The Vinzons and Mercedes, Camarines Norte Travel

Few months ago, a friend of mine invited me to join them on their Calaguas Island trip for the summer, and since Calaguas is one of my favourite islands, I never hesitate to say yes. Even though I’ve been to Calaguas twice already, I’m still excited to go to that island. So last April, the last weekend of April, we were set for a beach bumming in Calaguas. At first, I thought the original plan was whole day Saturday to Monday, but only to found out that we will only be at Calaguas on Sunday and Monday morning.

the beautiful sea of Calaguas

Weeks before the said beach bumming, I already cleared all my schedules for the weekend until Monday. But since my friend informed me that we will be leaving on a Saturday afternoon, I then have the whole morning as a free time. Well, I don’t want to waste the entire morning sitting in our house so I then texted my friend that I will be leaving earlier than the group’s original schedule. Sabi ko sa kanila mauuna na lang akong pupunta ng Camarines Norte, kasi gusto ko din magikot ikot sa Daet and nearby towns.

So on that Saturday morning, at 8am, I left our house and travelled all the way to Naga City. And then at Naga City, since I am on a budget trip, I just decided to take the ordinary bus going to Daet town instead of riding a passenger van to Daet. The fare for the bus is 110 pesos while the fare for the van is 188 pesos. It’s a huge savings. Even though it would take me longer to reach Daet by riding a bus, it doesn’t really matter since I am not in a hurry. The meeting time of the group in Naga City was 2pm. And for me, I will just be meeting them when they arrived in Daet by around 4pm or 5pm.  The travel time for the bus from Naga City to Daet is 3 hours, while for the van, the travel time is 2 hours.

I just slept on the bus for most of the entire 3 hour travel. I was so sleepy because I wasn’t been able to get a good sleep the night before. Upon arrival at Daet, I asked for directions on how to go to Vinzons. Our group has two options on how to go to Calaguas. The first option is via Paracale and the second option is via Vinzons. For the past 2 Calaguas travels that I did, I always took the Paracale route due to the fact that it is much nearer to Calaguas and boats in Paracale are much cheaper than in Vinzons.

Central Terminal, Daet, Camarines Norte

Anyway, I was then directed by locals that I should take a tricycle going to central terminal and from there, I could catch a jeepney bound for Vinzons. The tricycle fare from Daet van and bus terminal to central terminal is 8 pesos. When I arrived at the central terminal, the jeepney bound for Vinzons was about to leave so it was already full. Kesa naman magantay na naman ako, sumakay na lang ako sa jeep kahit na sumabit na lang ako. The jeepney ride from Daet to Vinzons is just about 15 minutes and the fare is 15 pesos. From the Vinzons poblacion, I then rode a tricycle bound for Minaogan. This is where the port of Vinzons is located. From there, I asked for the price of boats that we could rent going to Calaguas island. And since it was summer and it was also a weekend, most of the boats have already been rented by other groups and there are only few options left for me. The cheapest that I got was 6000 pesos pero natawad ko na lang ng 5000. We were 14 in the group and we need a bigger boat. I relayed the info to my group and we all agreed that it would be much cheaper for the group if sa Vinzons na lang kami sasakay because if we will travel all the way to Paracale, it would cost us another 1400 for the fare from Daet to Paracale.

Vinzons Port, Minaogan

Jeepney terminal in Vinzons, Camarines Norte

After kong makapagnegotiate sa bangka, umalis na din ako sa port and proceeded to downtown Vinzons, nagwalking tour lang ako kasi maaga pa naman and my friends are still in Naga City. I took some pictures of Vinzons landmarks:  the Vinzon’s town hall, plaza, and its old town church, the Saint Peter the Apostle Church in Vinzons which is the oldest church in Camarines Norte. And then after taking some pictures umalis na din ako pabalik ng Daet. From Daet, I then decided to go to another neighbouring town which is Mercedes.

Saint Peter the Apostle Church in Vinzons

Vinzons Municipal Hall

The town of Mercedes is just a 15 minute jeepney ride from Daet. The fare is 10 pesos. The town also has its own tourist destination. There are 7 beautiful islands off the coast of Mercedes. I don’t have plans of island hopping on that day since I know it would be expensive to island hop alone, and besides, in a few hours I’ll be meeting my friends in Daet who’ll be arriving from Naga City. So what I did in Mercedes was just some information gathering and a walking tour. I took some pictures of their known landmarks; their fish port, church, the Baybay Beach and the town hall. I also had the chance to talk to the town secretary and he shared to me the information regarding the tourist destinations in their town. After chit chatting for a few minutes, I then decided to go back to Daet to meet my friends. It was also beginning to get dark so I rode a jeepney back to Daet.

