A few of the islands have been developed for tourists but Anne (and well practically everyone in our group) wanted to be away from the bustling crowds. As such we requested the boatmen to take us to a less popular and more secluded beach. I don't know the name of the island we went to but we initially were the only visitors there. (A few more visitors joined us shortly after but they didn't stay too long. Some time after they left, another group of people found their way on the same beach we were on and left again before we did. So there were moments during the day when we had the beach all to ourselves.)
Anne, being an environmental technologist, brought proper glasses and real dinnerware with us so that we wouldn't have any plastic or even paper trash with us. She also brought a grill as we would be cooking the food at the beach. Or well we wouldn't actually be cooking. :) Anne brought with her a couple of people who would prepare the food for us.
As our food was being grilled, we hit the beach. The sun was out and the water was really nice and warm and inviting. So much so that I got into the water immediately without putting any sunblock on my back. (I am now sporting a sunburn on my back. Ouch.) I sort of lost track of time, or rather didn't pay much attention to it, as it was truly the first time in weeks that I was able to be fairly relaxed. At some point I noticed everyone else converging around the grill, so I headed out of the water as I figured people were hungry and we were about to eat. We had some (lots of?) green mango and alamang while chatting, then lunch was served. And boy what a lunch it was!
Liempo, grilled bangus and kinilaw na bangus, shrimp, itlog na maalat with tomatoes and onions, more green mangoes and alamang, and a lot of rice. All laid out on banana leaves that served both as picnic blanket and serving tray. Needless to say that we all had our fill of the great food.
The downside of the swim was that there was at least one jellyfish in the water and I got stung three times. It wasn't too bad - it was more like an itch really - but I don't really recall the last time I was stung by a jellyfish so in some sick, masochistic way I actually welcomed this experience LOL. Towards the mid-afternoon, I decided to take a few more pictures. So I went over the island - granted, it was a pretty small one - and the views that greeted me on the other side were pretty awesome.
At around 4pm, we decided to call it day. We boarded the boats and headed back to the pier. There are toilets at the pier where you can take a shower for P10 although in my case I just got into clean clothes. We chatted a bit more before saying our goodbyes. After all, I still had a 5 hour drive ahead of me that night (Alaminos where you can find Hundred Islands National Park is 5 hours away from Manila; it takes another hour to get from Alaminos to Bolinao/Puerto Del Sol). It was definitely a long drive from Manila but the company, the food, and the Hundred Islands experience were all worth it. Anne and Georg said they would be in Manila for one night before they fly back to Austria so I may just get to meet up with them one more time before they go.
*****
I am also really pleased with the camera I got last year. The 16x zoom is working extremely well! I was able to get a lot of really good photos even from afar.
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