The Beauty of Sorsogon Part 1: Subic Beach, Matnog Sorsogon 

Have you ever wondered if there are any other places where the beach is as nice and beautiful as the one in Boracay? Well, if you are, let me tell you this. Subic Beach and Tikling Island in Sorsogon are two of the best places that I have ever been to. Sorsogon is a place at the tip of Luzon.  You may say that it is the last city before the Visayas Island (the second main island in the Philippines). 

Last June 2012, my family and I just went on a roadtrip from Cavite to Bicol and we bought the EZ Map as a guide. You could buy this in petrol stations or in National Bookstore (this is a book shop where you can find almost everywhere in the Philippines, espescially in major malls like SM). The Sorsogon map would cost you around 95 to 100 pesos. EZ maps is also available on-line through this link. http://www.ezmaps.ph/products.php.

Anyway, we checked out some places in the map and there was this write-up about Subic Beach. They call it Rosa Aplaya (Meaning Pink Sand) and we were curious. We went to the Ferry terminal and looked for someone there who could take us to Subic Beach. The people are very friendly. We asked this tricycle driver (we followed his tricycle) and he actually went with us to the house of the person who owns a boat going to Subic Beach. The owner (I forgot his name – sorry) told us to go to the ferry terminal and the tricycle driver would guide us where the boat and the boat driver is. He took us to the ferry terminal near the market and there we parked the car in the terminal and went on the boat.

On the way to Subic Beach

 It was already 2pm at that time so there was little time left to roam around but we just wanted to see what it looks like. The driver told us that we would be going to Subic Beach and also in Tikling Island (which is now a privately owned island but you could just go and see it).  

The boat driver and his assistant

The view going to Subic Beach

Along the way to Subic Beach, my mind was wondering about. I was thinking, might be a waste of money to go there but suddenly a school of fish (small fishies, also known as Dilis in Filipino) jumped up and down the water. Suddenly, I got very excited and wanted to capture every moment the fishies jump. Well, since they are so tiny and fast I can’t take a nice picture out of it. I got a short footage of the video but it is not enough to describe the feeling. 

 Flying Fishies going to Subic Beach

Anyway, going further down you would see how clear the water is and you could actually see the corals underneath (which is a 100 ft below, according to the boatman). So cool, the water is clear and blue.

 

The shoreline near Subic Beach (From a neighbouring island, corals are 100ft below) 

The Small Subic Beach

 After the ooing and aahing we finally arrive at Subic Beach. Subic Beach has two spots they call it the small and the big spot. The first stop that we headed for is the small spot. If you are lucky, you would be the only one in the island and you would really enjoy the picturesque view and serene atmosphere. The place is perfect for a private picnic with your friends and family. There are no cottages or tables that you could spot but if you want to feel like you are on survivor series (he he he) this is the place to be. We only spent a few minutes on the small stop because we were time constrained but given a chance spending a full day in that spot would have been perfect.

The Pink Sand  (sand mixed with red corrals) at Subic Beach

 

 Small secluded spot of Subic Beach (Left side of the spot)

Small Spot of Subic Beach (Right Side of the spot)

Other visitors in Subic Beach in the small spot

The Big Subic Beach

Anyway, we headed for our next stop which is the big spot. Here, there are small cottages and tables along the seashore where you can pay around 300 pesos to stay for the whole day. The spot also has several tree houses lining the shore (maybe 10 meters away from the shoreline) and a balsa where you could snorkel and swim around to find small fishies swimming underneath.

 The shoreline at the big Subic beach

The boat (Balsa) where the small fishes reside

You could find the owner of Subic beach here. His name is Renato Gato (very cool and friendly too). You could actually ask him about things that you wanted to know about the island. He is actually open about his future plans for the beach. According to him, he would not really modernize the whole area (and I agree to that). I think the one charm of Subic beach that Boracay doesn’t have is that most of it is not man made and modernised. We haven’t really explored the island much but according to the owner, the front part of the beach is pink sand and if you go at the back part, you would be able to see volcanic sand which is black and very soft. (I find it weird and was really curious but since we haven’t got time to explore we didn’t go there). It would be nice for future travellers to explore more of the Subic beach island. 

My mom and the owner of the Beach Mr. Renato Gato

On the way going to the caves

Exterior of the cave that can be explored (first entrance)

Exterior of the caves that can be explored (second entrance)

Tikling Island

Time really runs fast when you enjoy yourself and after taking some pictures and exchanging a few stories with the local people and owner of the beach, we went on our trip again. The boat driver decided to show us the exterior of some caves where you could actually go in and explore by boat (we didn’t go because it was nearing sunset and it would be scary if we stayed in there) after that we went straight to Tikling Island. We were again accompanied by jumping fishies on our journey. Tikling island is a small privately owned island. The owner of the island said that people can come as long as they wouldn’t stay long and swim on the beach. So we just walked around the area until sunset and take photos. I thought that there wouldn’t be any more exciting things around since my mind has been blown away already by the beautiful landscape and jumping fish. I was proven wrong when the first two minutes walking on the shore we found seashells that are big and perfect. Can you imagine the seashells that you buy in stores that are varnished just scattered in the shoreline.. Rare shells where you only see in souvenir stores are just there. It was really enjoyable and exciting.

Sunset at Tikling Island

The shoreline lined with Rare Shells

Nature has its own beauty. If we were not time constrained, we would gladly stay there and camp in Subic Beach for two days just to enjoy everything. Well, I’m looking forward to my next visit to this place and I hope this review had given you some special pointers if ever you would visit this island. When you visit, make sure you have you camera, video camera (to capture any events like the jumping fishes), snorkeling/diving gear (which I think is really a must if you have massive of time)and a little bit of cash for the cottages (around Php 1,000 just to be sure, in case you buy some food in Subic Beach, the owner said you could buy some fish and cook it there). The boat ride to Subic beach cost us around Php 1,500. Hope you enjoy your visit there.

Me enjoying the sunset at Tikling Island