Hundred Reasons to visit the Hundred Islands

I went home to Baguio for 2021 All Souls' Day. Since this was a long weekend, I was able to convince my parents to go on a short trip to Pangasinan on Nov. 2 and 3. My dad agreed and thought of Hundred Islands in Alaminos, Pangasinan. Hooray!

We left Baguio around 8:30 in the morning. The trip from Baguio to Alaminos would usually take around 3 hours of driving. Unfortunately for us, there were a lot of road constructions that made our trip longer than usual. We had a short stop over at CSI Dagupan to buy some groceries and snacks since we were getting hungry.

We reached Alaminos around 1:30 in the afternoon. We then looked for a place to spend the night. There are a lot of hotels/inns/lodges near the port so accomodation was not a problem. We were supposed to have our island hopping that same day after we eat lunch. But since it was nearing 2PM and we will still take our lunch, the guys at the hotel recommended that we move our island hopping to the next day for us to have more time in the islands and be able to really enjoy the place. When we asked if we could stay at the island overnight, they said that it is possible but there would be a lot of mosquitos and their is no electricity there. They also adviced that we can spend our time to look for seafoods which we can cook at the islands for lunch. We took their advice and reserved a boat for the next day's adventure.



Welcome to Hundred Islands!

Since it was already late, we asked the locals where we can eat. They initially pointed us to the food court just around the corner. When we asked if the food in Maxine by the Sea was good, they just said that it was expensive there. But we still tried it out. When I saw the menu, the prices were okay if you're in Manila. A dish cost an average of Php200.00 while the shakes are around Php 80.00.

Initially, we order the calamares, kilawin, pork barbeque, and prawns. Unfortunately, they had no prawns during that time. We also got fruit shakes for drinks.

For the food, it was okay. Nothing extra ordinary. Their shake was also normal. Though it would have been better if they added some milk to the strawberry and papaya shakes that we ordered. The price of the food was a bit overpriced for the taste but I think the ambience would compensate for that. We were told that it would be great to have dinner there because of the ambiance but we didn't get the chance to go back for dinner.

Our Lunch

Group Menu

After eating, we decided to go back to our room, rest for a bit then head to town to buy some seafoods for the next day's lunch. We went to Nepo Mart to buy the things we needed. When I saw the word Nepo, I initially thought that it was the same as Nepo Mall in Dagupan. So when we got there, I was looking for the supermarket and other shops. Then I realized that it was just a market. Haha. Anyways, we bought a shrimps, squids and some eggplants. Oh, and some coal too.
With nothing else to do, we went back to our room and asked the lady in the hotel to store the seafoods at their freezer. We spent the rest of the night eating some of our snacks and watching some teleserye - since we were with our mom, we had no choice. Haha.

We got up around 6 in the morning for our island hopping. It took around 30 minutes from the port to get to the islands. The first island shown to us was the Governor's island were Pinor Big Brother's House - Teen Edition was located. Our boatman asked if we wanted to stop there but we preferred to stay at Quezon Island were the activities are. The boatman then showed us the Marcos and Imelda islands. Then we headed to the Quezon Island were we stayed for the rest of the day.

Port

One of the many islands

PBB House in Governor's Island



Imelda Island - Has a small cave underneath

When we got off at the shore of Quezon Island, we were greeted by one of the caretakers in the island. He immediately asked if we'd like a table or a nipa hut. We chose the latter for privacy. We were then guided to our hut which was overlooking the island. It was the perfect spot!
After settling down, we asked our guide and boatman to start preparing our lunch. We were so not prepared. We forgot to bring paper plates and spoon. So we had no choice but to buy plates from the store in the island. It cost Php5.00 for a piece of styroplate! That was waaaay too much. But we had nothing to use to we had to buy them. While the food is being prepared, we went down to take a dip at the water, take some pictures and try out their kayak.

View from our cottage

View from our cottage

View from our cottage

It was our first time to try kayaking. Before we started, we were advised that whatever happends, we should not let go of our paddle since it's expensive and it would be very hard to retrieve it once we lost it in the sea.

Parents enjoying the kayak

 

Kayaking with Brother

 It was so much fun. We were able to go around the island and to the other islands on our own. It was a bit scary when we were in the middle of the sea and had to paddle to be reach the other islands. It was scarier when we got stuck a few times when we were in the area near the giant clams. The water got low and our kayaks were already touching some of the corals. We had to push our way off the corals for our kayak to be able to move again. Whew! That was so close. We didn't want to be stuck in the middle of the sea! Haha. After an hour of kayaking, we went back to the island to return the kayak. But the owner insisted that we have another round for free since we were their only customer at that time. Yipee! But I think that was a good advertisement for them. When we came back, almost all the kayaks were out! Haha. We paid Php250.00 for one kayak.

Enjoying the beach (Got to the island through the kayak)

Panoramic view

After the tiring activity, we went back to our cottage for lunch. The tour guide and boatman were done grilling our food. Since the food was so enticing, we decided to buy some rice to go with it. The price was too much! It cost Php25.00 per cup or Php150.00 for a small pot of rice. And we had to pay for the extra bag of coal that costs Php50.00.

 

Sugpo

Pusit

Talong talong

After eating, my brother asked if we could do the parasailing. So I called the number in the advertisments. The foreigner who answered the phone said that he will be at the island in an hour. After an hour of waiting, he finally came. Hooray!

And our parasailing adventure began!

Our parasailing guide

Yacht baby!

  

Parasailing

View from the air

After the wonderful experience in the air, we decided to stop by the snorkeling area to see the view. The view was not that great as compared to the one in Coron but it was okay. My brother enjoyed it since it was his first time to snorkle.
 

Underwater pixes

Underwater pixes

Underwater pixes

This has been a great family bonding. The water activities offered also made the place more interesting. They now offer snorkeling, kayaking, and even parasailing. Nice!

For those who haven't tried parasailing yet, it's a great chance to experience it for only Php1,500.00. You may contact the owner at 0999-8008180. He's a great guy form Hawaii. :-)

We ended our short trip to Alaminos with a dinner at Bangsal in Binmaley, Pangasinan. The food was okay. Try their catfish or "hito". It taste good.