Nagsasa Escapade

Nagsasa river

 After weeks of planning and spending hours over the internet looking for a perfect destination up north for the coming holy week .Me and my beloved girlfriend and  decided to go to Nagsasa cove and stay at Nora's  beach resort after our Nagsasa trip. Nora's beach resort is located at Barangay Pundaquit (Punda-Kit) a small fishing village in the town of San Antonio, Zambales which is also our jump off point to Nagsasa . Nagsasa cove is one of the coves that were formed after the Mt.Pinatubo eruption in 1991,its shore line is layered with fine greyish white volcanic ash, surrounded by crystal clear waters and pine trees which thrives in its shores ,There is a small community of Aetas of about 4-7 families that have settled in Nagsasa after the eruption of Mt.Pinatubo and now have turned their lands into camping grounds for visitors.The other three coves in the area are Anawagin, Talesayen and Silanguin All of which are a bot ride away from Pundaquit, Also there are two other islands  that you can tour in the area one is Capones island known for its century old Spanish era lighthouse and white sand beach,also a good spot for rock climbing and the other one is Camara Island or otherwise known as Twin island because of the beautiful white sand bar that links the rock formations between  the two islets.


 

Pundaquit Beach

Our journey started at Victory Liner bus terminal in Pasay City,We took  the first trip headed to Iba,Zambales at 5:00 A.M .I asked the conductor to drop us off at the town of San Antonio the fare is around 280 pesos, After more than 4 hours of butt numbing bus ride, We finally arrived at the town of San Antonio, Zambales. Travel time will be around 3 hours if you will bring your own vehicle.We made a quick stop at the market to buy our supplies then after a few minutes our boatman's tricycle driver buddy picked us ip a .We already made arrangements with our contact boatman "William" the day before, I'd like to give credit to this guy, he prepared the things that we'll be needing in camping out in Nagsasa cove including ice, cooler, Potable water and cooking utensils the price he had given us for the boat is quite a bargain, Resorts  usually charges 2500 for an overnight trip in Nagsasa, We got ours for 1800 pesos on a holy week. After 15 minutes of tricycle ride we reached Barangay Pundaquit and meet up with our boatman,We hurriedly put our stuffs aboard the small open outrigger boat that can hold about 5 passengers,We can't hide the excitement in our faces as the boatman starts the boat,Finally we are on the last leg of our journey to Paradise and the weather is on our side. The boat ride almost took an hour but it was awesome, The rock formations,great blue sky,scenic mountain views and cool sea breeze will surely take your breathe away.

Boat ride to Nagsasa

Nagsasa Cove



Jose and Yolly's camp site.

 Alas! after an hour of scenic and wet boat ride, We reached the shores of  Nagsasa safe and sound. There are no accomodations in Nagsasa cove so you need to bring your own tent, If you are staying overnight you need to be clear with the boatman on what time you wanted to be picked up,  the same goes with a day tour. There is a small community of Aetas living in the cove about 4-7 families, they have turned there lands into camping grounds . 

Upon our arrival our boatman brought us to Jose and Yolly's camp site which is right in the center of the cove, where you will have to pay 100 per head, Cottages can also be rented for 100 pesos, They have nice and clean comfort rooms which is far better than what they have in Anawangin. It was Good Friday when we arrived at Nagsasa, as expected the place is quite crowded but you'll still be able to find a sweet spot for yourself to swim or to chill out.After negotiating with the camp keeper we set up our camp and started cooking our food "grilled pork chop and hotdog", I didn't realize until then that cooking rice using coal takes forever, fortunately our rice ended up just fine, after everything has been set and prepared at camp we are ready to see the water fall so I asked Yolly who can take us to the water fall? Unfortunately she said it's not worth it to go there during this time because the river bed is dry and all we are going to see  is a water pool not water fall, knowing that it'll take us 45 minutes to get there to see nothing, we aborted our plan and just explored other spots on the beach .We started wandering the place, savoring its beauty then we came across a group of old people and I noticed that they are making fishing poles out of young bamboo stalks, Amazing but I doubted if they can catch fish with bamboo poles and to my surprise that night they've caught Talakitok and Lapu-lapu. I told myself next time fishing will be on top of my list of activities.The following morning our boatman picked us up around 9 AM and headed back to Nora's Resort in Pundaquit,Nora's beach resort is a nice place to stay rooms are clean and prices are reasonable and they cook good food.Traveling to Nagsasa is truly an adventure we will never forget,Being here is our price for all the hard work we put up back in the city,we deserve to have a piece of this. I thank God that he created places like these for our eyes to savor and feast on, A place where we are one with God and nature.We really had a great time staying here, we had such a wonderful time that we are already planning on going back before we leave the place, next time we will plan our trip here on weekdays so we can have the cove exclusively for ourselves on the other hand I'm a little bit concerned about the preservation of this place,During our stay I've seen people throw cigarette butts and leave their garbage on the beach, make extremely loud annoying noises at night without taking into consideration that there are other people in the area who wants to enjoy the tranquility that Nagsasa offers.I think that strong nature preservation awareness campaign will contribute greatly in the saving this beautiful place and hopefully it wouldn't end up like Anawangin .Nagsasa is truly a paradaise,highly recommended  for people like me who loves the beach but hates beach resorts, This is the place for you just remember keep you mind open and suck in the experience. Jah Bless!!

Sunset in Nagsasa

Sunrise