Kwebang Lampas 2015

Travel Date : Jan 30, 2015 (Friday)

I guess this is the easiest  and maybe the cheapest way  to get to Kwebang Lampas if you are traveling as group (15pax or more) and you don’t have your own ride or you don’t plan to rent a ride to get all the way here. Our group is composed of a senior, 2 kids, 6 girls and 6 boys, 90% of us are first time beach camper/ backpacker. Since we have a senior and 2 kids(5yrs old) in the group, as much as possible we wanted this to be a walk-free adventure.

At 4:30 am we took an AB Liner bus bound to Calauag, Quezon at Starmall Alabang Terminal. During regular hour, the terminal is at South Station.  Bus fare to Pagbilao, Quezon is around 160php-180php. We just made sure to remind the driver to drop us off to Pagbilao town Proper ( near church), this saved us from another jeep ride from Lucena Grand Terminal to Pagbilao  (which costs another 12php).

 Of course there are a lot of other ways on how to get here, you can refer to other blogs about Kwebang Lampas, but if Alabang is the nearest terminal from your location, read on, this is for you.

 In front of the church where the bus drop us off

At 9am, bus dropped us off in front of Pagbilao church. One of us looked for a “for hire” jeep that will take us to Brgy. Ibabang Polo. We’re able to get a jeep that agreed to take us not only to Power Plant but all the way to jump off point for 900php ( around 60php per head ), which was for me was “sulit na” because it really saved us from spending more time and money for couple of tricycle rides and kilometers of walking and walking to get us to the next ride. It took us almost an hour to get to the jump off point.

Jeep we rented fpr 900php that took us from Pagbilao church to jump off point

For those who are traveling in a smaller group, instead of renting a jeep, you can opt to commute at Pagbilao terminal, fare is around 35php (based on the other blogs). But to get to the terminal, from Pagbilao church you’ll have to walk or ride a tricycle. Remember that jeep going to Brgy. Polo will only leave once full, so expect that you may need to wait up to an hour here. According to Manong Driver, the drop off point from a commuter's jeep is at the entrance of Capascapas Power Plant.

To get to the jump off point, you can either walk beside the power plant (20-30mins) or ride another tricycle(20-30php per head). Our group is not a fan of walking or trekking, so we believed that renting a jeep saved us. Anyway, the total expense for fare is almost the same.

At the jump off point, there’s a small lake surrounded by mangroves. According to the boatman, the water is just waist-deep even at the middle of the lake. I'm not sure if it's true though.  We took a 5-minute  boat ride that brought us to the other side of the lake.

Don’t get excited because after reaching the end of the lake ,which at first, I thought  was the beach already and I was wrong, there’s a 15 to 20 mins trek to get to the back gate of the property. We're lucky that it was not raining when we got there or else it would be very difficult for us to keep up with the muddy trail. 

Finally, we reached the back gate entrance. I've seen this on the other blogs about Kwebang Lampas so I was not surprised if it didn't turned out to be a grand gate after all. 

You can easily forget about the stressful back entrance once you set your feet on the beach. We're welcomed by clean, cold and refreshing turquoise water, white sand and surprisingly clean surrounding. 

At the right end of the cove, you can see the cave called Kwebang Lampas. The cave is like a rocky tunnel, just be very careful exploring the inside of the cave because the rocks can be really slippery and you wouldn't want to risk hitting your head at any of the hard rock everywhere. You can exit at the other end though you may need to swim in a few meters deep water to get back to the shore. 

We paid 160php per head for entrance fee (overnight), 25php each boat ride( back and forth), extra 100 php boat ride (back and forth)  for all the baggage we brought ( camping gears, drinking water and  food supplies) and 350php for the cottage.

Not like in Borawan, there's no fee for setting up tents here at Kwebang Lampas so that's a good news. Just bring your own tents or you can also rent one from the caretakers (200-300php).

                         

The caretakers are also lenient about how many hours you can stay at the beach. We stayed for more than 24 hours without an extra charge. So if you would like to be smart enough to arrive really early (like 6am ) and stay until next the day up to 6pm, as long as you'll not camp for another night, I believe they will only charge you for 1 day. We stayed there from 10:30 am Friday until 3pm the following day, no additional charge, and our 2 kids are free of charge. (Disclaimer: this is just based on our experience)

One thing they're strict about is any activity concerning their white sand. Bonfire is definitely not allowed and you can only grill at designated grilling areas. 

It is also true that the water here is so expensive, 50php per container (water from Nawasa) and you definitely have to bring own drinking water.  

Shower rooms doesn't have a shower and don't expect too much about it. There are signage about minimal fees every time you use the comfort rooms though I didn't see anyone keeping track on everyone's usage of these un-maintained facilities so basically no one charged us for using it. You just have to buy a container of water from them and carry it yourself to the CR for your shower. (Tip: Make sure to bring a boyfriend or husband or a guy friend who's helpful enough to carry the water containers for you)

Once it's dark, expect bunch of mosquitoes under the table so make sure you have enough mosquito repellent lotion, citronella oil and katol. 

From what we've experienced, citronella oil (from lamp) generously applied like baby oil on our legs was unbelievably effective.

Our kids our already inside the tent and sleeping as early as 6pm so they're one less worry for us. 

Aside from the issues of water scarcity and hungry mosquitoes, I could say that's its a good place for beach camping not only for barkada but also for the whole family. Beautiful water and relaxing atmosphere, perfect for beach bumming. 

You can even upload your pics from your whole day adventure anytime since they do have sufficient signal for Globe and Smart. Amazing right?! But don't get too happy, they don't have electricity so make sure to charged up your phones and gadgets before going here and definitely bring power banks. 

We do have wifi at Kwebang Lampas!

Just make sure to bring everything you will need so you don't have to buy anything from the caretaker's store. It's expected that everything they sell are way expensive, sometimes ridiculously expensive.

It's wise to have a well-stocked first-aid kit just in case someone get hurt or get sick.

We enjoyed our food-trip and we're very happy to bring more than enough food to keep everyone fed at all times. 

The night that we stayed was a Friday and we're only 3 groups who stayed overnight but before we leave that afternoon, there were already more than 10 groups camping all over. 

At 3pm we left the beach which is now slowly being crowded by weekend beach campers.  

We rented the same jeep on our way back to Lucena Grand Terminal for 1000php worth of hassle-free transfer. 

Along the way, Manong Driver let us  grab as many Rodillas Yema Cake as we can afford for our pasalubong. It's cheaper to buy pasalubong elsewhere rather than buying it at the terminal. 

At 5pm,  we found ourselves settled in an aircon bus bound to Alabang. We didn't even noticed the traffic because all of us    were dead asleep and the next thing we knew, we' re back in Alabang. 

Overall, we definitely enjoyed Kwebang Lampas!

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