How To Get There

The Caramoan Peninsula is a very rugged terrain of limestone rock formation jutting out the mainland of Camarines Sur into the Philippine Sea, on the northeast, and Lagonoy Bay to the south.  The town of Caramoan itself is inaccessible by land from elsewhere because roads get damaged unabatedly by the most unforgiving typhoons that pass through this part of the country every year.  The farthest town that a four-wheel drive vehicle can attempt to reach is Presentacion, a swampy town endemic to the shorter specie of tiger grass Phragmites vulgaris (in contrast to the taller Thysanolaena maxima propagated in the Cordillera highlands) harvested for their lengthy panicles used in making softbrooms, locally called walis tambo. From there, reaching Caramoan is a 24-kilometer stretch that is best described as a jungle adventure - on foot!

Locals and visitors prefer the other alternative - travelling by sea.  Embark on a ferry at Sabang Port in San Jose town and peragrate over littorals of coastal communities that conclude two hours later at Guijalo Port.  The voyage is an experience itself and hardly qualifies as a decent ride.  First, gangplanks that are not long enough – or worse, the absence of any – compel passengers to piggy-back on shoulders of able-bodied porters to make the distance from wharf to vessel, paying ten pesos more for such cumbersome conveyance that arise from the ferry’s inability to berth close enough to the jetty. Second, like most passenger boats plying other parts of the country, the ferry is dangerously cramped and over-loaded and becomes unbearable when the sun builds-up heat on the heavy tarpaulin roof that seem to shrink your hair and bring your pate to a boil as the journey progresses.  Adding motion sickness to that gets things frustratingly worse as the boat engages oncoming wave after wave, with occasional startling splashes leaving one saline wet in the process.  Now that you get the idea, then perhaps, a prayer for the entire duration of the trip helps?

Upon reaching Guijalo port, passengers are "ferried" out of the boat to the wharf by small oar-driven bancas that easily capsize when nudged even by a modest three-footer wave. Then, a tortuous and dusty road travel takes you to Centro, the town proper of Caramoan.  Take another 20 minutes of the same adventure to reach the shores of Paniman or Bikal where rented motorized-outriggers finally take you to any of the islands of your choice.  Amongst them is fabled Matukad where there are no hotel accommodations, no restaurants, no toilet facilities - all ten hectares of pure nature, pristine real estate of fine, powdery-white sand, sea, flora and fauna.

Prep work conscientiously done and equipped with these pieces of information, the daunting task begins.  

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