I swore that I am going to be a broken record when it comes to praising the Philippines as a country with so many beautiful, underrated, and less touristy beaches. As Filipinos, we have the luxury to explore all these as we live in a country with so many islands with clear blue waters, matched with wonderful sunny weather almost 80% of the year.
Like the other days, we started early and had breakfast with the group, then proceeded to our assigned vans. It was a sunny day, a perfect day to go to the beach.
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| If you love the beach, make sure to visit Mindoro this summer! |
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| Van 3, fighting! |
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| Hi Sienna and Ruthie! |
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Walking to the port with the group
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About Bulalacao
I like the word bulalakaw, which literally translates to bituing-alpas or meteoroids. The southernmost town of Bulalacao in Oriental Mindoro is known for its island hopping, offering over 11 scattered islands and islets (like meteoroids). Some of these include the Magayad Beach, Tulali Beach, Buyayao Island, Aslom Island, Tambaron Island, Target Island, Suguicay Island, to name a few. Because of time constraints, we were only able to visit Suguicay.
Bangkal Staging Port
Heading for the boat, we passed through a long bamboo boardwalk or bamboo bridge at around 300 meters. I was surprised how minutes later we were still walking through a long stretch of mangroves!
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| Passing through the 300-meter long bamboo boardwalk |
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| Finally reached the end of the bamboo bridge! |
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| Shadow photo with @ruthilicious while waiting for our boat |
We were with different travel agencies during this trip, so will await for more details on how you can conveniently go on a Bulalacao Island Hopping. For now, you can take a boat from Brgy. San Juan (Bangkal Staging Port) to Suguicay for Php 1200 / 10 persons (2-way already).
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| Off to Suguicay Island! |
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| Weather is good but it was a turbulent boat ride, so we made sure to wear our life vests |
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| Kept my phone protected inside a plastic bag thing, enjoying the sun and cool breeze |
Suguicay Island
The boat ride to Suguicay Island took only around 20-30 minutes. Water is turquoise and sparkling against the white sands.
A distinct feature of Suguicay is the stretch of mangrove trees, and the sandbar at the far end. Said to be the most popular and commercialized island in Bulalacao, we were lucky that there were little to no guests while we were there, as if we rented the whole island to ourselves!
Suguicay Island is a family-managed beach resort. I spotted sari-sari stores, native huts, overnight accommodations, and floating bamboo rafts that you can rent so you can relax during your stay here. Ruth and I decided to just chill there, before walking around to look for the sandbar.
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| Island doggo gave us a warm welcome |
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| A clingy cat also said hi to us |
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| "Welcome to Suguicay" daw, charot |
Because taking photos is life, went trigger-happy during our walk. There's not much to say, so will just share a few of our snaps..starting from our walk to the right side (facing the beach)...
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| Even the rock welcomed us to Suguicay Island |
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| Tanghaling tapat, so we decided to pass up swimming (which I now regret) |
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| Like and Subscribe |
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| Some cliche pose on a bamboo lifeguard stand |
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| Trying out all the swings we passed by! |
Ruth and I were already happy, but we passed by some friends from the tour group who told us we should also check out the left side of the island (facing the beach) for the mangroves and sandbar. Glad we obliged, coz it is actually the prettiest part of Suguicay Island.
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| Went with Ruthie and our new friend @boneastwood |
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| A dramatic lone tree in the middle of the black rocks |
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| Some solo pics |
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| This time with Ruthie! We were amused by the black rocks contrasting against the white sand |
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| It is actually prettier irl, photos as always wouldn't give justice to this place |
They said that there are other activities that Suguicay Island offers, aside from swimming and snorkelling you can also avail banana boat, fly fish, and jetski. I am not sure if these are still available, but we weren't able to see and avail all these because we had to leave for lunch. Island hopping usually meant going to at least 2-3 islands via boat, but I am actually thankful we spent our time in just one destination to fully enjoy the place albeit the time constraints.
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| Short but sweet stay in Suguicay Island |
Pocanil Island
We went back to Brgy San Juan, and rode our van to our lunch stop. Pocanil Island is also in Bulalacao, located in San Roque. The highlight of this island is the Pocanil Rock Formation that you can see from the beach resort, a place for rock climbing, spelunking, and rapelling. It features vertical caves and towering limestone formations that will remind you of Palawan.
Instead of these activities though, we opted to recharge our bodies and eat!
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| Hungry group ready for lunch! |
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| They served a lot of fresh seafoods here in Mindoro |
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| Our view while eating: the Pocanil Rock Formation |
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| Chill time with Ruthie |
After lunch, we went back to our hotel to freshen up and checkout. Super bitin! I hope I get to go back to Bulalacao again next time, and explore more of its beautiful islands. But for now, we were off to an exciting destination that I haven't been = Occidental Mindoro!
Read my Mindoro Adventures:
2021
2023
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