Weekend with Sand Bars and Bakawan: Alibijaban

San Andres Port

A paradise of sand bars and mangroves lie at the tip of the Quezon Province, in the town of San Andres, in the island called Alibijaban. We've traveled 7 hours by land from my hometown Nagcarlan to the town of San Andres. The first stop is the market to buy some fish for dinner. Then, we headed for the boat and to our surprise, a seemingly brand new port sits along the shores of the town. As we were told to bring water to the island, a few meters away from the port is a purified water station where you can fill up water containers for safe drinking and cooking. To get across to the island we have chartered a boat to take us to the island. If you are wondering how much the boat costs don't worry, prices aren't that steep here.

That's a fairly long strip of white sand.

After about 10-15 minutes of boat ride we arrive at our destined camp for the night. We settled by the DENR office near the beach. The setting sun plunges in the direction of the port, right across where we set our camp. Unlike many beaches, only a handful of tourists can be seen here. As the evening comes, some fisher residents would ask if we would like to buy their catch, and still the prices are cheap. Dinner comes and after that some social time with my companions, then we sleep for the day ahead of us.

Daylight breaks but no sunrise is visible because the sun rises from the other side of the island. We prepared breakfast, eat and after our personal morning rituals we headed to the beach for some sand bars. The boater took us to a spin around the island to see it in full. Right before we completed the spin comes the sand bars. 

Along the sand bars are groups of "bakawan"(mangroves) which is quite a relaxing sight at a really beautiful beach like this.

The bakawan grows along a fresh water stream coming from the heart of the island. You can feel where the fresh water meets the sea water because it is colder than the rest of the area. A very relaxing site for a hammock nap.

We left for home after we ate lunch and packed our things. The spare goods we have, we gave to the locals. A fair trade for the hospitality of the locals near the part of the island where we stayed.

An island of kind-hearted people and pristine treasures of nature lies here in Alibijaban, San Andres Quezon. A long but very worthy trip to take for those who loves to see nature at its best condition.