Monday, June 9, 2008

Potipot Island - A Summer Solitude

It was almost a month since my friends and I planned to go to Potipot Island in Candelaria, Zambales. We decided that we are going somewhere in the 2nd week of April and April 11-13 was the date that we picked.

It was me, Raunche, Karen and Joanna who have planned this summer getaway but it was (surprisingly) Karen who brought this up with us. We had a lot of meetings as to where or what place should we stay in to get to Potipot Island. In the long run we chose Dawal Beach Resort.

The day before our departure –Thursday-, Joanna suddenly decided that she will not come with us anymore for some reasons and to tell you the truth I was really so freakishly pissed off because we’re leaving on Friday morning. It was really disappointing because we planned this trip for almost a month now and we have agreed that no one will back out since everyone agreed to go in the first place.

The reason why I was so pissed off is that I already budget our allowance for 5 people for 3 days and there’s no more extra money for us to spare. So I thought that “shit how are we gonna last for 3 days?” Joanna could’ve told us a day before we leave so we could’ve found a replacement for her.

Anyways, that same night the four of us (Raunche, Onix, Karen and I) gathered at my house so we can go to Zambales together. We left at around 2 AM to have some coffee first and after drinking coffee we went to the Caloocan Station of Victory Liner.

Our bus left at 4:30 AM and my God was it not the hottest air-conditioned bus I’ve ever ridden in my entire life and we endured it for 6 hours whew. Most of the provincial busses I’ve already ridden were really cold as if you’ll die in coldness. Anyways as I mentioned earlier our travel time was 6 hours so we travelled from 4:30-10:30 AM.

We checked in at Dawal Beach Resort the moment we arrived. However, there was a bit of a road block because the frontdesk told us that the deposit I made didn’t reflect on their records. But in the end because of Karen’s bank knowledge we were able to sort it out. Bravo Karen! You really impressed me there.

Dawal Beach Resort is a nice place to stay in. It’s not a 5 star beach resort but what the heck all we need is a place to sleep at night.

Once we were settled in our room we ate our brunch and prepared to go to Potipot Island. Going to Potipot Island is not that hard. Once you step out of the resort you’ll be greeted by a bunch of nice bangkeros and will offer you a round trip to Potipot Island back to Dawal. At first, we thought that it will cost us P400 each that’s why all of us were so mad at Joanna coz she’s included in that budget. But, fortunately enough we were misinformed and it was P400 round trip maximum of around 8 persons per Bangka (boat).

As we were relieved to know that; our grudges against Joanna were lessen. Hehe.. So the 4 of us travelled to Potipot Island. I don’t know, but I believe it was Karen’s first time to ride a Bangka because, My God, we were laughing our hearts out on looking how scared she was. Hahaha.. I mean she were practically screaming all throughout our Bangka journey which lasted 10-15 minutes. The island is not that far though. More or less we tried to comfort her but she did not stop until we reached the Potipot shores. Hahaha

There weren’t a lot of people in Potipot Island that Friday afternoon which is what we wished for. The island is really small but it has white sand, a lot of trees for shade and a clear greenish-blue water. Although there were some leaves on the shore and the water, the afternoon that we spent there were fun-filled and relaxing. Just looking at the ocean made me forget a lot of problems that I have, I did not think of anything but all of the laughters that we were doing. Of course, Joanna was one of our main jokes there. No offense Joan. We were picked up by our Bangka at around 5 PM and we were at our room at around 5:15PM.

After we were cleaned we ate our dinner and drank some alcohol in our room. Unfortunately we weren’t able to bring our own bottle of alcohol coz the personnel told us that there was P300 for hard drinks which in reality was none if you stay in the beach front rooms. KAINIS. We could’ve brought the alcohol that we want the most.

We spent the next day there just like what we did on our first day; so nothing to tell you about it. Except that I am so dark black now. wahahaha

The only thing that bugged us was our bus ride and the long hours of travel; but, all in all our stay was worth it. Not what I expected but worth it.

Pictures are to follow; and thanks for reading.:)

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