Heading to
Puerto Galera was a little bit incomparable with our travels to some beach places
in the Philippines. The difference was, we don’t need to ride the airplane to
go there. We ride the Jam Liner Bus from Cubao Quezon City and travelled almost
2 hours to reach Batangas Port. From there, you need to ride a ferry to reach
Puerto Galera. Inside the Batangas Port, there will be “fixers” and vendors who
will persuade your attention, you don’t need them as you just need to go with
the flow of people walking towards the “terminal”, and right before you enter,
you will find the ticket booth for your ferry ride. At the time we travel,
(10-13 August, 2012) my husband and I paid Php 500.00 each for the round trip
ferry ticket and Php 50.00 for the environmental fee, which seems to be a part
of what we always pay when we visit the islands.
On board, as we
travel in the ferry around 5:00pm, the ocean wasn’t peaceful at all. Be careful
with seating in the front and far end of the ferry, as the big waves can enter
the boat. I suggest that you choose to be seated at the middle portion of the
boat where benches are made available. Experience-wise, my husband, me and at
least 4 other people (all foreigners) touch based the shoreline all wet from head
to foot.
There are 4 major
entry points to Puerto Galera namely Sabang Pier, Muelle Pier, Balatero Pier and White Beach.
Most of the ferry though, like the one we had will take you to Muelle Pier then
they have free shuttle that will take you to White Beach. Take note of where
your hotel is located. Usually, there
are tricycles in the Pier that can willingly take you to everywhere in the
island but they are quite expensive (Taking the tricycle from Muelle to
Talipanan, where our hotel was located, cost us Php 150 after we bargain from
200). Then my husband and I decided to
do the experiment on the second day, we walked from Talipanan to White Beach
(which is Php 100.00 when you ride the tryke for 5 minutes) and we only spent
20 minutes doing it. There are also rented scooters in the area and you can
ask the locals if you opt for a longer stay and much more convenient way to
travel in the island.
We
woke up the following day with the sound and smell of the ocean, very serene
and quite inviting. The first hotel we had was 5 minutes away from the beach.
We decided to walk from and to the both ends of the shoreline. Talipanan is the
barangay next to White Beach where you can also find a river connecting to the
ocean where we saw lots of species of insects we have never seen already in the
city. It’s more fun walking to this part of the island because there are not
much of tourists around, especially this time of the year. Muelle and White
Beach however, are the place to go when you want some drinks with your friends
and enjoy the night life. We spent a total of 4 days, 4 nights in the island,
just frolicking around, getting tan, going back to basic, enjoying the sunsets,
going out for some beer and drinks. Just the kind of things we needed.
Third day in the island, we decided to go on for some adventure and pack our bags
heading to the infamous Tamaraw and Tukuran Falls. Of course, we won’t let our
adventure end without visiting some of the iconic spot in this part of the
globe. When we were reading on how to go to these natural wonders, we were only
given info about packages that will mostly range from Php 2,500 – 3500 per head. So, we came up to the challenge of
travelling there without spending too much. We decided to go on a hiking trip,
but upon talking to the locals, there will be around 3 km dirt road upon
entering Tukuran falls. Not much of information about the destination, we
thought it’s a little risky to do it on our own but we still headed to Calapan
to ride the jeep / FX that will take us to the falls. Luckily, while waiting
for the FX to be full, we had our luckiest shot of the day when a local
tricycle driver offered to drive us there for only Php 600. Upon hearing this, I
immediately agreed on the price he asked.
It’s a long and
winding road to reach these bodies of water. First stop, around 30 minutes ride
away from Calapan, we reached Tamaraw Falls, located at Brgy. Villaflor, Puerto
Galera. The driver asked us if we wanted to stop and take pictures but knowing
that we will also drive the same road when we go back, I decided to stop-over
Tamaraw Falls after going to Tukuran Falls.
Situated in
Barangay San Teodoro, around 45 minutes away from Tamaraw falls, lay one of the
hidden wonders of nature. After the main
road, the Manong (Filipino term for an elder guy) driver turned right in the
narrow dirt road, and continue driving for about 10 minutes where we stop at a
basketball court before a shallow river.
Reaching the place, we knew our stamina would be tested from there as we
need to use our feet to reach the destination. There are locals who will asked
you if you wanted to ride a Carabao going to the falls
but since we wanted to take this adventure to the next level, we decided to
walk.
There were 2 souvenir vendors who approached us as we were asking for directions and informed us that they are going to the falls since their store is located near that. For Php 100, they guided us to the destination. We cross a total of 5 times in the river, and since it just rained the week before we travel to Puerto Galera, some parts of the river reaches around our knees and the water current is a little too rough. My husband needed to hold me so I won’t fall in the river. But it was a fun walk, much ideal for someone like me who grew up in the city. This kind of adventure thrills me way lot than I expected. We were followed by 2 dogs which we learned are not the pets of any of our tour guide. They were with us from the base until we came back.
There were 2 souvenir vendors who approached us as we were asking for directions and informed us that they are going to the falls since their store is located near that. For Php 100, they guided us to the destination. We cross a total of 5 times in the river, and since it just rained the week before we travel to Puerto Galera, some parts of the river reaches around our knees and the water current is a little too rough. My husband needed to hold me so I won’t fall in the river. But it was a fun walk, much ideal for someone like me who grew up in the city. This kind of adventure thrills me way lot than I expected. We were followed by 2 dogs which we learned are not the pets of any of our tour guide. They were with us from the base until we came back.
After around 30
minutes of walking, we reach the most awaited falls. Gazing through its clear
water on the connecting river, I was so amazed and ecstatic when I realize that
this is the first ever I set foot in a clean falls. You need to climb an improvised ladder, which
is made of bamboo to see the top view of the hotel. Some tourist took a dive to
the 14 feet water at the center of the rock formations. I was like a kid jumping when I saw red
dragonflies flying around the big stones surrounding the falls. It was said
that those large stones were not visible when a typhoon hits Puerto Galera and
the rainfall is very hard. There are nipa huts located at the side of the falls
where you can eat, provided you have a packed lunch. There are no food kiosks
around, you need to bring your own. We
spent more or less one hour there taking a dip in the falls and taking some
wonderful pictures that we shared here. The place was really a hidden paradise intended for those nature-lover
seekers like me. Thinking that we don’t
want to go back later in the afternoon, we set again to walk heading to the
base where we started. Still, together with the 2 ate’s and the 2 dogs as our
company.
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