Burot Beach: Our only summer vacation for the year

Thanks to a buddy, Barbie, from Virtual Tourist, we were able to have a summer break (even for a day). About a week prior to the trip, she posted an invitation on Facebook to those interested to join her in going to Burot Beach in Calatagan, Batangas.

I have heard and read some things about the place. That it had been sold to SM's Henry Sy and that soon it will be developed by his company. Being curious about the place and still no vacation planned for the summer, I signed in together with my wife and daughter. We also wanted to see the place before it was developed.

The meeting place was 3:30 AM last Sunday in front of Mcdonald's just below the LRT Taft Station. Barbie was able to negotiate with the van drivers for the round trip for P6,000 per van. The cost was equally divided among the passengers of the van. While our van carried 13 passengers, the other one had 15 pax. 

After waiting for the last one to arrive, we finally left the meeting place at around 4:30 AM. We took the coastal road in Cavite and then Aguinaldo Highway passing through some towns in Cavite, including Dasmarinas and Tagaytay City. Passing by Lian, we drove until we reached the town of Calatagan. We bought some provisions for our lunch and early dinner. After about 3 hours (the last 10-15 minutes of which is rough road), we finally reached Burot Beach. There is an entrance fee of P60 per person.

When we arrived there, we saw a lot of tents already set up, apparently having stayed there overnight and some about to leave soon. We looked for a suitable place to set up our tents and found one under a tree shade for whole day of swimming and exploring the place.

 While my wife and two others started grilling the pork spare ribs and the eggplants, the rest took a boat ride that costs P30 per person to visit a sandbar which is submerged since it was high tide and later discovered that it can be explored by foot. We asked some people there to cook the rice we brought for P50.

After the "island hopping", some helped in preparing the rest of the lunch: salted egg, tomatoes, onions and mangoes. The meal we shared was simple and downed by 4 1.5 liter soda, each costing P60. Ice is sold at P20/P40.

photo courtesy of barbie_sunrise

I tried taking a dip but found the water not that clear although there were some juvenile fishes near the beach. Saw some small jellyfishes, while someone stepped on a sea urchin and another saw a sea snake. That was it, I decided to get out of the water and decided to help with the cooking and just lying inside our tent and taking a nap.

Not long after, lunch was served. While others tried to use the plastic spoon and forks, the rest preferred to use their hands, especially with the grilled pork.

above 2 photos courtesy of barbie_sunrise

While the some played cards,  just hang out after lunch and others explored the beach clicking on their shutters, my wife and I decided to take a siesta inside our tent.

We had an early dinner which consisted of leftover rice, canned corned beef and sardines. It was one of the best meals we had as most of us were already hungry by then. 

We finally had our final shots taken with the sunset as the background.

photo courtesy of Alvin Sabay

Our vans arrived at almost 6:30 PM, the agreed upon pick-up time. Returning to Pasay, we took the Sta. Rosa-SLEX route and arrived at just before 10 PM. Almost all of us were asleep during the entire trip.

By the way, the trip costs each of us less than P700, inclusive of transportation, entrance, hut rental, and food. Not a bad deal at all but a very long and tiring day, ha ha ha.