Pangasinan Part 2

After settling in at 100 Islands View--a spacious apartment with 2 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room with CaTV, kitchen, and an outdoor porch commanding a view of the hundred islands--we headed next door to Barney's for dinner. What a feast, everything we had was fantastic: the perfectly grilled the fresh tuna we brought from Mabini, excellent kilawin (fish, in this case tuna, cooked in a vinegar based marinade, Barney's incorporates fresh chili that gives it just the right amount of kick), and what I consider to be the best calamares (squid rings) in the Philippines.

Lucap is the jump-off point to the Hundred Islands, probably Pangasinan's most well known attraction. The Hundred Islands National Park covers 1,844 hectares where more than 400 coral islets emerge from the sea. Several have lovely white sand beaches and are a relaxing place to spend the day, and many resemble mushrooms--their bases having been eroded by waves.

Snorkeling is good in some areas, and arrangements for diving can be made at Barney's (see the last page: Where to Stay, Eat, and special Treats). A number of the islands have caves to explore--you need sturdy shoes as coral limestone rocks are sharp.

The islands are about a 20-minute banca ride from Lucap and the crossing gets very rough in bad weather.

Day 4

We left Lucap and headed back to Dasol where we waited in the town hall, and met the very personable mayor Angelita Jimenez, who provided us with a member of the PNP to take us to Tambobong. While waiting our "guide" took us to the town market where we bought hats and excellent freshly made tupig (malagkit--glutinous rice--cooked with coconut milk for about 4 hours, then wrapped in banana leaves, then roasted). As with the puto in Calasiao, it was not overly sweet, just right, and very tasty. We also bought camote cuchinta (a sticky glutinous cake made with camote-sweet potato) once again this was excellent--not too sweet and very tasty. The cuchinta I am accustomed to is orange and made of sticky rice, this is yellow. The tupig was P10 for 8 pieces and the cuchinta was P10 for two packages (total of 10 pieces). We returned from the market, waited, then proceeded to the police station, where our "guide" got out and was replaced by another "guide" (also PNP). Having been assigned a PNP guide we felt a bit uneasy--"Is it safe?" "Maybe this isn't a good idea. Well, you only live once." Once in Tambobong, we realized that our guide was from Tambobong, and there really wasn't any need to worry about safety.

From the Dasol Town Hall we headed to Barangay Bubunot where a road turns left towards Tambobong. 18 km from Dasol we arrive in Brgy Tambobong, The 18km takes 45 minutes to 1hr, for the most part the road is rough and I imagine some parts are not passable during heavy rains. It is a scenic drive and there are some interesting (especially if you are a geologist--like Mo) limestone outcroppings.

Tambobong has a beautiful extensive cream sand beach; great for strolling on. The sand is quite fine but not powder fine and some portions in the water are sandy--good for swimming. The water is crystal clear, very inviting! We were treated to a good and large lunch of fresh fish  that we bought from the fisherfolk along the beach as we were arranging to rent their banca; they had recently returned from sea. The lunch also featured pinakbet, and a number of other Filipino dishes. The homemade pickled green mango was fantastic! Our hosts were Barangay Captain Sergio Salanga and his very hospitable wife Luz. 

Another two hours later we boarded the banca and set off to Colibra (aka Snake) Island (right photo)--a pretty island, fringed by coral, with a mixed landscape of cream sand and limestone.

On the way back we passed by Crocodile Island--predominantly limestone, with a cave that faces mainland Tambobong; the tide was low so we could not get to it.

We returned to Tambobong, once again the price for the boat was just the petrol--same price as Infanta--so we added P100, and bought fish and squid. Oh the wonders of lesser developed areas! The fish we grilled for dinner that night. Yum. 

Other Dasol sites of interest: Cequero Cave in sitio Maguano and Macalang Beach, an easily accessible light gray sand beach with a few basic resorts.

It was dark by the time we returned to Dasol town proper. We dropped off our guide, then headed about 60 km north to our final destination of the road trip--Bolinao.

enter here for Part 3