Calaguas Island 2017: Part 1

I never mentioned here in the blog that I recently got promoted. Well, slightly lang naman. Not really promotion levels because I was transferred to another line of business or we call it LOB in call center term. It was the same company and business but it's a different scope of work from when I started. I consider myself so lucky that finally, after 3 years of hoping to join the team, it came true on an unexpected way. :)

Anyhow, I was informed that the team is having an outing in Calaguas. I really got excited since my kumares have been planning to go there sometime ago but it didn't push through. When I received the notice of passing the final interview. Nag happy dance ako! Heheh. It's as if hitting two birds at once. Calaguas and Promotion! Woooo. =D

We.are.going.to.C A L A G U A S !!!

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It made me happier to know that we were allowed to bring our families with us. Alam nyo naman ang motto ng family namin. "We all go together or we don't go at all." Hahah. But yeah, I always wanted to bring them with me when I travel. Hindi complete and #travelgoals pag wala ang mag-ama.

Going back, we left Cubao at around 9:30pm riding a first class bus of Superlines. I could say that the seat were really comfy with matching leg rest, socket for charging, really cold AC units and a clean portable restroom. We paid 650 pesos/head and I would say na sulit naman talaga. We decided not to pay for Jami's seat and just make him sit on our lap. However, since the trip to Daet would take 8 long hours, hindi ko naman kaya buhatin ng ganon katagal so we shared my seat and occupied some of Daryl's too. It was really uncomfortable especially if you are trying to sleep so if you are willing to pay extra for your kid's seat, please do so to avoid the hassle of trying to squeeze yourselves into one seat. Hahaha.

Waiting to depart

You will be assigned your seat number as first class buses requires early reservations. Just go to their terminal and pay your seats to avoid the hassle.

It only takes an hour and we were all sleeping. I would say that the bus ride was a breeze until we reached a zigzag road. Over talaga sa pagka zigzag that made me woke up. I was a having a very uncomfortable-shared seat with Jami tapos may ganong daan pa. Naloka ako ng very light but it was surprisingly shorter than Baguio or Baler, Aurora so thank God for that.

We arrived in Daet at around 4:30am. We waited in the terminal since we have an officemate and his family that we left behind. They didn't make a reservation so they have to ride a regular or a deluxe bus that would take a 10 hour drive because of stops along the way. When the sun has risen, the kuya who will drive us to Vinzon arrived. We rode a jeepney and thought it was all for ourselves pero hindi pala, we waited for some group in a Jollibee along the way but that's fine. It was a little masikip but you'll get along kasi it's a really short ride lang naman.

After around 20 minutes of jeepney ride, we arrived at what looked like a port kasi madaming bangka. Heheh. But before that, we bought breakfast in one of the local store. There were a lot of local kids who are selling plastic bags. Akala ko para talaga sa used clothes so I wasn't planning to buy kasi 16 pesos each eh pero gave in later on. Yun pala, the purpose of it is to put your bags inside the plastic to avoid it being wet while riding the banca. It took us about an hour before we left Vinzon because of the coast guards approval. They asked us to fill out a paper form with our names, address and emergency contact person in 3 copies. Hindi uso ang carbon paper so we have to manually fill out 3 papers which took a while. We left Vinzon past 8am.

Our boat ride took 2 hours to get to Calaguas Island so we had time to nap. The sea was calm  as well so it was a smooth sailing. I could say that this was the longest boat ride that I ever took in my entire life. After a while, we saw wonderful islands and I am surprised to see that the sands were white and fine. It didn't last long until we docked in the island.

I was so glad to see Calaguas finally!

The sand is as fine as Boracay but the water is a lot better.

We will be sleeping on tents that day which was one of our many firsts as a family and what made our trip more exciting. I always wanted to try to sleep on a tent. Hehehe! It was kinda humid that day so we dragged the tents under the small trees around. The ones on your right are our group's tents.

To ease out the hot weather, we decided to swim immediately.

Could you see the cabanas and tables over there? That is where our tour guides/organizers serve our meals (included in our package are full board meal breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Stand by for the continuation of our Calaguas Trip. =D