Baler Surfers

Hundreds of people trooped to Baler for the Surf & Music Festival 2011. During the 3-day event Labasin Beach in Sabang, Baler was filled with surfers from beginners to pro.

How to Surf

Steps in Surfing

1. Paddle

Historical Tour of Baler

After having breakfast, we hopped on a trike to the booking office of Genesis Bus to reserve seats for our trip back to Manila the following day. From the booking office, Labasin Beach in Sabang is merely walking distance.

Since we didn’t have any room reservations, we checked all resorts and inns we passed along the way in Sabang. All of them were fully booked since Baler is hosting the Surf & Music Festival.

Our campsite before a deluge of campers came 

Baler Bound

Baler, capital of Aurora Province, is roughly 230 kilometers north of Manila. Today, Baler is known as a surfing destination although the town is steeped in history.

In 1979, Apocalypse Now, an American war film was shot in Baler. Is it said the surfboards left by the production crew gave birth to the surfing culture that is now prevalent in Baler.

Our trip to Baler was initially set on May of this year. It was postponed indefinitely after Typhoon Bebeng hit Aurora just days before our scheduled departure.

Waking Up in Mahabang Buhangin

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. lying on the beach. I was stargazing the previous night and was too lazy and tired to get to the hut. It’s not often I get to sleep on a beach on a starry night.

I went to the hut, got my camera and set it up for the sunrise. It looked like I had luck in capturing the sunrise here than in Puraran, Catanduanes or Caramoan, Camarines Sur.

Calaguas: Mahabang Buhangin in Pictures

Mahabang Buhangin - the gem of Tinago Island, Calaguas Group of Islands.

Part 2: Sailing and Trekking to Calaguas

At the breakwater by the mouth of the river, we found a boat going to Mangcawayan in Tinaga Island, one of the two main islands of Calaguas Group. As soon as they started loading the boat I approached the boatman and inquired if they could take us to Mangcawayan. His response that was we can ride with them if there’s space left after the locals and all the supplies were loaded.

The boat was laden with bags of cement, boards of plywood and whatnots. Looks like our chance of riding this boat to Tinaga Island seemed bleak. Despite that we lingered by the breakwater.