Yey! It's officially rainy season here in the Philippines and it's hell flooding everywhere and the rain poured early - harder compare from the last two years, must be La Nina this year.

Since my fave season is summer, before the rain strikes, i would want to give it a feature here in my blog. We had the first of our summer in Cagbalete, Mauban, Quezon -- the Boracay of the Pacific.

About Mauban:

1. Upon arriving in town, there are many tourist spots that you can check around such as the anchestral houses, the 1725 public bath that recognized by the National Museum, Museo ng Mauban, Rizal Hill Park and Mauban Seawall.

2. The Mauban breakfast pansit which is pretty famous and should be eaten through a barbecue sticks and in banana leaf. I dont know but it's designed to be eaten while you are walking or going somewhere. Maybe Maubans are pretty busy and they just need a to-go-pansit every time!

3. The Mauban's maruya, which is not like the floured one but more of malagkit like texture (sticky texture). It's a mix of sticky something and banana. So the Mauban to-go style pansit and maruya should be eaten combined with coffee ofcourse!

4. The town is pretty much of a southern culture feel. Asphalt roads, narrow, there's always a public market, a city plaza, old buildings and houses (spanish style capiz windows), the smell of sea salt in the air, helpful locals and organized public tricycle drivers. If you are frequent in south, you'd know what i'm trying to say!

The Mauban's famous Maruya and Pansit

We didn't anticipate that it's a long weekend and the line is long. There are two options going to Mauban. 1: Cubao to Mauban direct, 2: Cubao to Lucena to Mauban. The first choice was the direct route but it's already fully booked so we decided to take option two.

0600: Lucena

Left Cubao by around 3am and around 6am we arrived in Lucena. You can ask drivers as you go down to which is the ride going to Mauban. Again, two options, public Bus or UV.We chose the more private and faster options which is the UV. This also left early. 45 minutes passed and we have found ourselves in the port of Mauban.

0700: Mauban port and tourism terminal.

There are numbered steps to follow upon arriving the tourism port. No brainer!

Tips:

1. Buy everything you need in Mauban market and have your breakfast there because the price of everything in Cagbalete island is pretty much expensive to almost double.

2. We had our breakfast and bought utensils, dinner, lunch, breakfast for the next day and everything we need before going to the Island, that included the Php 200.00 worth of Pusit that's pretty gigantic!!

3. Come as early as possible. The public boat going to Mauban is cheaper, however when there are a lot of tourists, the line is really long crazy, so the best option is to rent a private boat. Having a private boat is not encouraged because it's kinda pricy though it's convenient because you can ask the boat to fetch you anytime you want and it goes directly to your resort whilst in public boat, you'll have to go to the Cagbalete port to your resort via habal or tricyle and follow the scheduled time of trips.

4. You can just follow all the instruction in the tourism terminal of Mauban on how to go about the environmental fee, registration, resort you can check-in and the option to take public/private boat.

That Squid though!

Seeing the Island after an hour travel from Mauban.

We left the terminal at around 09:00 via private boat. The original plan was to take the public boat because it's cheaper. The line was soo long and it would take us forever if we take this option, so we rented a private boat.

1100 - 1200: Cagbalete Island and Tent View Resort

We chose tent view resort, Common bathroom, toilet and Php 800.00 worth of Tent good for all of us -- 6 people. We also cooked our lunch there through their provided common grilling spot. They also allowed us to borrow the utensils we need, it should be rented but we used our charm to just lend us what we need.

Yes, that's our tent! It can contain 6 people

Lunch by the way!

14:00 The start of the adventure! Sand bar and mangroves everywhere while the tide is neither high or low.

CAPTION THIS!

There are a lot of tourists and boats and even a store on the sandbar island.

1500: Snorkeling

That beautiful sunset as we wrapped our day going back to our resort

1700 - 1900: Dinner.
Bonfire's not allowed, Photo ops, Smores, UNO cards, stargazing and a lot of stories about love life, career by the beach under the stars are our activities that night. No drinking. :)

That reason why friendships are broken

Day 01

0700: Breakfast, Swimming, Photo ops

Oh and yes, the rain poured that day and coast guard suspended all travels in and out the island that terrified us because we have work the next day. We had kuya Jun the boatman of our rented private boat as our hero which violated the suspension of the coast guard, traveled the raging sea and rescued us in the island. Not encouraged at all!

Mauban port as we wait for the lifting of boat travel suspension -- not successful

shoutout to kuya Jun who helped us. You should really book him and look for him there, very dependable.

Left the island at 15:00 of the afternoon. Left Mauban by 1400 and arrived in Manila by 1800.

It was a nice first of summer for me because i spent it with my dearest people and friends. Due to our busy schedules, we just rarely see each other and i/m glad that this has become our annual summer trip!

If you are interested, you can check out our Puerto Galera DIY trips last year. It's a Budgetarian getaway too: Click for Part 1, and Part 2.

Download DIY Itinerary and expense.

More pictures.