1. Bring the following things and make sure you check this before going to the terminal.
a. Tent - mother nature poured a little rain on her island at around 4AM. Thanks to Rox she brought one with her.
b. Rope - you need this to strengthen your tent or for sampayan purposes.
c. Mosquito coil / mosquito repellant lotion - we have both coil and lotion for good protection. There are so many mosquitoes in the afternoon
d. Sun block lotion - good for island hopping if in case your boatman wants you have this activity in the afternoon
e. 8 Gallon water - the one with faucet at the bottom. This is more advisable than bringing four 1-gallon separately or buy at the island which is twice the price
f. Ice box and ice - the store at the island never sell ice better bring your own.
g. Flash Light / Emergency Light - one of the most important things you should not forget since there is not electricity on the island.
h. Candle - a substitute for flash light or emergency light.
i. Kitchen Knife / Jungle knife - good for preparing your food and for trekking.
j. Mat - this is a good base for your tent since the ground is a bit cold then lay another cloth to thicken your sleeping ground.
k. Tissue paper - for immediate substitute for rags instead using your hankies / towels.
l. Garbage bag - to pay respect and conserve the island have your own trash properly placed on a garbage bag.
2. Make sure you already have a contact boatman when you arrive at Pundaquit. It will avoid you cost too much expense. Read forum threads, ask friends who been there for a good contact. As for our experience we have Vic as our boatman. Our schedule was not considered and it turned out we are just following his time. I suggest better look for other contacts. Another boatman named Rene (09086428236) you might want to try. We just met him there.
3. Camp at the left side of the island (if you’re facing the island). It’s a better place than the middle part (crowded) and the right part (a bit far from boat stations). It also has a motor powered water source and a concrete comfort rooms unlike on the middle part which is very primitive. You need to fetch some water and CR is open.
4. Do not rent a big boat. Yes, it’s safer but it’s no use when you go island hopping. It won’t be able to go near the shore since it’s big and specially when there are waves. On our experience, we swam at least 3 meters to reach the shoreline of Camara and one of my friends decided not to go to the island. Consequence - you're not being able to bring your camera but lucky enough I’m blessed with a good height brought my compact camera and was able to capture the beauty of Camara.
5. Do the island hopping in the morning. It’s the ideal time since sun won’t be able to roast you alive. We did the island hopping (against our sched) in the afternoon - thanks sun block lotion!
6. Watch the sunset. The island is a good place to capture sunset and better watch this with your friends but make sure to prepare your food since it’s a bit difficult to prepare in the darkness or with ample source of light.
7. Prepare an itinerary. Arrange this with your boatman and do stick to it.
8. Bring extra and instant / no cook food. We brought chips, bread, sandwich spreads, tuna in can, boiled and salted eggs. These no cook foods saved us for dinner and breakfast since our boatman was not able to bring our breakfast due to his changes.
9. Gather firewood before getting dark. If you don’t have the camping gear (camping stove) for cooking better do so because it’s a bit freaky to gather woods when its dark. You can gather enough woods on nearby forest just across the river or at the other sides of the camping site.
10. Bring umbrella. For emergency purposes and since our current climate is unpredictable you can count on your umbrella. On our case, we lack one tent and it rained a little in the morning.
11. Explore the river / lagoon on the other side of the island. You'll encounter hot and cold parts of the water. It’s so serene when we visited it in the morning.
12. Do not do trekking if you have plenty of things with you. You won’t enjoy a four-hour walk when you hold lots of things on your both hands with your heavy backpacks. That's the best advice by our fellow campers there who did the trekking.
13. Camp at the spot near a table. There are available tables in the campsite. Choose the best spot for you with a table. It’s comfortable preparing food and eating on a table than on the ground.
14. Bring trekking sandals or at least a pair of slippers. If you'll explore the whole Anawangin, better have one because there are some rocky parts of the island and you won’t regret to use a sandals or at least a pair of slippers.
15. Bring small bag / sling bag / backpack. You can put your valuables here when the whole team will leave the camp. Better be sure than lose something in the end.
16. Bring plastic bag for your wet clothes. Do you have plastic bags? This is the usual question i always hear when im going on an outing or swimming.
17. Turn off your phone upon reaching the island. There is no use turning on your phone since there is no signal available there. There is even no electricity for changing. Better save you battery specially when it wont last that long.
18. Build a bonfire. You’ll enjoy the bonfire (aside for warming up) with a hotdog and marshmallows (the bigger ones). Be sure to prepare longer barbecue sticks when roasting your marshmallows and hotdogs if you don’t want to be cooked with them at the same time. Marshmallow melts when heated and I guarantee it’s delicious.
19. Play card games. We played blaff or blap (this is the name I know) where in you need to catch if the one at your left or right (depends on the flow of the game counterclockwise or clockwise) is lying or not on the cards he laid down. All you need is to shout BLAP! If you think he’s lying. But if he’s telling the truth you’ll get all the cards laid down (including the ones laid by other players before him).
You should hide one card after shuffling and before distributing all the cards among the players. The remaining three suits of the hidden cards will be the bogus set. The goal of this game is to finish your cards the soonest possible time. You can lay down a set of suit of a particular card if you have it all in you card. Better have a consequence so this will challenge everyone.
Expense breakdown excluding food:
Victory Pasay to San Antonio - 267
Trike - 150
Boat Rental - 300 (1800 @ 6 pax)
Anawaging Entrance - 85 (500 @ 6 pax)
San Antonio to Gapo - Regular Bus - 41 (246 @ 6 pax)
Victory Gapo to Manila - 210
Total Expense Excluding food - 953/pax (6 pax group)
Credits to Amir for Photos for Tip Nos. 3A, 14A/B/C, 18, 19A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/I/L
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