WHY GO TO THE BICOL REGION?

I have a mechanic – friend, Romeo, who is from the Bicol region and he swears that the beaches there are some of the country’s best-kept secrets there is. He would often mention to me if I ever saw pink sand beaches, and he would say that I haven’t seen anything yet if I haven’t yet laid eyes on a pink beach. I would tease him that I would like to go to the Caramoan Islands in Camarines Province but he would tell me to just go to Mayon Volcano first then make my way to Sorsogon.

One day, out of the blue, my daughter messaged me that Legazpi, Albay accepts fully-vaccinated local tourists (which we are), that a Vaccination Certificate or Vaccination Card would suffice (which we both already have). Before planning for this trip, we already had our sights set on Iloilo-Guimaras but the pandemic requirements got in the way. Again.

So why not Bicol?

I WAS ON EDGE THE WHOLE TIME WE WERE IN LEGAZPI CITY

The underwater volcano eruption off the coast of the island nation of Tonga was still very fresh in my mind when we finished planning a 5days 4nights trip to Legazpi-Sorsogon in the Bicol region.

You see, Legazpi City in Albay is just spitting distance from where the Philippines’ most famous and active volcano resides, Mayon Volcano.

And all those satellite pictures and videos of that underwater volcano eruption, and the devastation it brought, only made me really feel so uneasy, actually, so fearful that Mayon Volcano may just as well erupt also.

Well, I guess you only live once…so what the heck, let’s go!

HOW TO GET TO LEGAZPI CITY, ALBAY

BY LAND TRAVEL / BUS / VAN (Commute)

If you are planning to commute from Manila to Legazpi City, taking the bus going to Legazpi City is the cheapest and most readily available option for you. DLTB offers Manila to Legazpi bus trips and vice-versa. Their airconditioned buses leave for Legazpi City from their Pasay City terminal 9:00 AM, 6:00 PM, and 9:30 PM.

Fare is at around P900+ one way, and travel time is a body-jarring 12-14 hours.

There are also private vans plying the Manila to Legazpi route leaving from Mall of Asia-Pasay. You can find this mode of transport in Facebook.

BY PLANE

There are regular CEBU PACIFIC (CebGo) flights to and from Manila and Legazpi City. The flight takes approximately an hour and ten minutes. You can score your round-trip flight from Manila to Legazpi, and vice-versa in their website. Travel time is one (1) hour to one (1) hour and twenty (20) minutes, even less so.

HOW WE GOT THERE

We booked a round-trip flight to Legazpi and back to Manila with an 8:00am-9:30am departure, and arrived at Legazpi thirty (30) minutes early.

ALBAY LGU TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

At the time of our trip, Albay accepts fully-vaccinated local tourists.

Upon departure from Manila domestic airport , you have to show either your Vaccination Card / Vaccination Certificate and Boarding Pass.

Sidebar: the amount of red tape the government thinks of is, well, very off-putting if you ask me…I mean, why not issue a Vaccination Card with a QR Code already so it can’t be faked?! Why do you need to make people get a Vaccination Certificate when you already have a Vaccination Card, eh?

Upon arrival at Bicol International Airport, they would ask for the VaxCard/VaxCert again, as well as require you to open the TRAZE app on your phone.

HOW TO GET AROUND LEGAZPI CITY, ALBAY

From the airport, you need to pay an airport shuttle service fee of P220.00 per person to get to SM Legazpi.

Once we got to SM Legazpi City, we befriended a local, of course.

Rustom, or “Tom” plies a tricycle at the transpo terminal in SM Legazpi, and we negotiated for him to tour us around Legazpi City’s famous landmarks.

DAY 1 JANUARY 21, 2022 FRIDAY LEGAZPI CITY, ALBAY LAND TOUR, 9:30AM onwards:

DARAGA CHURCH

The Bicolanos are a very hardy and religious people. I would be, you know, religious, too, knowing I’m residing and going about every day life less than 10 kilometers from an active volcano. Daraga Church goes way back to the 1700s. This magnificently designed church was built in 1773 by Franciscan missionaries at the time when Daraga was a part of Cagsawa. This church doesn’t just serve as a place for worship but also serves as a shelter whenever there are Mayon Volcano eruptions.

CAGSAWA RUINS

This is probably the most photographed and most famous of all Bicol landmarks, the Cagsawa Ruins. The Cagsawa Ruins (historically spelt as  Cagsaua) are all of what remains of a 16th-century church of the Franciscan order, the Cagsawa church. It was said to have been built in the town of Cagsawa in 1587 but was later destroyed by Dutch pirates in 1636. It was, on record, rebuilt in 1724 by Fr. Francisco Blanco, but was destroyed again, along with almost the entire town of Cagsawa, on February 1, 1814, during the eruption of Mayon Volcano.

