Friends, I give you, Burot Beach!
Yes, that's where our fingers brought us. Yes, you read that right. Fingers. Days before the trip I had to go online and Google a beach camping place in Batangas because it is more accessible than Nagsasa Cove since we would be leaving by lunch time on a Saturday. (If you are planning to go to Nagsasa Cove Zambales I suggest you take the 4AM bus to Zambales so that you will be able to maximize your time basking in the beautiful beach that is part of Nagsasa Cove. If you haven't been there, maybe you can try to read my blog about it here.) So there I was, on Google, trying to find a very good place to have a quick summer getaway with my husband and friends. After a few searches, voila! Burot Beach was found.
To get there by commuting, you can take a van bound for Calatagan. The terminal for these vans can be found in Pasay (at the street in the middle of Kabayan Hotel and the stairs that leads to MRT Taft Avenue station). Fare costs 180Php per person. As soon as the van is full of passengers bound for Calatagan, you're good to go. P.S. On the same terminal you will find a van bound for Balayan.
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| the terminal |
We left the terminal at around 12:30PM. Travel time should be 4-5 hours depending on the traffic and other unforeseen road mishaps or incidences. We arrived at Calatagan around 4pm. The van would drop you off directly at a market in Calatagan so there's no need to bring lots of food with you. You can buy water, ice tubes, fresh fish, meat, rice (cooked and uncooked) fruits and vegetables, coal for grilling, and condiments. As soon as you have bought everything you need, take a tricycle to Burot Beach. A trike ride costs 150Php and one tricycle can fit 4 people. Since we have lots of stuff including a cooler, tent, 4 gallons of water and our other provisions, we had to take 2 tricycles. From the marketplace, it would be another 30 minutes before you reach the beach. Much of the road that you will have to pass is unpaved so keep your heads cool.
Along the way you will pass by a guarded gate. This is because Burot Beach is not a public beach. As of the moment, it is owned by SMDC (yes, the developer of SM Malls). According to locals, it was previously owned by the Elizalde clan before SMDC bought it two years ago. There's no need to pay at the gate entrance. You will pay the entrance fee when you reach the beach. As you travel along the road that will lead you to the beach, you will be treated to the sight of 2 lakes, trees, mangroves, and a small fishing "village" nearby.
As soon as we reached the beach, we were welcomed by a uniformed guard who collected our entrance fee. It costs 120Php per person. As soon as you settle your tricycle payment and the entrance fee, you can now scan the beach for a perfect camping spot. (P.S. Don't forget to get the mobile number of your tricycle driver as he is also the one who will pick you up the next day or whenever you decide to leave the beach.) Since we arrived at Burot Beach a little before or around 5PM, we didn't have much of a choice as to where we would pitch camp.
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| view of the beach when we arrived |
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| setting up our campsite |
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| finishing touches on the tent |
Once we were done with the tent, the boys went their separate ways. My husband, Jeremy, went looking for the place where they sell logs for the bonfire. A bundle will cost you 200Php. The guy selling them will also help you kindle a fire if you need help. Small amounts of gas is also available. Nico, on the other hand, went to setup our grilling area while Arvee went to fix the things inside the tent. As for me and Carrine (Arvee's girlfriend) preparing food is our task.
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| food prep time! |
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| grilling stuffed bangus and eggplants (bangus stuffing include onions, garlic, tomatoes) |
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| checking if it's already grilled to perfection |
While waiting for our food to be cooked, we decided to take some photos to pass time.
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| i-Dawn Zulueta mo ako part 1 (me and my husband) |
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| i-Dawn Zulueta mo ako part 2 (me and my husband again) |
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| i-Dawn Zulueta mo ako part 3 (Karen and Arvee) |
That sunset was the climax of our trip. The tiring roadtrip, the unpaved road leading to it, the noise of other people on the beach were lost in thought because of the majestic beauty of this sunset.
So there we were, while the sun was still bloody red, we sat down to have dinner. Afterwards, when the boys have already finished cleaning up the spot where we ate, they started doing the bonfire.
But what's a bonfire without some marshmallows and hotdogs right?
While we were roasting our mallows and hotdogs, I remembered overhearing a comment made by the campers next to us. One of them said they forgot their marshmallows. So, I placed some marshmallows on sticks and asked Nico to give them to the group of young, fresh graduates camping next to our campsite.
