Burot Beach: A Cheap Get-away to Calatagan Batangas

This visit to Burot Beach is more of a spur of the moment escapade rather than a planned trip. I was browsing the lists of the latest blog posts of Pinoy Travel Boggers in our Facebook page when my attention was captured by a title of a blog entry. It mentioned both the words beach and budget and having been deprived of the beach for a few months already and since I'm now on my thriftiest year saving for an upcoming wedding, I quickly checked where the beach is located. To my delight, it is just in Calatagan Batangas, a town about 3-4 hour drive south of Manila. The following week, I had found myself traveling from Ortigas to Lawton, sleepy from my night shift to meet my companions and ride a bus plying Calatagan.

There are no longer Calatagan bound buses in Park n Ride Terminal in Lawton as stated in the official website of Calatagan. The buses there would take you to Nasugbu instead. We just took the bus and alighted in Lian Batangas where we rode a jeep to Calatagan. The supposed to be three-hour ride took us five. Apparently that day, there was an ongoing demolition of informal settlers' houses near Coastal Road where our bus was passing.

It was already past noon when we arrived Lian and we rented a jeep that would take us to Calatagan, to avoid waiting for a long queue of jeeps waiting to be filled. We paid Php300 for all of us, 8 adults and 2 children. We added Php100, the driver seemed really helpful.

In Lian, we had our lunch at a local diner (carinderia), bought more supplies including 2 big containers of drinking water then arranged for a tricycle ride. We paid the tricycle drivers Php300 each, with an arrangement that the drivers would fetch us the following day.

The road to Burot Beach is kind of bumpy. After a short cemented road, it becomes a narrow dusty road that may be uncomfortable. After about 30 minutes, the tricycle entered a gated property and started driving in an even more dusty unpaved road. In just a few minutes, the view changed from a ragged dirt road into a scenic view of water world and mangrove areas in both sides.

We reached the end where there is a serious looking guard collecting for a Php150 entrance fee per person. He was carrying a shot gun which reminded me of security guards in Banco de Oro.. The blogs I read mentioned of this place  as a property of Henry Sy or his coporation, which when I asked the caretaker and the guard, they said it's true. Btw, there is a separate fee for using the bamboo tables in the beach, it ranges from Php300-500.

We started pitching our tents under an umbrella tree. There is no accommodation in the area. The weather is too dry and hot when we were there and the umbrella trees did great in providing a cool shade. I was planning to take a nap feeling really tired having been awake for 24 hours but the excited voice of my companions already wading in the water changed my mind. I joined them and found out the water is too shallow for swimming even if we walked far, with lots of sea grass and worse, sea urchins. It was really not possible to take a dip. I was dismayed. To be honest, I even thought it was not worth the effort. Nikko even got stung by something in his face and arms and it might be a jellyfish, the jellyfish we previously saw swimming with us though doesn't sting so we're not sure what caused him the rashes and pain. At that time, I can't wait to go home the following morning and lay my weary body to a comfortable bed. It suddenly changed when the sun started to set. It was a glorious sunset changing the colors of the sky from blue, orange, red then indigo. It was the most dramatic sunset I had witnessed.

Night time came and we happily feasted on our food, chicken and pork adobo plus salted egg in tomato. Both are simple dishes but at that time, it seemed to have transformed into food of the royalties. :D Electricity has not yet reached Burot Beach so the area could have been pitch black if not for the bright light illuminating from the caretakers lamp. We also had our own lamp that is reliable all the time.

The following morning, the beach is a picture of serenity. It was still low tide and I haven't seen a single wave. I'm even starting to doubt if this is really a sea. I know it is because the water is salty, it's just that the water is so calm and silent. We roamed around the place and admired how beautiful it is. The sand isn't fine, the water is too shallow but the serenity and peace the place offers is next to none. There is a rocky area on the  left of the camping area that is so picturesque.

Late morning, we noticed there was a change in the depth of the water then we realized the tide is getting high. We tried our luck swimming in the water and found out it was deeper than the day before.I could actually swim! Yey! We spent long hours snorkeling and discovering more of the underwater. We saw several star fish, more jelly fish, and a school of small black fish. On the far right end of the beach where there are rocks that looked like a remains of a building, the water is even deeper and there are actually corals, sea slugs and more and bigger sea urchins.  I saw a post underwater that may had served as a foundation for the razed structure. 

