Best Kept (Philippine beach) Secret!

Aquamarine!

It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

The place: Pangasinan

It’s easy to get there… all you need is a car (and gas, of course). But the few hours of travel is so worth it when you see this.

When we were there last year, the sea was restless. You couldn’t swim without being tossed around pretty good. Thing is, I don’t think it’s advisable to swim here. The corals are pretty rough. The only thing we managed was to wade in the water, but even then, it shook us up pretty bad and kept throwing us back up onto the shore.

What’s beautiful is that, to get here, you have to get across a huge, rough patch of dead corals that can slice through your Havaiianas. Seriously. Our friend cut his feet because he was wearing thin slippers, lost his balance and stubbed his toe on the scraggly ground. But no pain, no gain. We love it because, first, there’s no sign anywhere that points to this part of the beach. I don’t think there are any resorts this side of the beach. The very few small houses we saw were privately owned. The only reason we got here was our guide, the owner of Punta Riviera, knew the locals and the way to this area.

Those overhangs? They are made up of dead corals. From what we gathered from our host, the water receded over thousands of years, leaving them hanging out (!) and looking out into the sea from the beach. And, like I said, they are made up of very sharp fossils (or whatever they are called).

The place is unbelievably gorgeous… It’s quiet. We hardly saw anyone around. The seven of us that visited then were probably the only ones there at that time (and what seemed like in the whole world). If you build a retirement house here, you could wash away all the stress in your system in a day! We pray to God this place remains empty and almost secluded forever—ergo, I won’t tell you exactly where it is or how to get there. Irresponsible tourists are the bane of this magnificent existence.