It has been said that more than 2,000 people died that day.

SUMLANG LAKE

Sumlang Lake is another attraction that’s a popular place for weddings, pre-nuptial shoots, birthdays, events like concerts, product launches, etc.

But it wasn’t always as pretty as it is now.

The lake was once filled with filthy waters and overrun by water lilies. It was like that for decades, never holding a candle when it came to competing with Mayon for attention. It was completely ignored for years. Then , in 2014, a “bayanihan” was held, sorta like a SAVE SUMLANG LAKE thingy, and the residents decided to clean and clear the lake of debris. I believe it has been profitable ever since. You can now go kayaking, eat in a balsa in the middle of the lake, there’s a Socorro’s restaurant for food-lovers, and take in a Mayon Volcano view up close and personal.

EMBARCADERO DE LEGAZPI

Embarcadero de Legazpi is actually a mall. We had lunch here @Grill Station consisting of Pansit , Barbecue, and rice. Embarcadero de Legazpi is situated along a popular night haven called Legazpi Boulevard.

It was here that Mayon Volcano decided to give us a peek:

Mayon Volcano is a highly active volcano with recorded eruptions dating back to 1616. The most recent eruption happened in early January 2018, and with it came phreatic explosions, steam-and ash plumes, lava fountaining, and pyroclastic flows.

Today (as of this writing, at least) she sleeps, hopefully, peacefully, for a long time.

WHERE WE STAYED IN LEGAZPI CITY, ALBAY

After the late lunch, we were a bit tired and we decided to head to our one (1) day accommodation, a resort that’s bordered on my left (this was when I was lying down on a duyan) by Mayon Volcano, and to my right, after a 20-second walk, the sea: VIENTO DE MAR BEACH RESORT in Bacacay, Albay.

Our room accommodation was spartan and simple, as we were only staying for a night. Check the place out:

Dinner that night consisted of Fried Chicken, Tocino, Rice, BBq, Tropicana orange juice.

It was lights out for us by 8:00pm.

DAY 2 JANUARY 22, 2022 SATURDAY

I woke up early, and had coffee (3 in 1) at the resort’s store. Tom arrived 7:00am to pick us up and take us back to SM Legazpi City Terminal where we boarded a UV-Express van to take us to Sorsogon City.

Those UV-Express van drivers bound for Sorsogon drive like maniacs, often exceeding 90-100kph whenever the road’s wide open.

Anyway, by some miracle, we made it to Sorsogon City alive after that harrowing van ride. The van driver hooked us up with another tricycle driver to give us a tour of Gubat, Sorsogon tourist spots, and after negotiations, we rode to our first stop:

SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA PARISH CHURCH

The first Gubat, Sorsogon parish church was said to have been built in Cogon. Gubat became a parish separate from that of Bulusan very much later. In 1777 the parish of Gubat was finally separated from Bulusan and Fray Geronimo Cabello, a Franciscan missionary, was assigned as the first parish priest. It was said that it was also the Franciscans who translated the bible and mass from Latin and Spanish into local Bicol language.

Fr. Cabello constructed a church of bamboo and nipa in Cacogonan, (now Barrio Cogon), but this was destroyed by typhoons. He constructed another church of lime and stone which he dedicated in honor of another Franciscan missionary of world renown – Saint Anthony of Padua – most probably in commemoration of one June 13 morning in Year 1731 when the first missionaries first set foot on Gubat.

During the earthquake which preceded the disastrous eruption of Mayon Volcano in 1814, the new church crumbled. Its reconstruction was led by Father Eulalio Prudencio who opted to transfer it to the site of the Pueblo, in a place called Pinontingan. But because the place was quite swampy, Father Prudencio chose to build a church, also of lime and stone, on the outskirts of Pinontingan, where it still stands to welcome all worshippers to its fold.

ST. JOSEPH’S PARISH and BARCELONA RUINS PARK

In the early 1800’s, the Spaniards arrived, staked and claimed, or more popularly known as colonizing, an entire community in Sorsogon, which they later named “Barcelona”, in honor of then capital town of Spain which is Cataluna. They later constructed St. Joseph’s Church, now popularly known as Barcelona Church, which is just across the Barcelona Ruins Park.

