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It’s a place you wouldn’t expect to find in Zambales. I visited this little piece of paradise last March 22, 2008 and it was a trip indeed worth taking.

I’ve heard about it from friends, acquaintances and read quite a few interesting stories online. Yet nothing compares to experiencing the cove itself.

Ruben, a local from Pundaquit, who also happened to be the boatman who ferried us from Pundaquit to Anawangin (well, it was his brother, Noli, who actually operated the boat that took us to the cove), informed us that there have been visitors, who chose to trek their way to the cove and enjoyed the scenery. There are even stories of hikers finding caves, waterfalls, crystal clear pools, and sightings of beautiful birds. That immediately enticed the outdoorsman in me.

There is even this famed lighthouse standing proud and tall atop a hill on Capones Island. Which by the way, I wasn’t able to visit. * sigh *.

But what little I experienced in those two days I was there is indeed a treasure to cherish.

I’m not very good with a camera so forgive me if the photos do not seem pro-looking. I still have a lot to learn, I must admit. But the album I’ve compiled will have to do for now.

The place is unquestionably beautiful, indescribable even. Yet amidst all that beauty lie sadness. What once was a place of solace is now slowly turning into a commercial camp ground. Visitors come and go like it was just a trip to the park.

I guess they haven’t heard of the phrase “leave no trace” or “leave it like you found it”. Most campers just leave their trash like there was someone to clean up after them. It’s sad, and it breaks my heart to see that there are still so many who have no respect for the environment.

It’s pretty simple. Pack out what you pack in. Imagine someone coming to your home and leaving a big, ugly, muddy footprint on your expensive Persian carpet. I’m sure you’d freak out too.

Mother Nature and the cove’s residents are pleading for help. It takes no more than a simple sense of responsibility to preserve what little is left of this paradise island. Let’s give our fair share and help the environment heal. It took hundreds of years for all this beauty to become what it is right now. It will only take a few months and a few more irresponsible, half-witted campers to destroy it.

I would still want to see the day when my children and my children’s children get to experience what I have experienced in my days. What we leave behind, we leave to our children.

I was thinking of proposing a simple method to help keep the visitors aware. No, not signboards nailed to the trees or staked to the sand in the cove. I was thinking more in the lines of a pre-boat-ride-orientation.

Since the boatmen of Pundaquit, Zambales ferry the tourists to the islands (Camera Island, Capones – where the light house is; and Anawangin), they will be the first to make the visitors aware.
A 15 to 30 minute orientation that includes registering the guests should be a pre-requisite. Visitors will be required to bring with them trash bags that they will use all through out their stay in the islands. Smokers will pack a small plastic bag where they can ditch their cigarette butts, greatly decreasing the chances of them throwing it just about everywhere.
All these are to be brought back to Pundaquit where the trash can be properly disposed of.

All this will guarantee a whole lot of things that we can all look forward to, especially the locals; continuous flow of visitors and tourists to the islands, which equates to jobs for the boatmen as an alternative to fishing; a piece of paradise, for generations to come.

I’m coming back to Anawangin before this month ends and give my fair share.

“Kill nothing but time, take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but foot prints.”