Calaguas Islands

A Long White Beach With No Electricity, No Resorts And No Fresh Water To Speak Of And The Development Is Arriving · Vinzons, Camarines Norte

MAHABANG BUHANGIN MEANS LONG SAND AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS - a wide white beach on TINAGA ISLAND, backed by grass hills and nothing else, an hour and a half to two hours by outrigger from the mainland. THERE IS NO ELECTRICITY, NO RESORT, NO SHOP AND VERY LITTLE FRESH WATER. Visitors camp, or sleep in a handful of basic huts, and BRING EVERY DROP OF WATER AND EVERY MEAL WITH THEM. That is the whole proposition and it is why people make the effort. THE CROSSING IS OPEN WATER AND IS CANCELLED IN ROUGH SEAS, which happens often enough to strand people at both ends. AND THE HONEST WARNING: DEVELOPMENT IS ARRIVING. Every year there is a little more built, a few more boats, and the version of Calaguas that people describe from a decade ago is already gone. Go midweek in the March to May window, take every scrap of rubbish back with you, and build a spare day at each end, because being stranded by the sea is a normal outcome.

Mahabang Buhangin, Tinaga Island, Vinzons, Vinzons, Camarines Norte, Philippines

CALAGUAS IS REACHED BY OUTRIGGER FROM VINZONS OR PARACALE in Camarines Norte, ROUGHLY AN HOUR AND A HALF TO TWO HOURS OF OPEN WATER, with DAET the nearest town and a long road journey or a small flight from Manila. BOATS ARE ARRANGED AT THE JUMP-OFF OR THROUGH TOUR OPERATORS and a small environmental fee is collected on the island. THERE IS NO ELECTRICITY, NO SHOP AND VERY LITTLE FRESH WATER - carry everything, including drinking water, and take all rubbish back. ACCOMMODATION IS TENTS OR BASIC HUTS. CROSSINGS ARE CANCELLED IN ROUGH SEAS and the typhoon season, roughly June to November, shuts the island down. THE DRY WINDOW IS ROUGHLY MARCH TO MAY, which is also when it is busiest.

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