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(Photo Credit: Brian Sahagun. Others: Ayla, AJ, Jerome, Deneb, Leia, Rex)

July 11, 2008. 10pm, we were headed to Bicol for Travel Factor’s UBBE (Ultimate Beach Bumming Experience) Calaguas chapter. Our seat assignment was in the first row left side, which is the row opposite the driver’s side. I was happy that we got the first row since I’m claustrophobic. The extra space where the back of another chair should be but isn’t, helps, which means more leg room for Bubba too. Unfortunately, a mini-cooler is installed in the front seats, which actually made the leg space smaller. I was fidgeting all night trying to give more space to Bubba knowing that he was having a hard time positioning his long legs. At one point, I had it resting on top of my legs since there was more room diagonally. I barely had any sleep plus the drive was like going through a snake’s path. I had to wake up once in a while to see if the bus driver was maneuvering safely.

5am, we arrived at Daet and made a brief stop for breakfast and toilet break. I was so excited to stretch and more excited that we are so near our destination point. Though a big part of me dreaded the boat ride, which I heard prior to the trip was 2 hours (if we’re lucky!). Knowing this is my perennial dilemma, how responsible of me to forget to bring a sack of Bonamin.

8am, we set off to the Island via a huge fishing boat. 30 minutes into the boat ride, I fell asleep. I woke up just in time to see that we were some meters away from a spotless stretch of sand. The waves weren’t very strong that morning thus we were able to arrive at Calaguas Island in a short of 2 hours.

A small community is the only occupant of the island. There were no other “tourists” around except for us. The island looked almost deserted which added to the charisma of the place. Soft white sand greeted my feet as I set foot on the land. As usual practice, Leia initiated the brief introduction of the group and gave us our assigned camping tents. Bubba and I agreed on a location and set our tent, which wasn’t so hard to do as I initially thought.

Lunchtime, we all gathered to the main area to feast on the lunch prepared by the Bicol boys who were also our guide around town. After lunch, I read the book I brought (the one I haven’t finished since Anawangin) and fell asleep. When I got up, I headed straight to the beach where Ced and the rest were.

That afternoon, after 20 minutes of rules orientation, we played Ultimate Frisbee –or at least tried to play. The wind wasn’t cooperating. The strong winds drove us to play different local games instead –Patintero, and a game similar to cops and robbers where you have bases, I forget what they called it but Leia passionately proposed that we play it. It was fun but it was so hard to run on sand, which made for a good workout.

Dark clouds loomed near and we had to transfer camp. With combined efforts, Bubba and I moved the tent and resettled it in its new location, under a tree. We also had to improvise an outer cover just to make sure that rainwater wouldn’t go inside.

Drinking and social time enthused immediately after our hearty dinner. Leia and Gerry were our resident bartenders who came up with different concoctions –Bailey’s ala Gran Ma! An hour or so later, we exited to retreat to our bunks and catch on much needed sleep. In the wee hours of the morning, it rained. Thank heavens we didn’t get wet but there was practically no air inside the tent. I kept getting up to open the flap and let some air in.

I have to give props to the drinking group left outside who braved the drizzle and were still having fun under the rain, singing and engrossed in muffled chatter.

The next morning I got up earlier than Bubba and walked along the beach. A few minutes later, I decided to wake him up by tickling his feet that were sticking out of the tent. One of the things I love about Bubba is: it is very rare that he wakes up with a groan. We basked in the beautiful morning walking on the beach.

(Photo: Need to poop… lest not forsake morning rituals.)

By 9am, we were in our assigned boats again returning to Daet shores. Bubba said the trip back was shorter than the trip going there. I want to disagree but I was asleep for most part of the first boat ride so I can’t really tell. Upon reaching shore, we moved our things back to the bus again. While waiting for others to load their stuff, Bubba and I treated some of the local kids to ice cream, which was loads of fun. Nothing brightens one’s day like a kid’s smile.

Next stop was the lunch at Kusina ni Anghel. We shared a table with Jaja and Brian. After lunch, we headed to Bagasbas beach where we’re supposed to spend an afternoon of surfing. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was flat. There were no waves.

Although Bagasbas beach wasn’t white, their sand was soft. The group drowned their surfing sorrows to playing intimate (that’s not a typo of ultimate. Har har.) Frisbee. Bubba’s group won. Too bad Jaja was not around to win it for us (tee-hee). I greatly enjoyed the afternoon lounging at Bagasbas beach, bonding with Ced, Ayla, Jerome, AJ, Cha, Wai, Gerry, Rex, Deneb and Leia in the water. Afterwards, we tried our skills against skimboarding. Although surfing could have been more fun, skim wasn’t so bad. It was interesting to try it out and learn how to do the skips. Skimboarding proved to be challenging for the rest of us except Gerry, but Cha and Rex incurred the biggest blows.

Learned a few pointers on skimboarding. Tried Langka shake for the first time. More memorable, my eyes have unearthed another beautiful island in the Philippines. New friends were made. I missed some people from the previous trips while having fun with new ones. I miss Madz, Marc, Tinio, Francis, Jolly, Maan, Zarah, Karen, Joan, Divine et al. It would have been great if they were with us during the trip. Calaguas Island is definitely the Boracay of the North as people claims it to be. The beach was as beautiful and the water was as clear and cool. If it weren’t so difficult to go here (at least difficult for me because I have anxiety over boat rides), I’d be back in a heartbeat and become oblivious to the rest of the Philippines.