Luzon
Fortune Island: The Graecian Point
Travel dates: May 16-17, 2015
One of my ideal squad goals is camping by the beach with friends. Then it happened during my fully booked summer. High school reunion in a remote island.
Off coast Nasugbu, Batangas is Fortune Island, a rising superstar out of many summer getaways in the southern area near the Metro. Along with my high school friends, we braved my first out of town with them.
This is one for the books because I learned what a traveler must know first-hand: extensive research.
To get there, you must ride a bus going to Nasugbu, with terminals located at Cubao, Buendia and Coastal Mall Parañaque. Arriving at Nasugbu, you could ride a tricycle to the coast of Nasugbu, or the Wawa Pier as instructed by our boatman.
But then, there’s a catch.
Instead of riding a bus going to Nasugbu, we rode a bus going to Batangas Pier instead! It costs us all a lot of hassle since it as 4 in the morning as we arrived and we don’t have any idea on how to get to Nasugbu from there. So we asked the locals, rode the tricycle that would take us to the highway, road a van that could take us to the pier in Nasugbu. Since we looked like tourists who had no idea where to go, we paid much more to the tricycle drivers than what we need to. Everyone was tired, some thrilled and some getting antsy. Nevertheless, we arrived at the pier at 9am, and finally rode a boat to go to the island for about an hour.
As we saw the island, we are greatly in awe and excited to finally bathe into the sea. We are under the sweltering heat and has journeyed through unnecessary roads, and as we finally arrived, we are definitely stoked at last!
Before pitching the tent though, we must pay an entrance fee first, again, without knowing first hand about this. The island seemed like it was currently rented by a Korean, so we must pay some fee with our overnight stay.
With a little bit of knowledge on how to camp, I somehow helped pitch up a tent. It is a nice day (when I say nice, the sun is scorching hot!) and right after settling, we ran down to the seaside amidst all the other tourists aside from us.
I must admit that this was one of the most tiring journeys I had but as we just lazed in the sun, tried snorkeling with just one snorkel and mask, tried cliff-diving, stargazed, had a little booze and stories while eating dinner, and basically didn’t took a decent bath for at least 72 hours because there doesn’t seem to be a proper bathroom in the place, it has been all worth it. Thinking back while still cringing, the trip is one-of-a-kind, one of the most memorable and stupidest thing we’ve ever did, with all the cringe-worthy decisions we made and being somehow always lost, but still those two days are worth remembering. And I hope me and my friends will again go on a journey.
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Hi, I’m Anthea, a Filipina trying to live in the moment. A registered pharmacist with an office day-job, a traveler of sorts in weekends-whether in actual outdoors or within books, through the screen, or through music. This blog is dedicated to all the wonders of this world (and the universe).
