Potipot Island, Candelaria Zambales

Really wanted to go for this adventure before so when a friend invited me about this, I answered YES right away. Potipot Island is somewhat being called as little "Boracay of the north", maybe because of its pristine clear blue - green waters and almost fine white sand beach. 

Our journey to Potipot Island started at around 11:30 pm from our meetup place at LRT Muñoz station. For this trip, we once again used our office mate's  diesel Starex van. Since the destination is quite far, and none from our group knows the exact way going there, we were assisted by a GPS enabled phone. But it seems like you'll never get lost as you will only travel all through out only along national hi-ways. Anyways, since we travelled during night time, we arrived at Brgy. Uacon, Candelaria, Zambales earlier than expected. We met with our contact, Kuya Steve, from our Metrodeal vouchers at around 5AM. He was waiting for us in a Petron gas station riding his bike, and upon talking to him, he led us inside into the baranggay up until to the parking lot which overlooks the shoreline of Brgy. Uacon and of course, Potipot Island not far from the shore.

Since we haven't shopped for our supplies yet we were advised by Kuya Steve to buy our supplies at Candelaria public maket instead of going all the way to Sta. Cruz since it is nearer. We arrived at the market around 6am and to our surprise, the vendors are still not there. It seems like the market opens at around 8am, quite different from Metro Manila markets where 4am is already a very busy time.

At this early, the streets around the market is still devoid of people

Buying for mangoes at P100 for 3 kilos

Abalones >.<

We went around the market until 7am, waiting for the stalls to open to buy our supplies, encountering sky high prices maybe because the vendors are taking advantage of us being tourists. Anyways, after making sure that we have completed buying our supplies, we went back to the Brgy. Uacon parking lot for our boat ride to Potipot Island.

There are lots of outrigger boats parked on the shore with Potipot Island in the background

Us before riding the boat, with the black sand on the shorelines of Brgy. Uacon

The small boat we were about to ride can carry around 4-5 and our group has to be divided into two boat rides since we are 8 persons in total. I will be in the first batch of the boat ride but since the boat will be carrying all our luggages and supplies, the boatmen only allowed 3 persons to be in it. We set sail at around 7:30am and off to Potipot Island we go!

A view of Brgy. Uacon shorelines while in the midst of the boat ride

Almost there..!

Touchdown! Together with a lot of other tourists arriving in Potipot Island at this early in the morning

It was my first time riding an outrigger boat and I got scared at first because it took the boatman quite some time to get the engine started while we were just drifting near the shore. Once the engine finally started it was a pleasant ride all the way to Potipot Island as the waves are still calm and the sunshine is still not so bright. Overall, I think the boat ride just took around 5 minutes. Upon arriving at the white sands of Potipot Island, we were greeted by a man who seems like a caretaker of the Island asking us how many are in our group and if we will be only a day trip or overnight. But since we already paid our fees back in Brgy. Uacon, we just said the name of our contact, Kuya Steve, and he left us alone. By checking the signs posted in there, the fees for Potipot Island range from P100 for a day trip and P300 for overnight. A bit steep since the whole island is privately owned O_o

The first thing we did after arriving is of course, search for a good spot to be our camping area. The we first made a quick look near the shore, checking if the spots near the benches were already taken. To our avail, there are already a lot of people set camp near the table and benches so we first settled in a spot in the middle of the island a bit far away from the shores. We were a bit discontented in that spot so we once again searched for a spot near the shores and good thing we found a good spot with a near vacant table and bench just a few feet away from the shores. Another good thing is that the spot was covered with a lot of tree shades. We finished settling down on our new camp at around 9:30am, but there was no time to rest as we have to start preparing for our late breakfast/early lunch >.<

MineShine milktea + almost fine white sand beach = Perfect combination!

