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| boat going to Tres Reyes Islands in Barangay Pinggan |
After visiting 3 major tourist spots in just one day in Marinduque (Paadjao Falls, Bathala Caves, and Maniwaya Island), I asked myself if Marinduque has more to offer. Well, I know for a fact that Bellarocca is in Marinduque. But I was in a tight budget that day, I could not afford staying in a world-class resort. I have to find a good alternative!
Good thing Marinet, my FEU student, told me that we have to indulge in an island hopping escapade in Tres Reyes Islands or Tres Reyes Marine Sanctuary.
How to Get There
Board the bus to Lucena (Dalahican). The terminals can either be found in Gil Puyat (Buendia-LRT station) or in Cubao. Bus companies servicing the route are Jacliner, JAM, DLTB or Lucena Lines.
Using the aircon Jacliner bus, the fare from Cubao is P227.50 or 138 kilometers to Dalahican Port, Lucena City. From Buendia, the fare is P220 or 133 kilometers. From Sto. Tomas, Batangas, fare is P129.
Using Lucena Lines ordinary bus, fare from Cubao is P159 and from Sto. Tomas, Batangas fare is P87.
In case you boarded by mistake the bus with the signage only of "Lucena," you have to make another ride going to Dalahican Port. Triccyle ride is P160.
Travel time from Cubao to Dalahican is 3-4 hours depending on the traffic.
Arriving in Dalahican port, you have to ride the boat going to Marinduque. Using the fast craft, fare is P280-P312 and travel time is 1.5 hours. But the fast craft is not available if the weather is not good. Using the Ro-Ro,, travel time is 2.5 - 4 hours and fare of the adult is P260. Terminal fee is P30.
Arriving in the port, you have to board a jeep going to the capital (Boac) and the fare is P60 and travel time is 20-30 minutes.
From Boac, you have to ride another jeepney going to Gasan. Fare is P35.00. More specifially you have to alight at Purok Castillo, Barangay Pinggan. Travel time from Boac is more or less 1.5 hours.
Accommodations
I made a separate blog for this one and here is the link -
http://junvillegas.blogspot.com/2015/01/hotels-in-marinduque.html
Aside from Bellarocca and Maniwaya Island, Tres Reyes Islands is a famous island hopping destination in Marinduque. It is under the jurisdiction of the town of Gasan. The islands' names are Gaspar, Melchor, and Baltazar. But only Gaspar has a white-sand beach. The two others contain only steep cliffs and rock formations.
From Barangay Pinggan, we tried to rent a boat going to the said islands.
Gaspar Island only - P500.00
Three islands (round trip) - P1,000.00
We chose the three island destination. I was even able to have a discount since it was December (off-season for tourists).
Our contact person for that tour was Kagawad Dodong (contact # 0930-976-2106 / 0946-175-8552). He is the local barangay councilor in-charge of tourism in that barangay.
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| Gaspar Island |
Our first destination that day was Gaspar Island!
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| sandbar |
Good thing the waters were calm that day even though it was December. It took us only less than 30 minutes before we reached the island. But before reaching it, I noticed that there is an existing sandbar about 300 meters from the beach of Gaspar Island.
Gaspar Island was our first destination and I was already delighted to see that apart from the beach and island itself, there is a sandbar. But the sandbar can only be explored when it is low tide and our arrival in the island was just an hour away from the high tide.
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| docked at Gaspar Island |
Finally, we reached Gaspar Island. Gaspar's beach is not entirely white sand beach but there are white coral parts along the beach. Gaspar island is the largest among the three islands.
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| explore the beach |
Upon arrival, instinct immediately told me to explore the island on foot. Kagawad Dodong accompanied me in my exploration and he was sharing a lot of stories about the island. Marineth and Sofia also joined us in exploring the first island. According to Kagawad Dodong, we can even trek the top of the island but I told him that we were on a tight schedule that day and we decided to do that on my next trip to the island.
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| rock formations |
Exploring Gaspar Island is a-must for tourists visiting the area. Do not just stay on the beach, EXPLORE! See what the island offers to you in your sight-seeing quest!
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| Kagawad Dodong showing us the caves while we were on board the boat |
After staying in the island for 45 minutes, we decided to go to the two other islands. Kagawad Dodong was again kind enough to show us the existing caves on the island and explained the history of the said caves.
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| biggest cave |
This cave is the largest among all the caves on the island and Kagawad Dodong shared there were burial remains recovered from the said cave.
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| approaching Melchor Island |
Off we go Melchor Island. It took us more than 30 minutes before reaching the second island due to the current of waters between Gaspar Island and Melchor Island. The weather was also changing.
From the boat, I was able to see the existing cottages made by locals for rent to tourists. Again, be advised of the strong current of waters in the area.
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| Baltazar Island |
We did not dock at Melchor Island because it was already raining. Instead, we decided to go to Baltazar Island.
Baltazar Island is known as an excellent diving spot in the area. It has also an underwater cave that you can explore.
We did not also dock at Baltazar Island due to the sudden change of the weather. Instead, we decided to go back to the docking area in Barangay Pinggan.
From the docking area, we decided to go to another tourist spot in the area. We boarded a jeep to the town of Buenavista.
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| Malbog Sulfur Spring |
In the town of Buenavista, we rented a tricycle ride to Malbog Sulfur Spring. We rented it for P80.00 for our round trip ride. Normal fare is P15/pax to the area. It is about 2 kilometers from the town proper.
Malbog Sulfur Spring is located at the base of Mt. Malindig. The sulfur spring smells like an egg and the smell stays in your body for quite some time.
We took only souvenir pictures and decided to go to our next stop.
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| Hot Spring Resort |
Our second to the last stop was the Hot Springs in the same area. It is located about a kilometer away from Malbog Sulfur Spring.
Rates are as follows in the hot spring:
P50.00 - 5 hours AM stay
P70.00 - 5 hours PM stay
After seeing the hot spring and making the necessary inquiries, we left and proceeded to our last destination. It was already 1 pm and we have not taken our lunch!
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| at Banigan Falls |
Last stop was the Banigan Falls. We rented a tricycle ride towards the falls. We passed three barangays (Cabugao, Tapuyan and Duyay) before we reached the jump-off point. It is 7 kilometers from the highway or a 25-minute ride and passing the river four times. From the jump-off point, we walked for 20 minutes and it was already raining heavily when we were walking. The driver was also our guide and the rent for the ride was P200.00 but we gave extra payment and tip for his service as our tour guide.
Unfortunately, the Banigan Falls was destroyed by the last typhoon and we were told that the locals will try their best to reconstruct the falls. Disgusted, we took a dip and enjoyed the cold waters and rushing and unceasing rain!
After 30 minutes, we went back to Boac wet and cold, full of happy memories and laden with adventures. Thank you Marinet and Sofia for this whole-day adventure! =)
It was Really More Fun in Marinduque!
Schedule of boats in Marinduque
RORO (Montenegro)
Lucena - Balanacan
4:00 am
12 Noon
12 midnight
4:00 pm
Balanacan - Lucena
8:00 am
4:00 pm
12 Noon
8:00 pm
RORO (Starhorse)
Balanacan - Lucena
6:30 am
2;30 pm
11:30 pm
7:30 pm
FASTCRAFT
Lucena - Balanacan
2:00 am
10:00 am
Balanacan - Lucena
6:00 am
2:00 pm
Montenegro Reservation
Lucena - (042) 373-7084 / 0925-889-1169
Marinduque - 0915-994-5518 / 0917-892-2336 / 0929-776-9802 / 0933-169-1399
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