While
living in exile in Dagupan city in 1988, our neighbor who ran a salt business
invited me to join them on their outing to the Hundred Islands. The next day,
their boat picked us up at Pantal River and we road off all 40 of us to one of
the best natural wonders in our country. Upon arriving we immediately went down
on the only island allowed to have some people which was the Quezon Island. It
was fun eating and swimming on that Island and as the day ended we commuted
back to Dagupan city.
In
1993 I went back with my High school friends and lo and behold we were also led
to the Quezon Island to have some R&R. Nothing much has changed but back
then it was more of enjoying nature and the pristine beach in that island. I am
not a tourism consultant but being there you dream of Island hopping and
dropping by other Islands.
Twenty
years after my dream was realized when I came back to these Islands. First
thing that caught my eye was how organized they were in accepting tourists
since there was a center being built where you can rent a boat. Everything was
centralized, impressive. Next, I discovered that not only can you drop by
Quezon Island, but the boatman has an itinerary to tour you around until 5pm or
go on specific islands of your choice. Lastly, not only can you swim and eat
but there are other activities you can enjoy as well like riding the zip line,
snorkeling and many more. We rented a boat for P 1,400 which can fit 5 people.
The bigger one is P 1,800 for 6 to 10 people. I think its better now because
you don’t have to haggle with boatmen on boat prices like before.
I
am happy that the Department of Tourism has finally thought of a way to “sell”
the Hundred Island to tourists by way of having a great experience in these
islands. Much of the things that you can experience here is now similar to the
beach activities in Boracay.
Our
tour was quite simple, we alighted at the Governor’s Island which is a must for
photographers since it gives you most probably the best view of the Islands
from atop. Going up 150 steep flight of stairs for me is enough to see the
majestic view from above.
Since
there were many people in the other islands we managed to just take a peak at
the other islands namely the Marcos Island, Romulo Island, a Children Island.
One of the more intriguing islands is the Devil’s Island which had so many
trees and I believe more than a thousand bats resting on those trees.
My
buddies and I settled for a dip at the Old Scout Island. It’s quite small but
had less than a hundred people on it. One thing nice though was that the place
is ideal for snorkeling. Unfortunately, there were lots of boats passing by
that was why viewing the corals was quite dangerous. Like an old scout, we went
on to get our food, placed some used newspapers on the sands and had our lunch
old style under the rocks.
We
eventually went back after seeing the dark clouds going towards our direction.
It was unfortunate for us to get wet because of the strong rains that we braved
but luckily we survived it and went back ashore trying to dry up. Good thing
there was a shower room for rent at the park where washed off the sticky
feeling coming from a rain.
For
now the 100 Islands impressed me considering the fact that a national treasure
has been reborn. I hope a few years from now I would be able to blog again on
new experiences on this fantastic Philippine wonder.
Thanks to Ian Siongco and RJ Marasigan for their wonderful pictures
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