Potipot Island Getaway

After a total of 15 hours long trek on Mt. Tapulao, the gang decided to spend some time on a beach. We're already in Zambales, and it was only Friday, since it's a long weekend naman, we might as well spend the rest of our weekend in an island beach nearby.

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Friday - November 2, 2012

Potipot Island was the pegged side trip to our Mt. Tapulao adventure. I really totally miss the beach (ang huling beach na napuntahan ko ay yung Calaguas pa noong April) so my excitement was at its maximum level.

Our initial plan was to travel straight to Candelaria from Palauig, and buy there some goods for our planned overnight stay at Potipot Island, but our tricycle driver suggested that we do the shopping for provisions at the town before Candelaria, which is Masinloc (mas malaki daw kasi yung palengke nila, mas marami daw kaming options).

So we followed kuya tricycle driver's suggestion and bought all of our provisions at Masinloc Town, we finished buying goods at around 4:30 PM. Then after that, we traveled again by tricycle to Dawal Beach, where boats to Potipot were waiting. We rode a small outrigger boat to Potipot Island, it costs P100 per head (round trip na). The boat also provided us life vests so we felt a little safer in the entire 5 minute boat ride to the island.

Potipot Island is just a small island (mas malaki pa ang Quezon Memorial Circle) off the coast of Candelaria, Zambales. This island beach is getting more popular nowadays just like its contemporaries in southern Zambales (i.e. Anawangin and Nagsasa coves), but unlike the beaches in the south which have grey sand, Potipot Island's fine sand is cream white.

Potipot Island seen from Dawal Beach, maliit na isla lang talaga

Since the island has become very touristy, locals had built some facilities on the island that would help those who are not used to living a primitive life (i.e. toilet facilty and shower, kubo, and grill station). The use of shower and toilet and tables comes with the island fee that every visitor is required to pay (P100 for day trip, P300 for overnight stay). The rate of their kubo is P500 for the small (good for 5) and P1,500 for the big one (fits 15-20 persons).

It was almost 6PM when we landed on the island. Since it was starting to get dark, we wasted no time in pitching up our beach camp. We also prepared the dinner right away (medyo tom-guts na kami). Half of the group grilled our bangus, while the other half (including me) prepared a pasta dish.

Here's what I prepared for the group that night, Pasta Putanesca. While it doesn't really look like one, at least its taste is very much close to a real Putanesca. Sa Tapulao ko dapat lulutuin ito eh..

After dinner, the four of us wanted to sleep already, wala nang socials-socials na naganap basta natulog na lang agad. I guess we're just too tired from the very busy day we had.


Saturday - November 3, 2012

The following day, a perfect weather and a perfect beach welcomed us. Oh we just want to dip in the sea.

tulala?! mga bagong gising..

I just wanna be on the beach... sunburn! ♫♪♫

It was an ultimate beach bumming day for the four of us, we just swam around, jumped around, rolled around, strolled around... sobrang enjoy lang buhay hayahay! We were also very fortunate that the number of tourists that day was quite tolerable.

fine white sand.. Awesome!

As much as I want to capture more photos of this beautiful beach, my camera battery went dead. sigh.

Our stay in Potipot Island is far better than what I expected. We encountered nice people and the weather did not turned against us. It was overall a fun and memorable experience. woohoo!

By 2 PM, we left Potipot Island, traveled by boat back to Dawal Beach, then simply walked towards the highway. There, we just waited for bus bound for Manila.