Island Hopping in Quezon: Borawan, Puting Buhangin and Kwebang Lampas

Who would have thought that there exist wonderful beaches in Quezon Province?  Well, for those of you who haven't discovered the beaches in Quezon, let me relate to you my experience.

I've heard about Borawan so many years ago.  I just didn't have the chance of visiting this place before in the perception of no other beaches to see other than this.  But I was wrong.  As soon as I googled Borawan, there appear to have other wonderful white sand beaches within Padre Burgos, the province where Borawan is situated.  My kaladkarin friends have been wanting to visit Borawan since last year.  And so this year, we found the chance to have our summer outing there.

Padre Burgos is about 165 km. away from Manila.  There are many beaches found here like the famous Borawan, Dampalitan Beach, Lipata Beach, Mag-asawang Bato, Tamarind Beach, Talabaan Beach to name a few.  Island hopping is ideal in this place as these beaches are just about 10-15 minutes away from each other.

Unknown to many, the town of Pagbilao (about 145 km away from Manila) have also wonderful white sand beach to boast, the Puting Buhangin, which means white sand.  As the name implies, the long stretch of the beach is covered with white powdery sand.  When you do island hopping in Padre Burgos, you can make a side trip here which is only about 30 minutes away by boat.  At the end side of Puting Buhangin lies the Kwebang Lampas.  This is another tourist attraction as the small cave has very clear water.  Actually, the whole island is covered with clear water (the clearest I've ever seen).  Kwebang Lampas is a small cave with openings at both ends.  The water is shallow with big rock formations underwater.  Some, according to blogs I read, see snakes swimming here but when we were there, there's no sea creatures swimming aside from small fishes.

Read below for our island hopping adventure in Padre Burgos and Pagbilao in Quezon Province

Island Hopping

Our accommodation is at Villa Anita.  Our island hopping tour is care of Mang Cyrus.  This is discussed in a separate blog.

Upon arriving at Villa Anita, we just left our things and contacted Mang Cyrus for preparation of our island hop.  What we brought along are our packed lunches and snacks.  Our island hopping tour will just be for 1 day.  When we searched for Mang Cyrus' place and the jump off point for the island hop, i was quite impress that he was well-known in their neighborhood.  I asked if he was a politician there and he told me that he just have a good reputation that he's taking care of.  It was his brother and another boatman who accompanied us in our island hop.  First stop, Puting Buhangin and Kwebang Lampas at around 9am.

Puting Buhangin
From the jump off point, its about 30-minute boat ride before reaching Puting Buhangin.  This is already part of Pagbilao municipality in Quezon.  As we're getting near, I could already see the long white stretch of the beach and the small hole for the cave. The sands were not as fine as Boracay as there are lots of crushed sea shells.  The facade of the beach seems like in Palawan with its rock formations on the sides.  The beach is lovely.  The water is very clear.  There were tents pitched in the area but I believe it is not allowed to stay overnight there.  Entrance is Php 30 per person.
 

Long stretch of white sand; The hole at the far left is the Kwebang Lampas

Another shot of white sand in Puting Buhangin

The other stretch of Puting Buhangin

Rock formations for photo op! haha!

 Kwebang Lampas
As what the name implies, the small cave have openings on both ends (thus the word "Lampas").  This lies at the end stretch of Puting Buhangin.  Going through the cave is quite a challenge since there are a lot of rocks, big rocks, under water.  Level of the water can be a little high going to the cave but manageable.  You can also opt to walk through the rocks to get inside the cave.  Most rocks do not have sharp edges but it can get slippery.  It is not too dark in the cave as both ends are open.  The whole cave is about less than 100 meters long.  With its clear water, you can see some small fishes swimming.  What's unattractive inside the cave are vandals on the walls.  In some blogs that I've read, there are sea snakes swimming inside the cave.  Gladly for us, we didn't see any.

Kwebang Lampas from the inside

Clear water going inside Kwebang Lampas with small fishes

Borawan
This is one of the most famous destination in Padre Burgos.  The name Borawan came from the combined words of Boracay and Palawan.  They say that the beach have white sand just like Boracay and wonderful rock formations just like in Palawan.  It was indeed a wonderful rock formation but the sand isn't that white and powdery as in Boracay.  For me, Puting Buhangin is much better than Borawan in terms of white beach.  But the rock formations, it is indeed comparable to Palawan, particularly in Coron.  Another disappointment in Borawan is that it has some stinky smell in some areas.  This may be caused by tourist who sleep in the island overnight.  Yes, one can sleep here overnight by tent.  Care takers may not be able to clean the area every time there are people staying overnight.  I hope the tourists themselves should take part of cleaning their dirt and maintaining the beauty of Borawan.  Swimming in Borawan is not also advisable by the boatmen as there are a lot of jellyfishes that time.  I'm not sure if the presence of the jellyfish can be seen only during summer or all the time.  So we just ate our lunch there and took some pictures.  Entrance is Php 40 per person inclusive of use of small cottage for lunch.

Big rocks in Borawan

Cottages available in Borawan

More rocks in Borawan

Rocks, rocks and more rocks at Borawan

Jellyfish in Borawan... the water is very clear!

Mag-asawang Bato
We didn't get off to this island, rather, the boatmen just pointed us its location.  The name was derived from the physical attribute of the island.  It consist of 2 islands, one small and one big.  Although the islands are not side by side with each other, but its distance is not very far from each other.

Mag-asawang Bato

Dampalitan Beach
This is another beach destination where travelers can stay overnight.  The area is much bigger than in Borawan thus it can accommodate more travelers.  It was already past lunch when we arrived at Dampalitan Beach.  The sands were also quite powdery and white.  Water was again clear.  There are fences on the waters to keep some jellyfishes away thus swimming here is much safer.  We just lounge through the waters and sands of Dampalitan beach, great area to have a tan.  We also had snacks here afterwards.  Entrance fee is Php 30 per person. 

Dampalitan Beach

This side is more peaceful

Small plant in the sand of Dampalitan Beach

 

Stretch of Dampalitan Beach with cottages and tents

 

Clear waters of Dampalitan Beach with small fishes

Talabaan Beach
This is another small beach area with short shoreline just like in Borawan.  The sands here are not so white and powdery like the other beaches we've been through in Padre Burgos.  There were also some rocks present on the beach.  By the time we got there, it was almost sunset, thus there's no people around.  I'm not sure if it's safe to swim here so we just took some pictures.

Talabaan Beach

 

Quite strong waves in Talabaan Beach

Rocks at Talabaan Beach

Talabaan Beach

I know there are other beaches in Quezon province that are equally beautiful particularly in Cagbalete and Polilio (and maybe many others I haven't heard of).  If you'd like to visit Borawan Island in Padre Burgos, have an island hopping as well in other beaches within the Padre Burgos and Pagbilao municipalities.  You'll be surprised on how lovely the beaches here are.