Borawan 2013

Travel Date: November 30, 2013

Yeah I know it was definitely a late post. Well it was 432 days ago from this Borawan Trip but I would like to believe, it's better late than never! I always wanted to write something about our Borawan adventure but between my full time work and a time consuming business, I just couldn't find enough time to finally vent out all the thoughts I have in mind.

Then one day, I had undergone a surgery concerning one of my ovaries and I was given 60 days paid leave. This mean I can take all the rest I needed and I have plenty of idle time to do things I can't  do during my very busy schedule. And that includes writing about some of our backpacking adventure. 

After completing my blow-by-blow account of our Kwebang Lampas Backpacking Adventure, I decided I also wanted to share our experience in Borawan. We decided to camp in Borawan and not avail the island hopping package primarily because we just wanted a place where we can set up our tent, grill some food and be a beach bum the whole day. For some, it's boring but for me and my boyfriend, it's a way to chill and we love it. 

It was a planned vacation and our leaves were plotted weeks before our trip, unfortunately it had been raining and storming the whole month of November 2013. It was the month when Yolanda, an extremely catastrophic super typhoon hit the Philippines and after November 8, 2013, none of my friends, who were originally part of this escapade, wanted to go with us for beach camping. And of course, I understood their fears. However, we're crazy enough to push through with it. 

From Alabang South Station Terminal, we took a Dela Rosa Bus bound to Lucena Grand Terminal, it was 180php back then. It was raining from San Pablo to Lucena but we didn't lose hope. We kept our fingers crossed and prayed hard hoping that a better weather was somehow ahead of us. 

From the terminal, we took another bus to Unisan. The fare was around 35-40php and the travel time was 1 and 1/2 hours, unfortunately the buses here were old and not air-conditioned.

Inside the minibus..

We asked the driver to drop us off at Basiao junction. We waited for our contact to arrive at the waiting shed nearby. You'll see a signage showing Basiao Beach is only 200 meters away. 

Basiao Junction

After few minutes, we met the wife of Kuya Allan, we texted him back in Manila so we can arrange a boat ride to Borawan. They helped us get our supply from a sari-sari store and they provided some cooking wares. They're very kind and would even let us borrow an ice chest but since we'll only be staying for a night, we just borrowed the cooking wares we needed.

We rented a tricycle for 35php to take us to Aplaya. 

Tricycle on our way to Aplaya

Boat ride cost 1800php and this includes island hopping to Puting Buhangin and  Dampalitan but just like what I mentioned a while ago, we preferred to stay at the island. Anyway the weather that day was very discouraging. They charged us for 800 for boat transfer from Aplaya  to Borawan. It only took us less than 10 minutes to get to Borawan Island. It was a pretty short trip.

Boat ride to Borawan Island

We're very lucky that the sun started to shine on our arrival at the island. We took this chance to capture good photos, enjoy the beach and prepare food.

                               

 I won't forget that during this camping experience, cooking had been a real challenge for us since we don't have portable stove back then. The designated grilling area was wet, a sign that it had been raining before we got there, making it very difficult to start a fire for cooking. After hours of laborous cooking, we produced half-cooked,half-burnt pork kebabs and grilled turned fried lemon chicken. Nonetheless, as far as I remembered, we super enjoyed the food. Everything tastes gourmet when you're starving. We cooked enough rice good for the whole stay and swore to buy a portable stove next time.

  

Once we've finished all the cooking and we've secured our tummy's wellness, we started enjoying the beautiful beach that was awaiting in front of us.

 I've seen a lot of negative reviews about Borawan but I must say this beach has it's own beauty. I know that because of it's name Borawan (Boracay+Palawan) people tend to get a very high expectation towards the beach. I agree, the sand is not as white as Boracay's sand and the rock formations is not as breathtaking as those they have in Palawan but at least  what they have here is a bit of each.This place is indeed one of the best beach in Quezon. And maybe if it was named differently, this hidden paradise in Padre Burgos, Quezon would have less online basher. 

                     
This place is perfect for beach bums like us, if you're expecting for water activities or anything else other that staring at the sea, consider looking for another beach, there's nothing much to do here. It just so happened that that's our favorite past time. Doing nothing at the beach, staring at the sky, the sea, the stars at night, away from the busy noisy city, that's what we traveled for. 

                                    

Crystal clear water of Borawan 

                                                     
Compared to other neighboring beaches in Quezon ( Dampalitan, Kwebang Lampas , Puting Buhangin) Borawan has the best facilities so far. Of course it's way far from hotel-like facilities but what they offer here is definitely BETTER than rest of the beaches I've mentioned. They have newly built CR , better grilling areas and considerably nice cottages. Unfortunately, better facilities means everything here is more expensive. This is the reason why this beach has some haters.

Since it has been over a year since we visited Borawan, I decided to get a more up to date information from none other than Kuya Allan. We're not close so I'm afraid he won't answer my queries if I told him I was just fishing information for my blog so I decided to pretend like a guest wanting to avail their boat ride package. I apologize for doing this but here's the info I gathered .

Boat ride to Borawan 800php,                            

Entrance Fee, 190php overnight

 (unli-CR and unli-shower included)

200php for pitching the tent you brought

500 for tent rental and space

1100php (overnight) for a small cottage,

1300php for a bigger cottage, 

Though it's a bit pricey here, what I liked the most about Borawan is it's friendly and accommodating  people. I remember that they helped us start the fire for cooking. Lend us cooking wares for FREE and even offered their ice chest. Some helped us set up the tent. They do reply back on every text queries you have.They are also polite and sound professional. 

(This part made me feel guilty for pretending to be a guest.). 

                           

Pouring rain woke us up in the middle of the night and I panicked not for our safety but because my ( non- waterproof) DSLR bag was dripping wet! Luckily, the camera inside was perfectly safe.

 It was raining all night and since we're only few meters away from the shore I worried for a possible rise of water. We're surprised that after all, we're still able to sleep safe and sound inside the tent and next thing we knew, a beautiful sunrise is peeking up.

                                     

We enjoyed the rest of the day and we're very satisfied with our stay in Borawan. Now that I have experienced camping at Kwebang Lampas, I could say if you're looking for a place for beach bumming and if you're after for a more convenient stay, choose Borawan (vs Kwebang Lampas). You may need to spend more but at least you somehow get what you paid for.

                              

As of February 05, 2015 these numbers are still working.