of this also plus the sun already setting, we weren’t able to go to up the Capones light house.

Finally, we arrived at our destination, Nagsasa Cove! Compared to Anawangin Cove, this cove has calm water, least populated and more relaxing. Since the sun was almost down, some of the group took pictures [since they are into photography most of us are the subject. lol!] of the beautiful sunset in Nagsasa Cove.

We then decided to pitch camp before it got dark and we could still see our equipments. My brother cooked our lola’s dish (Woknatoy) for the group to eat for dinner [yummy!]. Most of the people who tasted it found it scrumptious.

That night we decided to hit the beach since most of us didn’t have the chance to swim earlier because we were rushing to pitch camp. While swimming in the cold water, we noticed something moving and illuminating. I thought at first those are marine insects but they didn’t bite and we can only see them when  moving in the water. Then Mike told us that those were planktons — that glow when they hit each other. Too bad we weren’t able to take pictures of them.

In the morning, our group got up early to stroll around the cove and [again] take pictures. Sai and Pen went up the cliff so they could take picture of the cove on a higher view.

After lunch, we left Nagsasa Cove and went to Anawangin Cove. I was really surprised to see Anawangin Cove that time compared to the last time I visited. There were multitudes of people staying [parang Puerto Gallera sa dami!] and they even had a henna/tattoo stall and lots of sari-sari stores. I know those establishments were there so that the locals could have income for their living, but it was really sad to see that the once beautiful virgin beach is now damaged by these establishments plus those tourists who doesn’t know LNT [Leave No Trace] principle. Even though we were a bit disappointed on our arrival in Anawangin Cove, it still didn’t stop us from enjoying and taking picture of the surroundings.

After Anawangin Cove, we went back to Pundakit and prepared to go home. The bangkeros we hired have a toilet so we could take a bath before heading back to Manila.

For itinerary and more information regarding the trip, click here.

Below are some pics of our adventure: