Magalawa Island, A Somewhat Hidden Paradise

I'm pretty late for this post. It's been a week since me and my girlfriend joined her fellow org alumni in their summer escapade. We were almost unable to come, due to a bit of financial delays, but we made it in the nick of time to decide to push through with it. I needed a vacation anyways.

So we met early in the morning at EDSA central (Promdi here. ^_^), then after buying a few final needs, we began our travel. It was a 7 - 8 hour travel from the Metro, all the way up north. I wasn't very much familiar with the route - we passed through NLEX, Subic, then Olongapo, then finally in Zambales. That's what I remember so far.

We stopped by at the house of one of our companions, had lunch and very sweet Mango, then continued our drive. We passed through several rice fields and residential areas, and seemingly no signs of any beach or island port, then from the main road we turned left somewhere (I don't really know. Honestly it was a very unfamiliar travel for me LOL), then drove through a very rocky road (where a few tricycle drivers even overtook us), then finally made it to a small port, with the boats waiting for us. We rented two boats - one for the group, the other for the bags etc., and then finally, we made it here: Magalawa Island.

beachfront. ©Adyboy Paboy

The island is located in Palauig, Zambales. We were greeted by employees of Ruiz Resort (I think?), and they were very friendly. Some were old ladies who carried our bags. No hotel rooms or anything, but a much better approach was used: you could choose between two accomodations - one, you could rent a small nipa hut, with a bamboo bed fairly large enough for a few people to sleep into, or you could opt for a cottage, and bring tents instead. We chose the second option, and set up three tents.

The beach was simply breathtaking. Once we set foot on the island, brought our stuff to the cottage, set up our tents and changed into appropriate beach outfits, we took a dip into the clear waters of the resort. We could even see the seafloor even from our cottage. We didn't even mind the heat of the sun at around 3 pm.

Jeka and Flor enjoying the beach. ©Rowal Autriz

One good thing about the beach is that it was still clean. I learned from our companion that the island was semi-commercialized, and the management makes an effort to maintain the natural conditions of the beach. We even got to see several starfishes, although these seem to be the common type. But it's still a wonderful sight.

starfishes! ©Rowal Autriz

Come late afternoon, and we had to prepare dinner. We were brought to a "cooking area," the only area in the resort for customers to cook barbecue and rice. The villagers/employees kept providing us with panggatong used to make fire, and even assisted us with starting the fire.

cooking dinner. ©Rowal Autriz

After a night of merry making (yes, we totally had fun, not minding the dangers of the predicted "doomsday"), and some of us went to rest afterwards (some were awake the whole night), this is one thing you're to wait for everytime you go to the beach: the sunrise. They were lucky enough to witness the sunrise, and from the photos alone, it was breathtaking. Oh yes, I keep referring to these recent events on a third person viewpoint because.. I was asleep during the sunrise, and woke up at 8:30 in the morning, the sun was already high.

sunrise. ©Adyboy Paboy

There was this one spot in the island not far from the beach we were in - a wide area of beach, like a small peninsula (at least that's how I could describe it). On this area, several visitors come and do various things. There was even one group that played frisbee. Or you could also just lay down on the sand and enjoy the view. And of course, the ever-famous jump shot.

jumpshot on the wide sand. ©Rowal Autriz

Another great thing about this island is that even though several visitors come and go, other than being clean and well-maintained, the atmosphere is very peaceful. If you go to Boracay and experience the beach and its wild parties, then here in this island it is very peaceful, and somehow I noticed that everyone seems to exude positive attitude.

So if you'd like to spend the last out-of-town on the beach just before summer totally ends this year, and want it to be peaceful yet fun-filled, then this is the place to be. This must be one of the cheapest possible travel destinations out there. We were only eleven people, rented one van, and overall cost (transpo, rent, food) for each person was less than Php 2,000. This could even go less if we had a few more with us.

Here are some other details, if you're interested:

• Entrance to island + Boat transfer: Php 200/head
• Parking fee (you can trust these guys to guard your vehicle well) Php 150, overnight
• Cottage rental: Php 2,000

For more details on the resort, visit this page: AngIslaKo

I'd also like to recommend the transportation we rented for the trip. The van driver was with his son in the duration of our trip. Very friendly, and knows his destinations well. Here are the contact details of the driver:

Mr. Paige Aguilar (with son, Lloyd)

+63 916 778 9147

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the photos, as properly credited below. Author is also not associated with the site in any way, except for some of the companions. The island experience is based on my personal standpoint, at least how I could describe it.

Credits to:

Adyboy Paboy (Photos)

Rowal Autriz (Photos)

http://angislako.blogspot.com/