The white sands and clear blue waters are so tempting but the heat is just too much >.< Ayokong mangitim haha :p

The view of the shores from the Northern part of Potipot Island

There is a designated area for cooking near our camp spot which already has grills for cooking, you only need to bring your own coal/fire wood. There is also a semi-fresh water faucet near it that can be used for washing and food preparations. We finished preparing our food around 11am and its now time to chow down and enjoy our grilled tilapia and bangus.

We haven't brought enough plastic spoons and forks so we have to use our hands for eating hehe

Mangoes for dessert

After clearing our table, our fatigue from the 5 ½ hour long trip got the best of us as we were all tired and everyone headed to their tents for a nap. As for me, I was lying in a hammock for my nap.

There are still some people who kept swmming under the heat of the sun at 12 noon O_o

A view of Mt. Lanat from Potipot Island

Just woke up >.<

We waited quite some time for the heat of the sun to settle down and by around 4pm, we started to go beach bumming and explore around Potipot Island!

Accidentally saw my college friend, I used to call him "Dadi JC" :)

What a small world huh.. I mean small island. :D

One of the many vendors in Potipot Island

Lots of tiny hermit crabs crawling along the shore

Watching the sunset, Its beautiful and priceless. :)

We enjoyed the beach until around 7pm before we started to take a shower and head back to the cooking station to prepare our dinner. We had some difficulties cooking as we haven't bought enough coal and it was a bit dark as we only have a tiny lamp and a phone's LED flash for a flashlight. We finished cooking just before 9pm and we can now feast on our dinner menu of grilled pork chops, shrimp and crabs cooked in butter, and the leftover grilled bangus and tilapia from our lunch.

After clearing our table, everyone started preparing to go to sleep as they were all tired. I was one of the last to go back to my tent and we saw two caretakers of the doing a nightly patrol around the island. They also told us to keep our valuables inside our tents as there are supposedly renegade boatmen who steal things from the campers who stay overnight at Potipot Island. So I once again checked for any valuables still left outside and it was already 11pm by the time I was lying inside my tent to go to sleep.

Inside the tent was really hot and despite being in an island, there is almost no wind at all blowing by. My sleep was constantly disturbed by the really hot ambiance, so when I waked up around 5am, I just decided to lay a mat on the sand outside and continue my sleep in there.

Everyone on our group were all up at around 8am and that's when we started to head back again to the cooking station to prepare our breakfast. It will be our last meal in the island so we cooked all that was still left in our food supplies and that includes some canned tunas, a kilo of hotdogs, and 2 tilapias. We started eating at 9am and after that we started clearing everything as now have to break camp to prepare going home. After taking a shower and breaking camp, we decided to stroll one last time around the island for some picture taking.

Spicy tuna, hotdogs and walang kasawaang grilled tilapia! Yum!

The large kubo type cottages for rent at the island

The smaller type of cottage also for rent on the island

The public toilet/bathroom on the island complete with faucets running with fresh water

There is also a manual water pump that can be used for taking a shower.

The cooking area on the island

The tree house where the caretaker seems to reside. It's off limits to visitors though

Saang bundok ka pupunta? O uuwe na agad? :)) Mag lilibot pa tayo uy! Ikaw and camera man! haha

The huge driftwood along the shores, perfect for picture taking

Take 2! Good thing we brought a tripod

Time to go home with a smile on everyone's faces :)

We called our contact Kuya Steve and he told us that we will be picked up from the island by 11:30am, but that doesn't seem to be the case. We waited for quite some time and we only got picked up at around 12:30pm.

Halo-halo while we were waiting for our boat ride

It costs P30 though

Goodbye Potipot Island!

Hello Brgy. Uacon and Mt. Lanat!

The boat ride once again was pleasant because the waves are as calm as ever. It would be advisable to have sun protection on though as you will be exposed under the hot sun all through out the ride. We finished packing up our things in the van at around 1pm and after that starts our long drive back to Manila. Our only stopover along the way was at Iba, Zambales where we checked the decorations for their Mango Festival and also to buy mangoes as souvenirs to take home.

Festival decorations at Zambales Provincial Hall

The stalls selling sweet mangoes near the provincial hall