y 5pm we were already up. It was our last day and time is of the essence, as we have to chance ourselves a bus ride to Abra. Three of our company went off early to catch the earlier bus, while the rest of us prepared to go to Pandan Island. The island is only 20minutes away from the port of Sablayan via the so called taxi-Boats. Even before you reach Pandan Island's shoreline, you can't help but be awed by the crystal clear waters and the spectacular corals you'll see underwater. And upon reaching the shore you'll be treated with a surreal view of the landscape on the horizons reminiscent of those Japanese foggy landscape paintings. Just around 10 feet of the shore are lines of coconut trees. And there is a Bar where you can just pop-in a CD and relax in a glorious soundscape amidst a paradise setting. I'm not surprised to see a number of foreigners around as it is a beautiful island not touched by the crowd. No wonder it is included in one of Jens Peters top islands. The entrance fee is only 50pesos cheap, and if you plan to stay overnight there are cottages ranging from 500php to 1000php. Take note though that the island is also powered by solar energy. For divers and snorkel, you can rent equipments on the island, a mask and snorkel cost around 75php. Be forewarned though of renting a vest, some of the guys who rented complained of an unpleasant smell.
The Spanish Lagoon
While some of the guys went snorkeling, three of us went on hiking in the small forest of the island. Just halfway through the forest is a fork in the trail the right one leads to the Spanish Lagoon and the other to the Spanish Nose. I was half expecting to see something resembling the lagoon from the Apo Reef Island, but what we saw resembles a smaller version of an island located on the shore at the back of the island. It's a nice view nevertheless. On the Spanish Nose you have to climb down a number of cemented steps to view a rock formation of a profile of a man's face with a distinguishable nose. When we came back, the guys were telling stories of the amazing marine life just 5 feet below. There was the Lionfish garden and they also saw a sea snake in action.
We hurried off by 9am and soon checked out at Emily's Inn. We had our lunch at the same Kubo last night. And luckily after a few minutes of waiting we got on a mini-bus to Mamburao. It was another rough 3 hours ride, and from there we road a jeep to Abra. It was a packed jeep so the rest of us went topload. It was an enjoyable ride as you can see the landscapes of Mindoro on the way to Abra de ilog. And by an hour, we reached the ferry in time before the 4:30pm departure. Everything seems to fall right into place somehow.
The two islands of Mindoro were quite a hard to reach. But despite the hours of travel, the treasure of the Apo Reef and Pandan Island was all worth it. The seascapes, the marine life, the food and the company were just fun and amazing.
