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| Cagbalete Island, aerial view. Image from Pansacola Resort Page |
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The shallow waters of Cagbalete extends over a mile during low tide, exhibiting the clear waters and fine white sands.
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Straightforwardly speaking, Cagbalete is one of the best islands we have in the Philippines. It has great fine white sands, calm waves, turquoise blue waters, and amazing wildlife. Cagbalete will never disappoint you.
What makes it better is that it's easy to reach and is just around 5 hours from Manila. Even if you only have a budget of Php800 to Php1,000 you will be able to enjoy the incredible Cagbalete experience. Additionally, it is not as crowded as Puerto Galera or Boracay.
Cagbalete is located in Mauban, Quezon Province. It is best known for it's shallow waters that expands to over a mile from the shore. It is also known for the sand ripples that appears when the tide recedes. It's amazing how the water is ankle to knee deep for over a mile. The sand is super fine and fair. The sand is compact and easy to walk on, and is comfortable to the feet. You will see lots of wild birds fishing on the beach such as Egrets, Sea Eagles, and Grey-Tailed Tattlers. There are also parts where you'll see sea grass, small stone formations, and multiple sand bars. You will easily see lots of crabs and fishes specially during low tide. There are also lots of mangroves particularly on the northern part of the island where you can see lots of fishes and crustaceans. The quality of the sand is really incredible and would definitely be on the top along with Boracay, Calaguas, and Caramoan. The fair sand under the blue water which reflects the skies creates the turquoise color of the water. Another amazing thing about the sand is that I saw it has many shades. The most common is the peachy cream sand which is found on the shores o most of the resorts. The Sabang port where the boats drop off the tourists have extremely fine sand that has a yellowish cream tone. Wen the tides are low, you'll see that the sand underwater has mainly two colors- bluish light gray and beige like color. There are also lots of Pine trees(Agoho trees) on the island.
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Part of Cagbalete where there are lots of Mangroves, image by TuristaTrails.com
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| Mangroves on the northern part of Cagbalete Island |
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| The famous sand ripples during low tide |
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| Cagbalete's powdery white sand |
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| A sample of the sands different hues |
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| Cagbalete is also home to many wild sea birds |
It is said that the Cagbalete island is bought from the Spanish Government by the Pansacola brothers, who owns the Pansacola Resort. Today, a portion of the Cagbalete island is home to many locals, while the other side is occupied by resorts which has their own expansive areas. There are only a few resorts in the island, and are said to be owned by descendants of the Pansacola brothers. It is a great thing which makes the place more serene and there's this feeling of seclusion, as compared to Puerto Galera or Boracay which has been filled with resorts and hotels which has been so dense it feels one resort as a few inch space only from the other. Some of the resorts includes Pansacola Resort, Villa Noe Resort, Villa Cleaofas Resort, Nilaningan Cove, MVT Sto. Nino, Dona Choleng, and Joven's Blue Sea Resort. The number of the resorts is comparatively few in contrast to the size of the area.
There's so much space, so much untouched nature, cool breeze from the pacific, and an ambiance that will surely relax you.
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One of the many smaller snadbars you can see in Cagbalete,
the biggest and most famous one though is the Yang-in Sandbar |
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| Agoho trees, shallow waters and white sands |
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There are many debris around the island, making it look more "untouched" or "virgin"
Just stroll along the beach and you'll find some drift woods and rocks
perfect for your Instagram posts |
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There are also lots of trees that bends low, perfect for an Instagram post,
or simply just to take a rest under it's shade |
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| The fine creamy sands shines under the sun |
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This one was a longer and bigger sand bar, and alas! We found it when it was already raining
How to get there:
1. Ride a Bus going to Mauban, Quezon. JAC liners have direct trips to Mauban, Quezon but only twice a day at 4:30AM and 1:30PM. It would have been more convenient to take those schedules of trip but in case you failed to catch the schedule, you can instead take a bus going to Lucena, Quezon(You will alight at Lucena Grand Terminal) instead and then ride a bus there going to Mauban. There are trips to Lucena almost every hour. The bus from Cubao to Mauban costs Php 260
2. Once your are in Mauban, ride a tricycle to the Mauban Port as the JAC liner terminal is quite far. The tricycle costs Php50.
3. Once in Mauban Port, ride a boat to Cagbalete Island. Here, again, there are only two boa schedules, and 10AM and 3PM(but sometimes there are slight variations on the schedule) so better be there as early as you can. Perhaps 8:30AM or 9AM would be fine. The boat ride costs Php50
Once you are on the island, you can either camp on one of the resorts, or stay at a room.
You can use this quicklink for the resorts you can check out before going to the island:
https://www.google.com.ph/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=2dP3WOzxHKrz8AeirJLQDg&gws_rd=ssl#q=cagbalete+resorts
More Pictures:
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