My family is not the adventurous type. So when my mom said she wanted to visit the Manaoag Church up in Pangasinan, i thought, what a perfect time to visit Hundred Islands as well? I mean we'll be up north and it's so near each other.
After a lot of the dilly-dallying that old people do before they go anywhere, the trip pushed through. It was such a long drive. It took us about 4 hours from Ortigas to Manaoag. And another hour (or so) from Manaoag to Alaminos.
We arrived at the Church past 9 in the morning, we heard mass and then went around to look at the items for sale. The Church is surrounded by a lot of vendors selling miniature versions of the Lady of Manaoag, rice cakes, bagoong and other local delicacies. My mom went crazy and bought a lot of things and I'm pretty sure she did not know what half of them were. haha
We left just before lunch and drove to Alaminos expecting it was less than an hour away (apparently it's more :P ) We arrived at the wharf around 1 in the afternoon. And it started drizzling. Then it started pouring. A few minutes after, it was raining cats and dogs. We weren't sure if we could go island hopping so we decided to go to a nearby restaurant and eat lunch. The restaurant had a view of the sea and the islands but the rain was so strong, we could no longer see them from where we stood.
Miraculously, at a little past two, the rain stopped and the sun came out! Crazy weather they have up north! At 3pm, we were on a boat (we could fit in a small one but the medium-sized boat looked... safer).
After a lot of the dilly-dallying that old people do before they go anywhere, the trip pushed through. It was such a long drive. It took us about 4 hours from Ortigas to Manaoag. And another hour (or so) from Manaoag to Alaminos.
We arrived at the Church past 9 in the morning, we heard mass and then went around to look at the items for sale. The Church is surrounded by a lot of vendors selling miniature versions of the Lady of Manaoag, rice cakes, bagoong and other local delicacies. My mom went crazy and bought a lot of things and I'm pretty sure she did not know what half of them were. haha
We left just before lunch and drove to Alaminos expecting it was less than an hour away (apparently it's more :P ) We arrived at the wharf around 1 in the afternoon. And it started drizzling. Then it started pouring. A few minutes after, it was raining cats and dogs. We weren't sure if we could go island hopping so we decided to go to a nearby restaurant and eat lunch. The restaurant had a view of the sea and the islands but the rain was so strong, we could no longer see them from where we stood.
Miraculously, at a little past two, the rain stopped and the sun came out! Crazy weather they have up north! At 3pm, we were on a boat (we could fit in a small one but the medium-sized boat looked... safer).
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| With my then, very irritable mom :)) |
I've been hearing that the hundred islands was just okay, or not as nice as people expected. But I don't know what the heck they're talking about cos when I got there, I thought the islands were absooolutely beaaauutiiful!
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| Governor's Island - Viewing deck |
We only visited 3 of the islands, the first one is the Governor's Island which has a viewing deck at the top and you can see all the other islands. No photo does justice to the real thing, i tell you.
The next island was Marcos Island, where there's a cave and you can jump off inside into the sea! Since my relatives do not swim, jumping was out of the question for them. And I din't wanna do it alone. BUT I SHOULD HAVE. haha oh well, maybe next time.
After, it was time for snorkeling! It was my first time to see GIANT CLAMS and they were awesome! the rest of the marine life were okay. It rained earlier too so the water was not as clear.
If my memory serves me right, the last stop was Quezon Island. There's this cave with two openings opposite each other so you could catch a glimpse of the sunset from the other side. It was beautiful, seems like there's something glowing at the end of the cave.
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We had such a fun time! We finished just before 6 and we got to watch the sunset while on the boat - and that's always amazing :)
We ate isaw and showered at the wharf. And readied ourselves for the loooong drive home! but it was such a fun day trip!
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