With the view, the deeper water on the second day and with the company of adventurers like me, I was really having a good time and almost forgot my dismay the day before. :)

Burot beach is, after all, worth my sleepless hours, the long travel caused by traffic jam and the bumpy ride, not to mention the Php150 entrance fee. Provided it's high tide and you've brought an aqua shoes or sandals to protect your feet from the large population of sea urchins, it is an enjoyable place, rustic yet charming. They have clean water source that can be used for cooking but I just hope that the bathrooms/restrooms in the beach be improved soon because it's far from being decent. It is next to disgusting. The allure of the place weighs more to me though that the restrooms so if asked if I'm willing to go back there, I'd say yes, I'll just try to minimize my use of the restroom. :)

At 3 PM, our tricycles arrived and we had our final picture as a group with our sun-kissed skin. We arrived back in Manila in just a 3-hour van ride paying Php180. It was the cheapest overnight (and out of town) trip I had for the past years. :)

***Thanks to Marx of www.Marxtermind.com for sharing this place and for answering my questions. Thanks to everybody who joined in this  overnight trip. Let's do it again soon. :)

The Blogger would like to share: Tips on Creating Your Do-it-Yourself Trips

Mt. Batulao, - A Climb Like No Other

I consider myself a mountaineering enthusiast. Whenever I hear about mountain climbing or trekking plans, I suddenly get excited and my heart beats faster than it usually does. I always intend to join, usually though, I'm not fortunate enough to be approved for vacation leave requests, that's when the frenzy suddenly dies.



The first mountain I summited was Mt. Sembrano in Pililia, Rizal. Since it was my first time hiking, I felt like the heavens had it's way of baptizing me.. the rain poured really really hard that almost all of us got soaked inside our tents. Who wouldn't if a pond was formed inside our tents, right? And I mean that literally. lol! I remember not having slept the whole night and I think I wasn't alone. Almost all of us were awake. To my surprise though, when the sun started to rise the following morning, everybody was still in high spirits. (Thank you so much to CSL Packers for letting me tag along and inviting me in all the climbs. I miss you guys!)



The trek to Mt. Batulao is the first time I won't be with CSL Packers. I was with my IHG colleagues. That means, it's also the first time I brought my own tent and other necessities. (Nikko always do it for both of us, hehe)and it's heavy! lol! After my night shift, I rode a cab with Harold, Hanns and Kirsten from Ayala to a terminal in Buendia, behind a Sogo Hotel. From there, we've met with Dennis and Lino. We hopped into a bus going to Nasugbu Batangas and asked the driver to drop us off to Evercrest Golf Club. (The same road going to Calaruega). That's where we waited for Harold's cousins who knows the trail and would be joining us in the climb.



When they arrived, we started the long walk going to the jump off point. Men, It felt like it's taking forever to reach just the foot of the mountain but the several cups of coffee I consumed the night before is taking its toll - I didn't feel a bit sleepy at all! After few hours, the slopes are suddenly ascending. That's when I knew, the real trek begins.



Our pace is slow and we had several yosi breaks (I mean, them :D) and buko juice breaks along the way but nobody complained. The best way to appreciate what's around you is to pause for a while, breathe the fresh air and look around. ^_^ I remember we also had non stop amusing stories to share to each other even while walking. It rained the night before so the trails were really slippery and muddy. That forced Kirsten to change from her non- trekking shoes to slippers. She endured the 5 hour trek with the constant assistance from Dennis. They both got constant teasing from us too, lol! (and thought a new IHG loveteam will be formed?)



It was past 5 PM when we reached Camp 7 and decided it's a good place to pitch our tents. I then started to cook our dinner. (Also my first time, I didn't do the cooking with my previous climbs before, hehe) I didn't have complains though, who else knows how to cook? lol!



After dinner and few stories, sleeplessness and physical exhaustion summoned me to my tent. I thought, I'd sleep easily but the laughters and stories I'm hearing from the outside made it impossible for me to take even a nap. I joined the group instead who were still drinking, even singing at that time. It was a really fun night! Slept past 11 and we had a plan to summit the mountain at 4 or 5 in the morning.



We overslept and we're not able to do as planned but we still tried to climb the peak. Maybe though, just maybe, alcohol consumption from last night's socials stil had some effects on some of us so not everyone continued pursuing the summit. I think that's wise since the trail to the peak is still so much slippery and it doesn't look friendly at all.




But then, determined to reach Camp 10, the three of us continued, almost crawling in some parts of the ascent, hehe. It was a treat though when we reached the peak. The wind is so strong and cold, the view is stunning and that made us euphoric!




After a few minutes, we descended to camp 7 and started cooking breakfast, Spaghetti ala mountain Batulao, lol! After heavy breakfast, we broke camp, packed our things and began our descent.

When I got home, I dozed off the moment my back hit my bed, and I don't need to dream because my trek with my IHG friends is already almost surreal. ^_^ It was really fun and I realized so many things about myself - things I never thought I can do before.