Cagbalete is in the heart of Mauban, Quezon. I was even surprised that there was a beautiful island sitting there while I grew up in Mauban with no idea that it exists! Luckily, when my sister was looking for beaches in Mauban for her thesis... she found Cagbalete! Ha.:) We stayed at Villa Cleofas where it was one of the famous resorts there and is always fully booked on peak seasons. Because my sister gathered information about this island from the owners; we even got a discount during our stay there. Hooraaaay!:] Haha! Anyway, going to Cagbalete is just simple. Ride a bus going to Mauban, mostly JAC Liner have buses straight to Mauban. Just go check their site for bus schedules and routes. If there's no bus straight to Mauban, you can ride one going to Lucena Grand Terminal and ride another bus there going to Mauban. From Mauban, ride a tricycle to pantalan and there are boats going to Sabang. Make sure you check the time schedule of the boat to Cagbalete for it varies depending on the season; if you're travelling with a group, maybe you could try and hire a private boat and it will bring you straight to the resort you're staying. In our experience, we rode the 5am bus straight to Mauban, rode a boat to Sabang and trekked 15-20 minute to Villa Cleofas. Just a tip: from Sabang, there will be lots of kids that will offer to take you to the resort. It's okay because they will help you with directions and will help you carry your things, you may give them whatever amount you want after.

It was a muddy trek on our way to Villa Cleofas. It was a looooong walk getting there, but when you do; that exhausting walk is so worth it. The island is so simple and it will take your breath away. We stayed at the bamboo hut on our first night. Oh, THAT NIGHT!! That night was definitely memorable and was worth checking off my bucketlist. Because we were the only guests that night, the caretakers had to minimally use the electricity -- causing literally no lights for us! But those unlit lights took us to one of our best nights. Marren's friend remembered that there was a meteor shower happening then SO WE BROUGHT OUR BANIG AND MATTRESS OUT TO THE SAND AND LAID THERE TO WATCH METEOR SHOWER!!! Ahh! Literally the best night of my life. I never experienced seeing those, but it was such an amazing feeling when you see one. We were screaming like there's no tomorrow when we saw one altogether. It was hard catching a meteor though, it's as if it's not a meteor because it is too fast than a blink of an eye. We all slept happily that night. :)

Cagbalete is so serene and peaceful. What I liked more about it is that we had no signal on our phones. There is minimal, but most of the time there is none. Why do I like that? Because it's far from reality! It's far from social media and everything that bothers me that time. It was solely for vacation purposes. Of course, I had to find signal sometimes to update my mom that we're okay. We roamed around the island the next day for it was supposed to be our island hopping day yet we can't because the wind and the water current was so strong. What did we do? Crab hunting! Woohoo! We caught mini crabs while walking on the beach, it was such a thrilling experience catching them actually. It was fun and slightly scary that those mini crabs might hurt meeeeee. Chos. We found some amazing pieces of sea shells and that pretty I don't know what is purple shell is so fragile. We took home some of those.:) It was the day we transferred to the studio room also, goodbye mosquito bites haha!

I miss Cagbalete already!!! There are hammocks everywhere, the sun wasn't so hot, the wind was cool and there will be no distractions everywhere! Haaa, please take me back. This was our fun picturesque afternoon:

We had bonfire and grilled hotdogs that night and that was one of the funniest nights ever because it was Faye's first time to ever get drunk! Nawala yung tama ko kakatawa sa kanya nun. :)) On our last morning at Cagbalete, we were supposed to get sunrise shots and yet it was another failed attempt! Villa Cleofas' place covers the sunrise and the sunset so sadly, there's no silhouette pictures for us.:(

To add another item to love at Cagbalete, there was an island in front of Villa Cleofas. Bonsai Island was just a 1km walk from the island. The current and the wind was so strong that we can't let go of our jackets. I know it's super weird wearing a jacket on the beach; but it was really, really cold when we were walking to Bonsai Island. It was like a weird, deserted island far away from home. There were beautiful formation of rocks, pretty little mangroves and the strong waves from the borderline of the ocean. Bonsai Island is a perfect place for idle time if you want a different view from the beach. Just make sure that you'll go there in a low tide because it was quite a challenging walk to get there.

Cagbalete will always be a trip I'll treasure. Besides the fact that it was my first time to travel with my younger sister (because she can't always come with us due to school works), it was the 'break' I really needed. It was a short real getaway far from the chaos I have in reality, a short time to contemplate and to focus on myself this time. I am beyond thankful for this trip, for this perfect getaway. Cagbalete is one of those places I will come back to in a heartbit. I just wish that they would take care more of the place, mostly the rooms and the equipment used by the guests during their stay.