MANLAWI ISLAND - EPISODE 1

In writing this Caramoan Islands adventure follow-up post, I had to look at the pictures (mostly taken by my father-in-law) over and over again during our island hopping trip, and I swear, each picture tells more than a thousand words, that they make me want to post them all here.  However, I don't want to upload them all at once, as I feel each picture deserves a fair share of exposure in my blog.  Therefore, as resolution to my dilemma, I'm just going to make several posts, and I hope you join me as I reiterate, in a multi-part series, my Survivor-ish escapade in Caramoan Islands.  Shall we begin?

Let's start with the boat our Survivor wannabe team used for island hopping.

Vince's aunt owns a boat, that is being used primarily for taking tourists on island hopping, so we are really thankful that she let us use her boat for free.  We only had to pay for the boat crew as well as fuel, but still that saved us a lot of money.  With packed lunch, water, extra clothes, camera and sunblock, off to our first stop we went - Manlawi.

The first word that comes to my mind when I think of Manlawi is "virgin."  Out of the 7107 islands in the archipelago, I'm not sure how many are still as pure as Manlawi, but Manlawi is an epitome of innocence and beauty of untouched nature.  Simply paradise!  Those kubo or cottages along the sandbar are free for public use, and the locals' only request is that tourists keep the whole place clean by not leaving any garbage as some apparently did in the past :(

With the exception of a few locals by the seashore, we were the only ones in the beach, so we basically got the whole place for ourselves.  The long stretch of gorgeous sandbar and shallow waters was truly a haven for urban people like me and my family.  We had a great time running on the sand, swimming in the water, chasing fish, and playing with hermit crabs and starfish.

Survivor wannabes for a day!

I still have more pictures and stories to share in ensuing Caramoan-related posts, so just hang in there, because I will definitely be back! ;)

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Still blogging in progress, but you can find out more about my epic Bicol vacation here:

BICOL 2011

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You can read my other travel stories here:

TUESDAY TRAVEL

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My share for:

WATERY WEDNESDAY | OUR WORLD TUESDAY | OUTDOOR WEDNESDAY | ABC WEDNESDAY |