I've never explored Zambales beyond Subic before this summer. I always thought it would be a boring place since there's not much buzz about the beaches and let's be honest, Subic's not really on top of my favorite tourist spots in the country.
However, any place that gives me a whale-shaped rock formation and lets me pose like a mermaid (or a small balyena, depending on how you look at it) is a place that I will instantly fall in love with: friends, meet Camara Island!
This is actually the first of three stops in our island-hopping trip. And coincidentally, Camara was also my favorite stop. I loved the smooth stones dotting the shore and the rock formations surrounding the island. We were told that at low tide, there's a sand bar connecting the island to the whale rock. Amazeballs!
Up next was Capones Island. Ironically, this was the place we were most excited about because we've already done our research and couldn't wait to climb up to the light house and stage a pictorial along the golden grass on top of the island. However, our boatmen decided the waves were too strong on the side where you can dock to head to the light house and brought us to the beach side instead.
The beach was actually nice, and the rock formations were a winner. However, it was a bit of a letdown especially after you've imagined yourself trekking up to a lighthouse. I was all ready and raring to try and scale the boulder to get to the other side of the island but our boatmen were insisting it was time to head to Anawangin. What is it with boatmen and party pooping?
And then came Anawangin Cove. I have heard stories about the beauty and sheer wonder of the place. Imagine a beach that leads to a river surrounded by a forest of pine trees. Sounds amazing, right? WRONG. The place was too crowded and they made a fence where you have to pay just to go inside the "camping area". I can imagine that at one point, it was a breath-taking location. From afar, Anawangin Cove looks postcard-perfect; but when you see the trash and the declining beauty of its natural wonders, reality starts to sink in.
We managed to take some nice photos inside the pine tree forest and tried to ignore the stares from the campers. I read that Anawangin Cove has a quieter, more secluded, and definitely cleaner twin called Nagsasa Cove but it's about 2 hours farther away by boat. We were not willing to add more hours to our boat ride on the choppy water so we made the most out of Anawangin. We also tried to snorkel in vain but all the corals were dead. Yeah.
Instead, we channeled our frustrations into silly poses. When life gives you lemons, do a yoga pose in front of strangers...on top of a tree stump.
And sway with the (non-existent) wind.
Or pretend you're in a movie and happily splash your feet in the river while clinging to an ant-infested branch.
And basically, just camwhore your way around.
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