Capones Island, Camara Island and Anawangin Cove

Capones Island on the left, Camara Island on the right.

Eager to bury my feet in the sand and plunge in the water, we sailed away to the nearby beaches of Capones Island, Camara Island and Anawangin Cove. The two islands are visible from the shores of Pundaquit, about 15 minutes away. Anawangin, on the other hand, is about 30 minutes away.

Our first stop is Capones Island. I was pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful white sand beach and turquoise waters of this island. Definitely better than the Pundaquit beach. Unfortunately, there are no resorts here so most of the people just visit for a few hours coming from Pundaquit. There were few tents in one corner so it might be allowed to camp out in the island.

Next on our itinerary is Camara Island, just a few minutes from Capones. At first I thought this twin island looked cool because there seems to be a sand bar connecting the main island to another small island. Upon getting off the boat and getting a closer look, the sand bar is not made of sand but rocks. Is there such a thing as a rock bar? You can definitely walk to the other island without getting yourself all wet, but be careful because some of the rocks are sharp.

The rest of the beach area on either side of the rock bar also looked very rocky so I didn’t venture out to swim. Just like Capones, there’s no resort in this island. After some photo ops, we decided to proceed to Anawangin Cove.

I've seen pictures of Anawangin on the internet. Truthfully, the place looked better in pictures. What I was most surprised about is how a camping site without any establishment can be so commercialized. The boatmen had warned us that there is an entrance fee of Php50 per person, which was fine by us. 

We first took a dip in the beach. The sand is not that rocky. The water not very clear, but I was able to see a couple of fish.
                                

Arriving on the island, the first thing I noticed is the long fence lining the beach just a few feet from the shore.   It turns out the boundaries have been put up by different owners of the land so they can ask for an entrance fee once people step inside their area. We wandered beyond the fence to explore the scenery. Some of the people with us who have been here before said there’s a lake not too far away. Unfortunately, we were not able to get to the lake, because of the difficult hike we’ll have to make. We tried using a different path but we were blocked by fences and barb wires. On the other side, we saw there were bridges and pathways constructed for easier hiking. We didn’t want to walk back all the way out to the beach, walk back in, and not to mention, pay an entrance fee again.  

When we were back in the beach, I realized the different colored flags waving from the fence represent the different territories. It’s sad these businessmen making a profit out of nature are restricting people from enjoying it. Best I can hope is they are taking care of the place so more people can enjoy it for years to come.