Hundred Islands, Cape Bolinao Lighthouse, and Bolinao Beach: A northern splendor

16-18 May 2008: Thank you boss for not giving me weighty workload today; this relaxing Friday in the office will surely help me to drive safely and comfortably straight from busy streets of Makati to a remote place in Pangasinan.

We are not keen into details especially while in the stage of planning a travel. The important things to us are: we know the name of the place, it is a beach destination or has natural beauty to explore, we had our money, packed our stuff, and then we can go and hit the road.

Roughly six hours on the road, finally we hit the town of Alaminos in Pangasinan. The day one in Pangasinan was a failed attempt in exploring Hundred Islands National Park. Due to bad weather conditions, local government advised all boatmen not to sail and delay all sailing and island hopping activities. “Oh Cosme, we came from far far away province, haha.” Anyhow we just went straight to the place we wanted, the town of Bolinao.  

The raging waves from South China Sea

Bolinao is almost an hour trip from Hundred Islands National Park. We arrived there together with tropical storm Cosme. It was a morning of gloomy weather, furious waves and hushed beach resorts. We admit that we always failed to look at weather forecast before hitting the road, as always. Haha. Or maybe it’s our choice also, because we’re happy when it’s raining; we love to hear the hitting sound of it onto the roof of the house or car. It was like a ghost town that time because of a few visitors and even locals chose to stay at home. The town has a long stretch of white beach with numerous resorts. Great view of big waves from South China Sea may experience. We went also to the popular Enchanted Cave, unfortunately we haven’t tried to swim over because of strong water current and local managements’ advise.

Cape Bolinao Lighthouse is a must see attraction in the town, situated at the southwestern part of it. It is a century-old 100+ meter high lighthouse. The location offers a great view of the beach stretch of Bolinao and South China Sea.

The shore after the storm

Thanks for the bright sky on our last day in Pangasinan; we excitedly packed our things, and prepared to hit the road again to the National Park. But for the second time around, our lovable nature didn’t permit us to see the islands for the time being. So sad, another additional item to unfinished business list, well, it’s clear to us that nature always prevail. We respect you as we love you. We’ll be back to you Pangasinan! Just wait for us.

Thenk? =)