Survivor Zambales: Conquering Capones

I was awakened by some knocking on our door. I intentionally did not set the alarm because I know whoever gets up first will wake us all up. It was Enzo and Kimpee, who were waking everyone up to tell how wonderful the moon looks like at that time. My roommates went to see it but it was already gone.

As expected, we were late for our 5 a.m. schedule. That day was for visiting Capones Island. Some woke up late and the boat arrived late, that meant sunrise while we’re on the boat to Capones. When the boatmen asked which way would we like take to go to the lighthouse: (1) the easy way, we’re gonna have to swim and then there will be stairs to the lighthouse, or (2) we’re gonna trek for two hours or so. I can’t swim so it was easy for me to choose option 2. Some of us wanted to take the first option but after all arguments, we decided to take the long and probably, hard way.

My concept of trekking/hiking is taking mountain trails. But in Capones, we trekked the seaside -seashells and rough rocks on our bare feet, slimy stones, waves crashing. It was a hell trail and we were so unprepared. Although, I kinda enjoyed it as I like hiking but many of us didn’t and wished we took the other way instead. The views while we were trekking were spectacular. But we weren't really prepared for the hike. We were wearing beach outfits and slippers.

Anyway, when we finished 3/4 of the trek, we had a swimming break at this one big aquarium. The most beautiful beach I’ve ever been so far, minus the stinging creatures that made me get out of water just after few minutes of dipping. We had to leave the place immediately and resume trekking since we had to get back to Pundaquit before noon for check-out.

It took us three hours before we reach the our destination -the Capones Lighthouse/Faro de Punta which is located at the end of the island. We started hiking at the other end, so basically, naikot namin ang buong isla.

When it’s time to go back to Pundaquit, we took the easy way, and everybody was, “Ito yung isang daan? Ito yung lalanguyin?” The other option was no-sweat even for non-swimmers like me. People regret choosing the trek option to reach the lighthouse, but I tried not to be regretful since I enjoyed our trek somehow. I missed aching muscles and that adventure surely gave me what I wanted.

When we arrived at Canoe Resort, we still made time to take a plunge at the pool. Some even had beer in between swimming. Then everybody packed up, had lunch and headed back to Manila.