Personally, I had my reservations.
Of course, if what lay on the other side of that 4 1/2 hour journey are pristine, white-sand beaches, crystal clear ocean waters,unspoiled nature and breathtaking limestone formations, I'm sure you'll reconsider. And that's not all, Caramoan is known for being the venue of the Survivor series for France and Israel.
We got our tickets for P2,860 each from AirPhil Express. Just a tip, if you're booking for a large group (we were 12), it's best to divide them as the fares get
incrementally expensive the more people you're booking for. I'm assuming it's because there's only a limited number of tickets allotted for cheaper rates. Then, just average the cost among everyone and it will result in an overall cheaper rate per person.
Given the fact that Caramoan is a pretty remote place to go to, and we were traveling as a group. We looked for a place to stay that offered tours, transfers, meals - basically we wanted a hassle free vacation. We lucked out with Residencia de Salvacion, it was a cozy B&B that had enough rooms to accommodate all of us plus they provided the services that what we were looking for. The website itself is informative and tells you everything you want to know about Caramoan. If you e-mail them, they respond promptly and are willing to provide all the information you need even if you're not going to book with them, which is really excellent service right off the bat. Edgar, the owner, was very accommodating to all my questions, arrangements and special requests. We availed the 4D/3N package for P4,500/person, which included all transfers, tours, boat rentals, meals, snacks and even a side trip to Naga.
As soon as we arrived in Naga, we were met by Ate Gina and she accompanied us in the long 3 1/2 journey to Caramoan. She even had snacks and water ready for our group to tide our hunger as we would be arriving way past lunchtime in RDS.
As soon as we got to the house, there was a sumptuous lunch waiting for us with crabs, bicol express. tons of rice and laing. Tired, from our journey, we just opted to visit Gota village (where Survivor is filmed) instead of going island hopping and had a good night's rest.
On the second day we went island hopping, the sun was shining brightly and we enjoyed visiting different islands, swimming and just relaxing. Most of the beaches were really just gorgeous islands that had none of the commercial feel that other more popular beaches are known for. If you're looking for any modern, developed beaches, you won't find it here. We had an amazing lunch with huge crabs by the beach and afterwards went on to more islands. If you want to find out how it feels to have an entire island to yourself, this is a good place to go to.
On the third day, it was raining but we still opted to go out. We braved the rains and strong winds and were even able to visit 2 islands and have lunch until we finally decided to call it quits and head home because it was too cold. It was like being caught up in a storm at sea! When we got back, the staff at RDS set up the videoke machine and we just spent the rest of the afternoon belting out tunes. Even though it was raining and we couldn't get out, RDS still made sure we wouldn't waste our time.
On our last day, we set off early so we would have time to go around in Naga. RDS also provided us packed lunches for the trip. When we got to Naga, we stopped for souvenirs and also had a quick visit to the Penafrancia church. If we had a later flight, they would have also taken us to CWC before finally dropping us off at the airport.
To sum everything up, Caramoan is not an easy place to get to, and most of the sights are not easily accessible so it could get very tiring. But the beauty of unspoiled beaches and all that nature had to offer is worth the trip. It's also a good thing to return to a place that feels like "home" and where everything is already taken cared of, and this was provided to us by the amazing staff of RDS. So, if you're thinking of heading over to Caramoan, you should really consider staying there. It will make you forget you're in such an isolated place, and you can just focus on relaxing and having fun. Of course, all trips are made even better if you have great people with you, to share all the ups and downs of any vacation. ;)
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** Note: This is a delayed post, we went to Caramoan in Feb 2011, but since I was asked to write an article for a newsletter, I decided to post the same article here. Enjoy!
