One Fine Day at Matabungkay Beach Resort

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.

I’m checking Waze from time to time to check how long are we still going to wait before touch down.

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.

I miss this sight, the horizon that separates the sky and the sea. The calmness that the scenery is channeling caught me. I need to send this to my friends and bae. 🌊😋

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.

We’ve already settled and I already dived in. 💦
Here’s Garcia Brothers with Dad. Insert mom. 🧏‍♀️
Garcia cult. We weren’t able to have a whole group picture as others were busy doing water activities. 🏊🏻‍♀️

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.

We went boating and snorkeling as a new experience for my dad, ninang, lola and bestie. They seem happy — evident on their faces.
It’s really a struggle for me to find a sunblock. I manage to apply Belo’s tinted sunscreen, retrieved from my old box back in 2020. I think I saved my face so. 😎
The sea is really inviting, but not this one that’s too deep for me. Although I have a life vest, I’m scared of the creatures down there. 🤪

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.

Look who’s burnt. Sorry for my happy feet. Since I’m wearing sandals, I’ve had tan lines on my feet.

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

Care to share your Lenten season stories and escapade? Let me know. ღ

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A Weekend in Lobo, Batangas

The semester’s finally over, even if it’s distance learning where we’re not physically present at school, and it involves online education thus far, we also needed this quick escape. I know, by having this, both our physical and mental health and well-being as a whole will gain a profound effect and that is why we look forward to this time away!

Again, we’re here at Ma’am Nelia’s (my colleague) hometown in Sitio Paho Biga, Lobo, Batangas. This has been planned for almost 3 weeks now, and finally we made it. 🤩

I’ve been here last April 2021 and was able to share how to get here in A Day in Biga, Lobo, Batangas blog. So we arrived 8:00 AM, and we’ve been invited for a breakfast before we head on to our whereabouts.

This way to the sea. I noticed that there were only few people reside here, and the place is quiet and peaceful. It is really different from our place — the trees and mountain here are just few steps away from us, that’s why my amusement is still like the first time. 😍

This getaway and pleasure trip is attainable for people from almost all walks of life. My colleagues and I are some of the lucky few to have the precious time to savor an escape and to be together — out of the pressure, and somehow running away from responsibilities for a while.

We went boating and whizzing around, seeing beautiful sights in a distant while it’s raining. I was shivering because it’s cold, but I enjoyed it. I believe there’s a next time for this and go island hopping the moment I’ll have the chance, so. 😉

We’ve been looking forward to seeing and doing something new and different. We learned bits and pieces about sort of origin of the place thus, enriching and stimulating our intellect about it whilst enabling to nurture our friendship tie, create lasting memories, and deepen personal connections with each other.

Keep yourselves busy! Enjoy guys, though this trip will leave us all renewed and rested, on Monday back to the daily grind as if we were never away at all. 🤣

It’s been a blessing in disguise as the rain poured on this day for us to spend more time in the water without having to think that we might get a sunburn. Although, I wasn’t able to capture more of what we did and eye-catching views it’s indeed an apparent misfortune I must say that eventually lead us to enjoy the moments more. It is our minds and our hearts that clearly captured what we truly felt on these special moments — somehow it was everything.

And we’re heading back. We found ourselves stuck in situations we don’t normally experience in our daily lives, so we’re here breaking free from the norm. 😄

Moments like these are something on a much deeper level that will surely keep us coming back for more, and to push ourselves to see more and learn more. Here is where I definitely find the best in myself and to others. Little did I know, I become the person that I had hoped I would become as a child: a wanderer and a learner of things.

We were all exhausted and tired from the quite adventure we’ve just had, but it’s all worth it. Thank God for these people, for the precious time and energy you gave us. Until our next. ღ

“Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.”

Izaak Walton