Mt. Pundaquit | Traverse to Anawangin Cove

For the first time, I celebrated my birthday outside the bounds of Metro Manila. It was an action-packed 20th birthday trip (thanks to my ka-lakwatsas). Part of this weekend adventure was to traverse Mt. Pundaquit (my third mountain) to Anawangin Cove.   

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Three hours after boarding Victory Liner's earliest trip to Sta. Cruz, Zambales (04:00 am), I, together with a bunch of adventure-loving friends, arrived at San Antonio - home of Zambales' famous coves and island beaches. As soon as we alighted the bus, Mang Mike, our contact in Brgy. Pundaquit, waved and called our attention. He already hailed three tricycles that will bring us to Brgy. Pundaquit, the main jump-off point to our first destination - Mt. Pundaquit.

Our plan was to eat first our breakfast then buy all the necessary stuff for our overnight camping - food, drinks, coal, etc. - at San Antonio Market before we proceeded to Brgy. Pundaquit. Having no choice, the tricycle drivers waited for us for more than an hour (tricycle regular rate is P30 per head, we paid an additional amount because we made them wait for us for more than an hour).


Trek to Mt. Pundaquit

Anawangin Cove is accessible by boat or by foot. Most tourists would opt the boat since it's just 30 minutes away from Pundaquit beach. The longer and rougher way to Anawangin is by foot through the mountain of Pundaquit, mountaineers and adventure-loving trippers are the usual trampers of this path. It's strenuous, time consuming (4-5 hours trek), and might test your physical abilities, but I swear, you'll feel no regrets upon reaching the mountain's summit.

We reached Pundaquit Beach at around 9:30 am, and at 10:00 am, we started the long trek to the mountain. A guide, contacted by Mang Mike, served us in this 5-hour trek (P100 per head).

fixing everything before we proceed to the climb

A 45-minute trek from the Barangay Hall (registration) led us to the foot of Mt. Pundaquit. We passed through a lahar field and a dried-up river (raging if wet season). From time to time, I was awed by the landscapes that we pass by. We also passed by a stream of drinkable water.

Long walk along the lahar field

Passing through the waterless riverbed

We started the ascent just a few minutes before 11:00 AM (imagine the mid day sun striking above us). It was pretty hot the entire time we're doing the trek. Good thing we had our heavy bags loaded on the boat which went ahead to Anawangin. The only antagonist we faced in this climb is probably the mid day sun and the limited water we brought with us.

hiding under the shade of the tree.

woohoo to the first time climbers, Ian and Joan

Three among the group were first time hikers, so we're stopping for like every 5 minutes (haha, I know what they were feeling, because I felt the same thing during my first climb). I learned from my last climb how to control my breathing and pace so climbing a 3/9 mountain isn't much a problem to me anymore.

the trail with the beautiful backdrop and sunburst

At the Summit

Within an hour and 30 minutes, the summit was already at our reach. It was bit windy but the sun was striking badly upon reaching the summit at around 12:30 PM. Viewed from the top was the whole Anawangin Cove and nearby mountain ranges, everything was pleasing to the eyes.

view at the summit

Batang Lakwatsero conquered Mt. Pundaquit

Byron doing his photography at the summit

Byron, Cai and Elal at the summit

We spent 30 minutes on the summit taking pictures, feeding our eyes with awesome views and relaxing under the shade crafted by our guide. We wanted to stay longer on top but we just had to descend or else we'll end up like raisins because of dehydration. Our guide told us that there's a fresh water source about an hour from the summit so we hurried to reach that spot.

The Trail to Anawangin

The descent was easier, although it's steeper. We trekked much faster because of the view of Anawangin Cove, like an oasis in the middle of a desert, was a great motivation.

long way down.

Rocks, not so large, constantly block the clear trail so we needed to hop, stride and hop again. After an hour of trekking down from the summit, we reached the fresh water source, our guide filled our bottles with clear potable water. Rejuvenated by the fresh water, we continued the trail (now 45 minutes away) to Anawangin.

dry riverbed again

At 02:45 PM, our feet touched the ground again. From hereon, we passed through a dry riverbed, a maze of canopies (pine trees), and finally the fine sand of Anawangin Cove.

Pine trees at Anawangin

Anawangin Cove - Just Passing

A lot of tents and hammocks, probably a few inches away from each other, greeted us when we arrived at Zambales' most famous cove. The popularity of Anawangin Cove was evident in this seemingly "squatter's area".

a portion of the "siksikan" camp site

After the obligatory window shot, we went straight to the local store who sells ridiculously over-priced products. A bottle of C2 costs P40. Oh well, that's the consequence of Anawangin's seclusion.

just passing through the Anawangin Cove

Our boat, with our bags and goods, was already waiting for us at the beach, so after a few snapshots of the Anawangin Cove, we jumped into the boat and off we went to Nagsasa Cove.

see you next time Anawangin, off we go to Nagsasa

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 Viaje Zambales: Mt. Pundaquit-Nagsasa-Capones

Mt. Pundaquit Traverse to Anawangin
Nagsasa Cove Camping
Capones Island Advenure

Itinerary | Mt. Pundaquit-Nagsasa-Capones

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