SNORKELING AT THE HUNDRED ISLANDS

An Easter recollection and outing  of the CBCP employees brought us to the One Hundred Islands in Alaminos, Pangasinan. After an early morning drive, a bus load of us arrived at the Cathedral of Alaminos where we had our breakfast.  Then we went to the Lucap wharf which was the jump off point for the island hopping.  Our first stop was the Governor’s Island.  We climbed up the hill where one could see a panorama of islands.  On top of the hill there was also the statue of St. Joseph the Carpenter,  Patron of Alaminos.  Connecting the Governor island to the Virgin island was a floating footbridge made of orange plastic jugs. There was also a zipline from this island to the Governor island.  The next island which we just passed by was the Romulo Island and Marcos Island.  We had our lunch and swimming at the Quezon  Island where there was a good growth of corals and a good number of giant clams. In the afternoon we also went to another island for more swimming.  Finally on the way back we passed by one island where there was a cave and bats in it. 

ST. JOSEPH CATHEDRAL PARISH

Alaminos, Pangasinan

Founded: 1610

Lining for breakfast at the Alaminos Cathedral. 

Breakfast was prepared by the Alaminos Cathedral, care of the Diocesan Administrator, Msgr. Ragudos. 

On the boat for the island hopping at the Hundred Islands National Park. 

A floating footbridge connects the Governor's Island to another islet. 

The boat dock at the Governor Island. 

View from on  top of the Governor Island. 

The 15-feet statue of St. Joseph the Carpenter at the top of Governor Island. 

The floating footbridge. 

A  546-meter zipline connects the Governor Island to the Virgin island. 

At the Quezon island we had our lunch and swimming. 

There were a good number of tourists at the island. 

Our group taking their lunch. 

Some of the corals that could be seen at the Quezon Island. 

One of the giant clams they are growing. 

A cave that we visited on our way back to town. 

Had snacks at the Maxine by the Sea upon coming back from the island hopping. 

NANGARAMOAN BEACH, STA. ANA, CAGAYAN

             A trip to the north would not have been complete without a visit to a beach. In Cagayan, the one being touted as comparable to Boracay is the Nangaramoan Beach in Sta. Ana, Cagayan. I made it a must then  to see for myself this beach, besides the fact of being in  Sta. Ana which is the northeasternmost town of the Philippines or at least of mainland Luzon. It was already dark when we arrived in the town of Sta. Ana as we had a long trip that day coming from Tuguegarao passing by several towns along the way.  We made prior reservations at the Jotay Beach Resort (cel 0906-4781270)  in the town of Sta. Ana.  There are plenty of resorts in the town itself. However the beach in the town is not exceptional. The color is clayish brown. Hence we just had to content ourselves with the swimming pool of the resort. The white sand beach is still about 10 kilometers away from the town. It rained the whole night while we were there. It was still raining in the morning. But we decided after taking breakfast that we will still go and see for ourselves Nangaramoan beach.  As it happens all the time, the rains stopped when we reached Nangaramoan Beach.  We noticed that from the town itself of Sta. Ana until we reached Nangaramoan Beach, the road was cemented.  I had read that the beach is only good for swimming during high tides since water would come near the shore. I already took note that that day the high tide was at early dawn. We were dismayed to see when we reached the beach that it was already low tide.  The beach had white sand alright but since it was low tide there were just a few pools of knee-deep water to bathe in. I asked around at what time of the day would the tide rise. I got disheartened to hear when we were told that perhaps by the middle of the month of November the tides would already be high enough for the place to be ideal for swimming. Until then the place would always have very shallow waters. It was then I remembered that I haven't seen any pictures of the place with waters reaching the shore. So its not just any high tide but high tides on months when the tide is really high that the place can be good for swimming.

            Anyway, we could not be dissuaded from taking a dip of the sea. So we ventured further away from the shore to  where the strong waves were crushing on rocky grounds. We had to be very careful as the rocks were quite sharp. We did not stay for long for fear that we will hit the  sharp rocks once we were covered by the waves. But at least we had the taste of the sea in the northeasternmost beach of the country.

Found a knee-deep pool to wade in.

As we were leaving some Aeta children came asking for alms.