It’s Lenten season, and it’s as special as any of the regular holiday seasons, especially for devout Catholics. Including ours, many families prefer going to the beach on Easter Sunday after a week of solemn contemplation on the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, this year, we’ve anticipated a getaway, mainly for my Lola and her sisters.
Let me share with you our beach experience through this blog.
I haven’t been to a beach for a while, so as my relatives. After a long while of searching through Facebook travel groups, I chose to book our trip to Matabungkay Beach Resort, located at Brgy. Matabungkay, Lian, Batangas, Philippines.
Because of its proximity to Manila, Matabungkay is still one of the top beach destinations in Batangas among Batanguenos and tourists.
At 3AM we headed to our trip and I can’t drive this early, so we rented a Van and a Jeepney where we could also store our goods and bags. We are 30 pax, each vehicle costs 4,500 Php.
I feel well-rested tho, I slept almost 6 hours prior to our onboarding since I’m excited, and I’m in need of much energy, so I won’t be feeling tired soon as we’re there. Most of our passengers in this van are asleep to gain energy for the activities they look forward to at the latter.
Or maybe, I’ll take a nap, a short one also.
After 2 hours of travel, we already did make it to the entrance of the resort, it’s just a bit of traffic we had experienced as we enter because we have to pay the environmental fee which costs 25 Php per head. Oh! The parking fee costs 100 Php per vehicle.
The shore was filled with floating cottages (balsa) which makes it overcrowded at first sight. We were able to sail a few distances away from the other rafts, so we have ample space to swim near our cottage. We got this type for 25 pax at 6,500 Php this season. Since we’re 30 pax we were allowed to situate here for the whole day since we’re lightweight.
WTF! I mean, Where’s The Food? I forgot to snap a shot of our food, maybe because I’m too hungry to take a photo first. We served and ate pancit, spaghetti, puto, sandwich for breakfast, fried chicken, caldereta, fried bangus, and salted egg for lunch, mango, watermelon, singkamas, macaroni and vegetable salad, and chips for snack.
Aside from boating and snorkeling which costs 150 Php per head for an hour, there are other activities available like jet skiing, riding on a wagon, banana and dragon boat, and island hopping, the price varies.
I’m so worried about the burnt skin that I’ve got, but I realized that it will get back to its color thru time, but the time spent will forever be cherished and the memories of the experience that my family and I had here despite our schedules and whereabouts will be kept. I thank God for the time given and the strength of everyone to be able to be with us here. Also, for the financial capacity. It’s really not a bad idea to treat yourself and the people around you when you are saving. I don’t want to deprive myself of vacation just because I have bills to pay ahead of me. This hard-earned money spent for this getaway is a much deserve one, I must say. I’m just happy that I am able to take my whole family on a trip once in a while, and seeing the smile on their faces is a big win.
We stayed from 6AM-4PM there and at exactly 6PM we were home safe and rested because Monday is already waving. I’m looking forward to our next family getaway. On my 25th Birthday maybe? We’ll see.
Blessed are the curious for they shall have adventures.
Lovelle Drachman