Vacation | Day 1 - Hundred Islands, Pangasinan

Finally, after months of planning, itinerary changes and hairs falling (mostly from Diane's head, she lost tons as the organizer/planner of this), our much-awaited Pabeeda trip pushed through last 15-16 December 2018.

"Pabeeda" is what we (college friends) are called and by that, you already know what kind of people we are. No need to explain further. 😆

With the unexpected turn of events and uncountable changes in our itinerary, it was finalized 2 days before our actual trip. Fortunately Diane didn't go bald. 😂

Here is our finalized itinerary:

But as Pabeeda as we are, you can never expect it to all go as planned.

As listed we should depart from Manila around 1:00 AM of 15 December, so us girls decided to sleepover at Clarisse's place where our rendezvous is.

But even at the beginning of our trip, or should I say before we even began our trip, it really felt uncertain if it will push through as our driver (mamumura ako pag nabasa niya 'to 😝), na nagsabi nang hindi na aattend ng Christmas party nila sa Cavite ng 14 December eh tumuloy pa rin and still travelling back to Manila when they called him around 12:00 AM.

Eventually, we were able to depart from Manila around 2:00 AM, with prayers. 😆

We reached Alaminos city around 7:35 AM and we arrived at the meeting place with our tour guide few minutes after that.

May comfort room doon, and we paid P10 each para na rin makapagpalit ng attire. Shower room is P20.

For our Hundred Islands trip, we booked the tour package at Metrodeal, Php 649 each. The merchant is SRRB Glass Bottom Boat.

Inclusions are:
- Glass bottom boat (not as expected, but pwede na rin)
- Tour guide (magaling si Ate mag-explain. We just can't hear her sometimes kapag sa boat siya nag-i-explain dahil nasasabayan minsan ng ingay ng makina)
- Light snacks (biscuits + water)
- Life vest
- Snorkeling gear
- Environmental fees

The details indicated in the Fineprint on Metrodeal is the minimum vouchers to book is 4. Yup, that's true but para makapaglayag, you'll need to have 7 vouchers. We are a group of 6, so Jayvee (yung driver namin. Char! 😝) bought one additional voucher para sure na makakapaglayag kami. Or else you'd hope na may magbook at magpaschedule din sa araw na iyon para matuloy. But you won't enjoy it as much kung may kasama kayong iba, right? So ayun.

I admit I am a lousy blogger as I didn't take notes as we hopped from one island to another. Hahaha! I am completely amazed by it and all I did was to picture everything on my mind, imagining how awesome it would be living with that kind of environment. Quiet, peaceful, calm, relaxing. In short, nagmuni-muni lang ako buong Hundred Island trip. HAHAHAHAHA

I didn't even take pictures!!!!! But maaasahan ang mga kasama ko diyan. 😁 So credits all goes to them for the photos I will be sharing here.

From what my memory can remember, the first island we hopped into is the Governor's Island.

We hiked (can't remember how many steps, around 400, I think?) to reach the top.

Insert Clarisse and Teddy.
L-R: Jayvee, Jussel, Diane and Me.

There's a zip line as well, but it is not included in our package, it costs P250 and we skipped that.

(Tip: Libre pa ang restroom sa Governor' Island, so samantalahin niyo na bago kayo magpunta sa ibang islands.)

Beside the Governor's Island is the Virgin Island. From the sound of it, you can create the story. 😁

Marami kaming kaartehan sa katawan at mga tumatanda na rin so tinawid lang namin papuntang Virgin Island then bumalik lang ulit sa Governor's Island.

Wala rin daw masyadong magagawa doon eh, according sa aming tour guide, so we head on to our next stop, the Pilgrimage Island.

With our group of 6, nalagas na ng isa. Hahaha

Only 5 of us went up para aakyatin ang 700+ steps of the island. (Nagtulog na lang yung isa sa bangka. 😆)

(Info: Php 10 na ang bayad sa restroom nila dito.)

This island is a perfect spot para sa mga namamanata tuwing Holy Week. You can do your Stations of the Cross here.(Take note: They used the New Way of the Cross for the Pilgrimage Island.)

I. The Last Supper

II. The Agony in Gethsemani

III. Jesus Before the Sanhedrine

IV. The Scourging and Crowning of Thorns

V. Jesus Receives the Cross

VI. Jesus Fall Under the Weight of the Cross

VII. Simon of Cyrene Carries the Cross of Jesus

VIII. Jesus Meets the Pious Women of Jerusalem

IX. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

X. The Repentant Thief

XI. Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross

XII. Jesus Dies on the Cross

XIII. Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

XIV. The Resurrection
(There's an ongoing construction of the chapel in the background)

Jussel's POV

Jayvee's POV

Pagkatapos namin magpapawis doon, dinala na kami sa snorkeling spot, the Quezon Island (sa wakas makakapag-swimming na. Lol)

If only I am good with words and able to describe what I saw underwater. 😖

But I can'tttt!!! I can only describe it in a grade-school level, there's a lot of fishes!!!! Wonderful fishes! And corals! Hahahaha

And only 4 of us snorkeled.

We weren't able to try the cliff jump on Marcos' Island dahil low-tide daw kasi.

So hanggang tingin na lang kami sa island as we passed it by.

Our tour guide suggested the helmet diving, and dahil yayamanin ang driver namin, sinagot na niya. 😝

With helmet diving, 3 na lang kaming sumubok. 😂

It costs P400 per person. And you can hand them your memory card or cameras para kunan kayo underwater. With us, Jayvee paid an additional P200 dahil wala kaming memory card, so nagrent kami and sinend na lang sa amin after.

Please excuse our faces because we blended well with the fishes. Hindi nagkakalayo ang mga mukha namin.

Mukha kaming alien.

Ang galing kasi ng photographer namin eh. 😂😂😂

May mga giant taklobo rin. We were able to touch it. But I don't want to remember the feeling!! It's...It's...😱

With our next stop, only Jayvee explored the island. Swimming na lang ang gagawin doon and sight-seeing. Nagkalagasan na and we just divulged on ice cream na binebenta sa island and stayed on the boat. Umidlip na rin. Mga matatanda nga naman.

With our final stop, if my memory serves me right, it is the Cuenco Island. Hinayaan na lang kami na mag-explore ng aming tour guide. We passed by the cave and there's a jumping spot.

Walang magga-guide sa inyo doon. Wala ring bayad. Jump at your own risk. Medyo malumot din and maaari kang matinik sa kahoy na hagdan na ginawa nila, but we still tried it. 😆

Dito kami tumalon nina Diane, Jayvee at Teddy ng sabay-sabay.
Hahagilapin ko pa yung video namin para masaya. Hahaha

And that sums up our Hundred Islands tour for our Pangasinan trip's first day.

We finished the tour at around 2:30 PM and we traveled to Bolinao next where we celebrated our Christmas party in the evening.

Medyo napahaba na ang post ko so I'll divide this into 2.

Kkeut!

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