We were supposed to make our way to Bulusan Lake but unfortunately the road leading to the lake was closed. We decided to ride out the road at the side of the mountains to our accommodations for the next three (3) days:

SUKI BEACH RESORT and LODGING, Suki Beach, Sta. Magdalena, Sorsogon

We ordered a late lunch of Chicken Teriyaki and Sinigang na Baboy (we were famished) and rice. Took a quick dip in the resort’s pool. For dinner, we partook of Chicken Adobo and Rice.

We were lights out by 8:00pm.

DAY 3 JANUARY 23, 2022 SUNDAY

MATNOG ISLAND HOP to CALINTAAN ISLAND, JUAG FISH SANCTUARY

The day before, we befriended Charlie, brother of resort staff Josie, and negotiated for him to bring us to the port town of Matnog, Sorsogon, jump-off point to Calintaan Island. It certainly was a beautiful day to head out to:

SUBIC BEACH, CALINTAAN ISLAND

After about 2 hours we set off to JUAG LAGOON FISH SANCTUARY. It is privately owned and maintained. Despite being such, the owners decided to open it up to educate the public. The sanctuary prides itself with a wide variety of marine life including lobsters, coral fishes, giant clams, grouper, sea turtles and many others. Each enclosure holds different aquatic creatures.

We were forced to return to Matnog Port Terminal because we didn’t want to risk crossing San Bernardino Strait to get to Tikling Island, which is still a good 30-45 minutes away according to our boatmen. So we headed back to have a (very) late brunch at Bistro De Bantigui, a very quaint cafe like place:

Charlie picked us up and we headed back to Suki Beach Resort and Lodge, where we cleaned-up and slept the afternoon off.

Our dinner consisted of a repeat performance of the resort’s Adobong Manok because it was so good!

Lights out by 9:00pm for us.

DAY 4 JANUARY 24, 2022 MONDAY

WFH for my daughter, CHILL OUT DAY for me

After a breakfast of rice, longganiza, and eggs, I took a dip at the resort’s pool for about an hour:

It was 11:00am when I got out of the pool, ordered Pansit Guisado, and dug in:

I slept in the afternoon for a bit while my daughter tried out the jacuzzi again, and it was her turn to use and have the pool all to herself. Dinner that night was simply Fried Chicken and rice.

We were lights out by 9:00pm.

DAY 5 JANUARY 25, 2022 TUESDAY

We had an early checkout time, 6:00am to be exact, as we had to return to Legazpi City to catch our 2pm flight back to Manila. Sta. Magdalena is a good 2 1/2 hours away from Legazpi City, so its best to be early.

Charlie took us to Brgy. Trese crossing, arriving at around 7:15am. It was there where we were able to hail a van ride straight to Legazpi City. We arrived at SM Legazpi City at around close to 10:00am. We took a tricycle to Ayala Mall, where we had brunch at BIGGS:

My daughter rested for a bit @BIGGS while I scoured the mall for and scored 4 pouches of Salted, and Crispy Pili Nuts (gotta have these).

Took a cab to the airport by 11:45am, and checked in. Our flight left early and we arrived in Manila 30 minutes earlier than expected.

Our trip tp Albay-Sorsogon was not without its challenges, so its best to remember the following:

• The places you want to see may be quite the distance from each other, so its best to plan ahead on how to get there, i.e. research on mode of transport to take, where to alight, etc. etc.;
• Befriend the locals. Bicol folk are generous and kind, and it’s best to be that way towards them, too. Be respectful.
• The beaches we visited were very clean. Let’s help keep it that way.
• Summer months are the best time to visit but the heat could get really stifling, so always hydrate.
• SMART is the dominant telco network in Sorsogon. The other networks have intermittent signals.

The Bicol region definitely has a lot more to offer.

I just wish that we had a lot more time to spend in the provinces of Bicol.

It would be epic to start from Albay, make your way to Matnog, then to the Caramoan Islands in Camarines Sur, all the while sampling local dishes such as Pinangat, Bicol Express, Sili Ice Cream, stay and chat up a storm with the locals, even have a drink or two with them, while you make your way to wherever in Bicol your feet would take you.

One day maybe I’ll come back and be able to do just that.

These contacts may also prove to be useful to our co-DIYers:

Charlie (Sta. Magdalena) 09702374644
Eddie Evasco (Boat Rental in Matnog) 09261404577
Suki Beach Resort & Lodging in Sta. Magdalena, Sorsogon 09614309091
Rustom (Tricy Driver in SM Legazpi) 09306254158

In the meantime, for your reference fellow DIYers, here’s a list of all the expenses we incurred for our 5days 4nights Albay-Sorsogon trip:

Cheers!!!