Palaui Island : A secret to those who do not seek

Whilst everyone was preparing for a party-till-you-drop-vacay at #laboracay, moih was also busy preparing not for #laboracay but for a backpacking trip up North. Nope im not referring to Batanes. I am referring to Palaui Island in Sta. Ana Cagayan Valley, this is the northern most part of Luzon Island. But little do we know that this Palaui Island is a Paradise of its own. Truth be told, we had a hard time doing research for this trip. Only few travel blogs are posting about what-to-do and how-to-go in the island. But, that doesnt stop us from seing this majestic paradise. I tagged along some of my of closest friends in this trip. Since we are a bit short in planning,booking an airplane ticket is not a good option as this will cost us thousands of pesos. we opted to ride a Bus going to Tuguegarao. we took the night bus schedule so we can just sleep the whole transit time, and trust me sleeping made the bus ride a bit bearable. Arrived at Tuguegarao (please eat Pansit Batil Patung--best paired with mountain dew :p ) at 9AM




We had our side trip at the infamous Callao Cave




Friends with last KM marker up north. TAMA BA???

 




 Then another 4 hours Van ride going to Sta Ana Cagayan, this is the jump-off point to Palaui Island. We Stayed at Costales Lodge for two nights. We ate our Packed dinner Tocino and Adobong Manok, thanks to tita Letty :D Then we called it a day. SO for the Firt Stop, Anguib Beach. This haven looks like a typical beach from afar, but as the boat gets closer to the shore, you will notice that its Sand is a bit different. It has a off-white sands, but other say its white. but for me its not white, not even close to being white. It has blue to turquoise water. The long stretched shoreline of Anguib Beach is perfect for Beach bummin.




Lovely Beach of Anguib Cagayan Valley



Just beneath the shore





 Arrived at Palaui Island shoreline at around 1030H. then we started our trek agad-agad. we entered in this bunch of trees that looks like a wharf from a far. A vast of perfectly green grass have greeted us at the end of this "pseudo wharf". WOW, just WOW. it felt like im in Batanes (havent been there tho), you can see the Cows, Bushes, grass complementing each other. and all this time in my life, i thought i can only see such picture perfect landscape in Batanes, and i hate myself for that. So we spend couple of minutes taking pictures, we are so lucky our tour guide is so patient to wait us and he ven took some snap shots for us.

Touristy shot after the pseudo wharf

We had to trekked for 30minutes, and believe me it was so tiring to go uphill at 11am in the hottest province in Luzon. That feeling when all your stored ATPs were just spent in walking and holding the bushes. Im so tired that the only thing that kept me going is hope, that this journey will be so rewarding. After more than 30minutes we reached the Cape. i was literally awed by this more-than-just-picture-perfect-view.

OHHHHH, we are half way there! every step is a struggle, but every selfie is an energy. CHOS!

our view during the 'actual' trekking

I can take thousand of #nofilter #selfies in here, screw those FILTERS! As usual, i had my "me" time, explored the entire cape alone, while friends are taking groupie. i couldve spent my whole day trip sitting at the edge of the hill, and just appreciating the good life.

A MOMENT OF UTTER BLISS

Left a piece of my heart in Palaui Island.

Meet my Travel Buddies. #travelingmicrobes

 Indeed this trip was off the beaten path, but that makes my journey more memorable, going to places where only few people knew. Every single penny i have spent in this trip was so worth it!

#travelbyaml