Weekend Getaway: Nagsasa Cove

I was invited to a 'camping trip' to Nagsasa Cove in Zambales over the weekend. It's supposed to be a guided tour which promised a bit of trekking to the waterfalls, a visit to Capones island, and lots of sun time at the beach while roughing it.

The itinerary that was provided to us by Pinoycaravan.com (where we booked the tour) looked exciting enough that the P2,300 fee for the overnight trip seemed okay. I soooo looked forward to the weekend escape that I psyched myself up for the trekking part by buying my first ever pair of trekking shoes! 

So we trooped over to the meeting place at 5am still pretty much groggy because of only two hours' sleep, coming from a late night dinner and hanging out. (Just an aside, I never felt my age more than I did this time. I couldn't handle back-to-back gimiks anymore, yikes!) There were already a few people there because apparently it's the main meet-up point for all their tours. So there were other groups going to Nagsasa Cove and (the more popular) Anawangin Cove.  Anyway, as soon as we knew which one's our van, we sat right at the back and immediately caught some Z's. I was expecting at least 4 hours of uninterrupted nap time until we got to Zambales.

The first sign that this was not the trip I expected was that we had to wait more than hour at the 2nd stopover (2 stopovers already in just about 3 hours into the trip!) because our guide was riding in the other van together with all the other guides. They stayed behind because of another group that was late, so we had to wait so they can catch up with us. Question: so why did they let us go ahead when we'd have to wait for them anyway? Better yet, why didn't our guide just ride with us?

Moving on... so we arrived at Pundaquit, Zambales where we're supposed to ride a boat to Nagsasa. Our very friendly and efficient driver just parked the van and got out without even telling us what we're supposed to do next. After a few minutes we kinda figured that we're supposed to get out and head towards the shore. And since there was no tour guide in sight, we just stayed in one of the huts and waited for someone (anyone!) to approach us. Shortly, our guide finally approached and told us that they were just loading our camp stuff in the boat and we would be soon be off to Nagsasa. Yay! BUT, again we should have known that our elation was short-lived.

While waiting for them to finish loading, some of our companions started asking the guide about the itinerary. From where we were sitting, we can already see Capones Island. (As mentioned earlier, we were expecting that aside from Nagsasa, we will be doing some trekking to a waterfall and that we will also be paying a short visit to Capones Island.) So someone from the group asked him when we were going to the island, if it's before going to Nagsasa or the next day on our way back. Then he drops the bomb. He said that if we wanted to go to the island, we would have to pay extra. WTF!? It was in the friggin' itinerary they sent us! And as if that wasn't enough, when we asked him about the waterfall, he said that it would be quite a long walk to the fall and it will just be a waste of time because it's a bit dried up this time of the year so he advises that we don't go. Again, WTF!? These are things that we could have been brought to our attention yesterday! Most of us were already pissed off, to think we haven't officially started the tour. Which as actually a misnomer because there wasn't a tour to speak of, because apparently they were just bringing us to an island. 

Anyway... so we finally get to ride the boat. It was super small for 20 people, even smaller than the island hopping boats we have in Mactan! And we had to ride in it for at least 45 minutes, with the motor right below our seats, so you can imagine how comfortable we were. We made a quick stop at Anawangin to drop off some stuff for the other campers there. I was kind of surprised at how 'small' Anawangin is and how crowded the place looked with all the fences and other structures they built on the cove. From that quick view of the cove, I really didn't get the hype. Apparently, maganda na para sa iba yon. Taray! Haha.

We finally get to Nagsasa and the view's actually not that bad. It's loads better than Anawangin, with far less structures and it has a longer shoreline. Here's a view of the cove:

After settling down, we were told by our guide that as part of the tour he would now take us to the river. I was expecting 30-minute or so trek but apparently the river's really close to the campsite, about 10 minutes away! Why do we need a guide for that?? The river's not even hidden! AND, they didn't even take us further down. They only led us to a short part of the river, allowed us a few minutes of picture-taking (while they just sit and rest) before leading us back to the camp site. Sheesh, laaaazy... Sayang, the river looked kinda nice pa naman. 

Another part of the itinerary was supposed to be a trek up a hill to get a top view of the island. When some of us brought this up, the guide grudgingly led them to it. I decided not to go as he was really starting to become my least favorite person. The guides' only redeeming trait is that they are able to serve our meals on time and that the food were actually tasty. I think they were more cooks than 'guides'. I don't get the fascination with serving pasta in every meal, though. (our first lunch was rice, adobo and spaghetti; then dinner was rice, grilled fish and some carbonara.)

The water was actually really nice, so we couldn't pass up the chance to take a dip. The swim was very refreshing after our relaxing afternoon nap. Mga feeling lola!

There was supposed to be a bonfire after dinner, but we weren't feeling very chummy with other people in the group and the 'tour' guides, so we decided to hit the sack a bit early. I had a deep sleep, except for the one time I got woken up, so I was pretty much dead to the world. But according to one of my friends, she heard the guides complaining about one of their co-guides and talking about salary to some of our tour group mates. Talk about professionalism.

Waking up the next day, I was just really happy to be going home. The best part of this underwhelming weekend was in fact, our boat ride going back. It was already raining early in the day so we were told that we would be leaving earlier than scheduled. Yay! Our very considerate group mates didn't want to sit at the back of the boat near the noisy motor, so the privilege was given to us. Which turned out to be a real blessing because we had a tarpaulin roof over our heads and when heavy rains started pouring we weren't as  drenched as the others. Ha! The rough waters also made the ride very exciting. It was really exhilarating being in a small boat watching huge oncoming waves! And I don't know how to swim! Woohoo!

Bottomline is, I expected more from this trip and it was such a letdown. This just adds to my hesitation about taking 'guided' tours. Hopefully my next trip will be much better.