Saturday 24th July - Hundred Islands

I highly dislike long car journeys, but I was bribed with clear skies, snorkelling and a trip to Baguio. So I gave in.

Mount Arayat
We left the house at 4am. Sleeping through most of the journey, we arrived in Alaminos City, Pangasinan at 9am. The weather was amazing, it was scorching hot and there wasn't a grey cloud in sight - finally, I was going to get tanned.

We hired a boat to take us around Hundred Island National Park. At low tide there are precisely 124 islands, with 123 at high tide. A lot of them are uninhabited, with only three developed for tourist visitation. Firstly we went to Govenors Island where we 'explored' its cave and climbed to the top for a magnificent view.

Our bangkeros then took us for a little tour, stopping at Lopez Island - our very own with sand, clear blue water island.

For a couple of hours it was bliss. Nothing but endless sea, good company and beautiful scenery - it was great. Trying my hand at snorkelling I managed to spot some fish and teach my cousin to do the same. All in all I was a bit sad we left when we did. But if we were to make it to Baguio we had to get going.

On our way there we ran into some heavy rain, so on the driver's orders we turned around to return home. He feared we had driven into a tropical cyclone. If we continued and the weather stayed as it was there was a good chance of us being caught by a landslide and stranded. So close and yet so far. Safety first I guess.

With the awful weather and a few wrong turns it took seven hours till we arrived back in Manila. I was exhausted. The trip was not wasted though. Maybe I'll make it to Baguio before I leave.

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