Leo likes to do a lot of research before going on a trip but no amount of scrutiny will cover everything there is to discover about any given destination. Many of the highlights we’ve had in our travels over the years belong to the categories of the unplanned and the unsought. Those are some of the things that make a journey truly exciting, pleasurable and meaningful.
Four years ago we visited Magalawa Island in the town of Palauig, Zambales, another off-the-beaten track destination in our bucket list at that time. On the second day at Magalawa the resort caretakers offered a ride to the giant clam farm just off San Salvador Island. We actually expected this after reading about it a few times in other blogs about Magalawa.
San Salvador Island is adjacent to Magalawa but is part of the town of Masinloc. It probably took us less than 30 minutes to cover the distance and we were soon bobbing up and down amidst the bed of corals and giant clams like kids. The snorkeling wasn’t too spectacular but since we haven’t snorkeled in a while it was a decent enough treat for us.
Snorkeling over we prepared to head back to Magalawa but our boatmen said that we should have a stopover at the Bacala Rest House in the middle of the sea on our way back to our resort. We had passed by this rest house on our way to the giant clam sanctuary and thought there was nothing really interesting about it. The earliest articles about Magalawa on the blogosphere at that time hardly mentioned it but we decided to go with our boatmen’s suggestion. And fortunately so.
The Bacala Rest House, it turned out, was right in the middle of a sandbar on this side of San Salvador. It was high tide when we first passed this rest house on our way to the giant clam farm and didn’t notice that it was actually sitting in the middle of a beautiful white sandbar. The sun’s position had also prevented us from getting a proper view of the sandbar.
Approaching noontime, however, low tide had begun to creep in revealing a pretty carpet of white sand, now easily visible under crystal-clear water that was ankle to knee-deep. In some parts of the sandbar the water was so shallow that we could lie on all fours and enjoy the waves gently massaging our bodies. Schools of tiny fishes were swarming all over the sandbar, playfully teasing us.
The rest house in the middle of the sandbar provided shade and accommodations for picnickers and a vantage point for observing nearby San Salvador Island. It was a pity we didn’t bring any food with us – lunch would be served at our resort back at Magalawa. The rest house would have been a nice spot for a picnic.
A few years later, the sandbar and the rest house would form part of an eco tour in Masinloc. The tour includes the giant clam farm that we visited and the marine protected area in San Salvador (San Salvador Island is the first community-run marine protected area and has been cited as a model for coastal resource management in the Philippines.) That rest house however, the shallow, crystal-clear waters, the creamy white sand and the lively schools of tiny fish still remain fresh in our minds.
WhAt a cool place!
So beautiful! Maldives vibes! I’ll be sure to visit here when I next go to Zambales. Thanks for posting this! ❤
Thanks for visiting our blog Kate. Hope you enjoy your visit to Zambales. We’re posting a story about a very recent visit to Potipot Island also in Zambales hopefully within a week or so.
What gorgeous water! I too have experienced that the joy of travel (and life) is to be found in unexpected moments.
Very true. Unexpected joys are true for the journey of life too. Thanks for visiting!