When I made the decision to share our marshmallows with them, I never knew that that act of generosity will be rewarded the next day. Will tell you all about that later. :)
So after stuffing ourselves with mallows and hotdogs, we sat down near the shore to exchange stories and jokes. After a few laughs, Arvee brought out his smartphone and we played Pinoy Henyo. First it was just one person guessing while the rest of us were saying "Oo, Hindi, Pwede" or "Yes, No, Maybe" but then it became Boys vs Girls wherein the Girls (me and Karen) won. Because they boys lost, they had to clean up everything around camp. Girl power baby!
It was a full moon that night.
Later, the boys had some heart-to-heart man talk while me and Karen went inside the tent to go to sleep. This is how the inside of our tent looks like:
DAY 2
We woke up around 6AM. Now I tell you, when you sleep in a tent, the snores are amplified. Luckily, I was too exhausted that I slept throughout the snoring concert inside the tent. Peace boys!
Hungry, Karen and I started to prepare for breakfast. That's when the boys notice that we dont have any embers left to start a fire. Some other campers asked us the previous day if they can grill on our coal and after we let them, some other campers went ahead and took the hot coals to their own campsite. So there we were, without fire and already hungry. The boys tried their best to start another fire but without gas, it would take them a long time before they can make the embers hot enough for us to cook the corned beef we were supposed to have for breakfast.
But wait, remember the act of generosity I made the night before? Seems like it was destined to be rewarded. While our campfire was already reduced to ashes, the campers next to us, the ones we shared marshmallows with, still had their grilling fire hot and burning. They told us that we can cook our breakfast on their fire. I made me think that these young adults might not have shared their fire so readily and unselfishly to us if we had not shared something to them the other night. So gratefully, we accepted, and we started cooking breakfast. Not long after the food was cooked, the boys were finally successful in making fire. We knew that we were off to a good day!
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| Breakfast of Champions! A little bit of generosity + corned beef + a loaf of bread + cheez whiz and sandwich spread |
After tidying our campsite and calling our tricycle driver Kuya Rodel on the phone so he can buy us some provisions for lunch, we went off to exploring the beach!
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| my husband and Nico |
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| me and Karen |
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| me and my husband |
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| Karen and Arvee |
P.S. While you are on the rocky side of the beach, please be careful and watch out for these creatures:
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| a sea snake |
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| the 3 pieces of tilapia that Kuya Rodel bought was so fresh it was still alive and kickin'. When I saw Karen "killing" it, I felt sorry for the fish. I had to move away because I might not eat another tilapia my entire life if I stay and help. |
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| The plastic full of Indian Mangoes. We gave a few of them to the campers who lent us their fire. So while Karen was cleaning the fish, I was peeling mangoes to be eaten with the tilapia and bagoong. |
After convincing myself that if I don't eat the tilapia that they grilled I'd go starving, I made my way to the eating area we set up at the back of our tent to eat. (I am not allowed to skip meals because of my ulcer.) Forgetting about the fact that minutes ago, the tilapia was still breathing and struggling to survive, I took a bite. What I've tasted is by far the best tilapia I have ever tasted. The flesh is like melting in your mouth. That's the difference between fresh, newly caught tilapia and the ones that we buy in the market. After eating lunch and cleaning up the place were we ate, we were off to do what we came here for: SWIM and have FUN in the SUN.
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| fight club |
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| last man standing |
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| mano y mano |
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| folding camp |
Now for your camping experience to be hassle free, here are some reminders:
1. Bring your own tent. I heard there were tents for rent there but if you are going there in peak seasons like Summer, expect that the beach would be almost full meaning there might not be any tent left for you to rent.
2. Bring a lighter or matchbox for your campfire.
3. Bring flashlights or those small emergency lamps so you would have a source of light at night.
4. Bring insect repellant lotion. You'll never know when it might come in handy.
5. It's better to bring extra food than to starve. :)
P.S. Don't kill those beautiful starfishes by taking them out of their natural habitat.
For tents, you can check Rent-A-Tent. Our tent was from them. Check their Facebook page here and their Sulit ad here.
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| thanks Cheska Fernando of Rent-A-Tent for the very spacious tent! |
Enjoy your trip!
Yani xoxo