Mercedes Municipal Hall

Mercedes Fish Port

the church in Mercedes

Baybay Beach, Mercedes

At around 6 pm, my friends arrived in Daet and we then buy some stuff and foods at the market na lulutuin namin kinabukasan as our breakfast and lunch and also foods that we would be bringing to Calaguas. Nakitulog kami sa bahay ng isa sa mga kaibigan ng kaibigan ko and uminom kami buong gabi. Actually I got drunk kaya kinabukasan hilong hilo ako, uminom kasi ng uminom eh! hehehe! We woke up early in the morning so that we could travel early to Calaguas. We rented a tricycle in Daet that could bring us to Vinzons port. We paid the driver 20 pesos per person for the Daet to Vinzons trip. When we arrived at the port, the boat was already waiting for us so we then boarded the boat immediately. So ayun, dahil lasing pa ako, natulog na lang ako sa buong byahe. Sa sobrang tulog ko di ko na nga namalayan na nakatulog ako sa part ng boat na walang bubong kaya ang resulta ay nasunog agad ang balat ko.hahaha!

Mt. Labo, Camarines Norte

Anyway, after 3 hours of travel, we finally arrived at Calaguas. Ahhhhh, ohhhhh, finally, nakita ko na naman ang magandang Calaguas. I don’t know what it is in this island that always makes me want to visit it again. The island is so beautiful and so unique. Even though there are a lot of people in the island compared to my previous visits in which I and some of my friends are the only people in the beach, the island is still beautiful to my eyes.

Calaguas beach

So after setting foot at the beach, we then pitched our tent. We didn’t bother to get a cottage since most of the cottages are occupied. There is a 100 pesos entrance fee in the resort plus another 20 pesos environmental fee that is being collected by the barangay. The Mahabang Buhangin is part of Barangay Mangkawayan of Tinaga Island and Tinaga Island is just one of the islands of the Calaguas Group of Islands of Vinzons, Camarines Norte.

Naglunch na agad kami and some of my friends started walking along the beach and some just slept at the beach. At siempre ako ay natulog lang din ng ilang oras. So most of our stay in Calaguas we just sleep, swim and eat and then repeat again, sleep, swim and eat. Nagpakabum lang talaga kami.hehehe!

Calaguas, Vinzons, Camarines Norte

Sunset at Calaguas

Mahabang Buhangin, Calaguas, Vinzons, CamNorte

Nagikot ikot din kami sa isla and I toured some of my friends to the other cove and to the community in the island since kabisado ko na din ang mga trail kasi pang 3^rd time ko na sa isla. So by Monday morning, we left the island na and travelled back to Vinzons. At the Vinzons port, the van that my friends have contracted was already waiting for us. We boarded the van and kahit medjo siksikan kami it doesn’t really matter. And since it was already 12 noon when we arrived at Vinzons, we instructed the driver to have a stopover at Daet so that we could take our lunch. Dumaan na lang kami sa isang fastfood chain and then after eating lunch, we travelled na to Naga City. After 2 hours of travel, we finally arrived at Naga City and then umuwi na din kami sa kanya kanyang destination. Actually, hindi naman pala ako agad umuwi because 2 of my friends wants to have some drinking session. May natira pa kasing 1 bottle of brandy kaya inubos na lang namin yun.hehehe! So far, our Calaguas adventure was fun. Even though it was already my 3^rd time to visit that island, nagenjoy pa din ako kasi iba din yung mga taong kasama ko and it was also my first time to travel via Vinzons route.

Sunrise at Calaguas

Calaguas beach

the other cove in Calaguas

There were a lot of changes na nangyari sa Calaguas. Mas marami na ang tao na nakakaalam ng lugar and mas madami na din ang pumupunta dun compared 2 years ago na konti pa lang ang mga pumupunta dun. Dumami na din ang mga basura na nakita ko sa beach and I hope the Barangay Council should do something to address this problem. And I also hope that people that are going in Calaguas should also be a responsible tourist para mapanatili pa din ang kagandahan ng isla. I hope the island will remain undeveloped and not end up being like Boracay, Puerto Galera or even like the Anawangin in Zambales.