Burgis Mangrove Beach Resort
After more than a year we finally got a chance to go out again feel the breeze of the ocean and the sand beneath our feet. We waited until we all got vaccinated first before we got the confidence to travel again. We have been planning this trip since September last year.
Our destination is a place called Burgis Mangrove located in Laiya, Batangas Philippines. Travel time is 4 hours drive from our location. Join us today as I share with you our first trip after a very long time. Come with us today on our travel to celebrate liberation from confinement.
My wife booked accommodation for us thru facebook and found a pet-friendly place so we can take with us our furbaby. Our check-in time is at 2 pm but we left early before the sun rises to avoid traffic. It was Christmas day and we wanted to celebrate Christmas on the beach for a change.
After two hours of driving, we stopped at a gasoline station to stretch and get a little rest. This trip almost did not happen as our car broke down days before our trip. I found out that the battery of our car has died and it was expensive to get a new one. Good thing I made enough from Hive to add to the funds of a new battery. I can say that Hive has been a big help to make this trip happen. Thank you Hive and the community!
We finally arrived around 11 am and everyone was very excited to see the ocean again. It has been a while and some of you know how much I love the beach hoping to live near the ocean in the future. A dream that I always think about all the time. Finding a quiet spot and hearing the calming sounds of the waves every day.
It seems that a lot of people also decided to spend Christmas on the beach. People enjoy nature once again.
Seeing children playing on the beach and living life again. We are almost there from going back to normal but still, precautions are necessary. Vaccination cards are also required by resorts and verified at a checkpoint before you could enter the beach.
The activities offered are jet ski, banana boat rides, snorkeling and island exploration. Since prices for the activities are a bit expensive we only planned for snorkeling and island exploration.
I explored the beach a little while waiting for our accommodation to be ready. I wanted to get away from the crowd and have a little moment of peace for myself. Like this man staring out into the ocean, maybe drowning all his troubles away and restoring inner peace from within.
There were a few dogs here on the beach probably pets of the local fishermen in this area. They are not aggressive and are used to people being around.
People from around here earn income from fishing, offering activities and tours. Although these days the catch was not good as I overheard some fishermen talking about it. Life is not easy for these fishermen and they find other ways to put food on their tables. During the lockdown, there were no visitors so they only depended on fishing.
Island Exploration
On our first activity, we hired a boat to take us to a part of the island with beautiful rock formations which is a few minutes away from the resort. The costs 300 pesos per person or around $5.85 USD. Since there were 12 of us we paid 3,600 pesos or $70 USD. This included one hour on the island trip and 1 hour for snorkeling.
Everyone was ready and excited to go to the boat. The life vest is a must which is also provided for the trip.
It was low tide during this time so we had to walk further to reach the boat.
One more photo before going onboard.
Our furbaby Marnie is also joining our trip. This is her first boat ride and she seemed excited too.
We headed out on our adventure and it felt great. The last boat ride we had was like 3 years ago which was the best trip that we had. Here we were just going to one location on the island unlike before it was 4 locations at a much cheaper price.
We reach the location that everyone was talking about. The boat could not come closer to the shore because of the large rocks and corals. The rocks were slippery and you needed to tread very carefully. I was holding my camera and was very nervous. I felt that I was about to slip and get my camera all wet and that would ruin my vacation. My camera is my baby as I had her for a very long time already. Lots of places were visited and lots of memories captured.
Here are some of the rock formations on the island. Carved by nature and changes thru time.
Other people have arrived with a different colored life vest. My daughter was joking that they brought us to this place for a squid game competition. Not sure if all of you know about the Netflix Series Squid Game you should check it out as it is worth your time.
A large part of a tree has washed ashore and bleached by the ocean. Who knows how this tree got here but it looks amazing.
Our furbaby enjoys the exploration and is very curious about the surroundings.
I climbed to the higher ground to get a better shot of the shoreline.
The rocks up here are sharp and you should be careful while exploring. You could easily get injured if you trip over.
I spoke to one of the people who reside here. I was told that this area is private property. All the boats pay 100 pesos or $2.00 to dock here for an hour and allow the visitors to explore. I recall why our boatman asked for the 100 pesos. With all the visitors every day the owner makes good extra income from this place.
My daughter enjoyed our time here and asked me to take a lot of photos. We have done a lot of photoshoots before and plan to do one on this trip.
This is the most famous spot in this place. A rock formation that has a lone tree growing on top. We had to wait in line to get a chance to take photos.
My brother-in-law climbed up the rock but a few minutes later was asked by the caretaker to go down. The caretaker thought they were kids. Well, it was not allowed to climb up for safety reasons.
I like this tree that shows resilience. Life survives even though there are hardships and trials. Life always finds a way.
I walked further a bit as I noticed these ruins from the boat earlier. I wanted to take a closer look to see what they are.
I bumped into the caretaker and we had a little chat. He said that there were supposed to be cottages and this area was being developed as a resort. They had has issue with the right of way so visitors will be having trouble coming in so they abandoned the plan instead. The cottages were in a very good spot up here too bad the plan did not push thru.
They had a couple of cows here that seems so content being here. I wish I too was living on an island but I don't want to be a cow though. As I was to explore further the caretaker told me that there are guard dogs further up the trail. I didn't want to get bitten so I headed back instead.
Snorkling
Our time on this part of the island and our 1 hour has passed. Our boat man told us that it was time for our next activity. We were going to a protected area for snorkeling and fish feeding. Fishermen are prohibited from fishing here as they earn more taking visitors to this place.
As soon as we reached the spot almost everyone jumped off the boat immediately. It is a shame that our waterproof camera broke earlier and I won't be able to show you the fish in this area. It was a pretty old camera and water came in. Maybe the rubber insulation got dried up due to its age.
The life vests that were provided don't seem right. Like they are missing some straps to prevent it from floating up to your head. My daughter felt like she was a mascot of some sort as it was constantly coming up her head.
As I am writing this blog I finally remembered the cartoon show Challenge of the Gobots. A character called turbo is what reminded me of the life vest. I showed this to my daughter and she could not stop laughing.
I wish I could show you the colorful fishes in this area. There were a lot, different sizes and colors. I'll be saving up for an action cam so next time we will be ready.
Everyone had fun in this activity and I wish it could have been longer.
Our one hour has finally expired and it was time to go back to the resort. All good things come to an end but everyone had a fun time. As we head back I hope we could once again have more adventures like. Not worrying about anything and just living life to the fullest. This trip has been liberating and I felt freedom once again even just for for the holidays.
I hope you enjoyed spending a little time with us today to share with you our trip. We have more to share about our trip and I hope to see you again soon. Cheers!
All photos are original and taken with
Lumix GX85 and Olympus 12-32mm
