After waking up with a terrible hangover—no thanks to the previous night’s drinking game—to a beautiful moonset and a hearty breakfast by the beach, we hurried up renting a small boat for a side trip to a nearby sandbar. It appears during low tide a few clicks off the coast of Puting Buhangin and Burot beach. It goes by a couple of other names: Starfish Island and Little Boracay, but I prefer calling it by its simple but apt name: Calatagan Sandbar. The boat trip going there from where we were staying (Aquaria Waterpark and Crusoe Cabins) took around half an hour and sailed on the ridges of the waters of the Verde Island Passage.
A Fine Morning of Swimming and Drone-ing at Calatagan Sandbar | Batangas
Along the way, our boatman pointed out a couple of snorkeling and diving sites to us, saying, “We’ll make a stop here on the way back, so you can snorkel.” A few moments later, we found our boat—with its engine already turned off—quietly slicing through the waters approaching the sandbar.
As the crystal-clear waters underneath our boat revealed a dozen small fishes and innumerable dunes of fine white sands, I excitedly hopped out of the boat and started wading through the knee-deep ocean.
Walking the Dunes
As my friends gleamed in delight, mouthing off “oohs and aaahs” and hurriedly taking photographs, I opted to walk to the other end of the sandbar, measuring its length by steps. I lost count midway as my mind was distracted by the charming setting of the place.
Since the sandbar is part of a small island gradually sinking outward to the sea, its immediate surrounding areas dip progressively into chest-deep water ideal for swimming. After taking a few photographs, I laid my camera on the sand, shielding it from the sun with my shirt, and hastily dipped into the refreshing water for some swim time under the sun.
A Sumptuous Boat Lunch
We spent more than a couple of hours at that place, capping it off with a sumptuous lunch aboard our boat courtesy of a packed meal of fried liempo and tilapia with tomatoes and eggplants.
Of course, we wouldn’t leave the island without taking a group shot using Marianne’s drone camera.
As we raced back to Aquaria and our planned pit stop at the snorkeling area, the sky quickly darkened before showering us with rain. The wind blew stronger, and the waves curled higher behind our boat.
Despite the sudden change in weather, our boatman still attempted a pit stop at the snorkeling area, but the waves became unbearable to anchor our boat properly. We decided to skip that part. It didn’t matter, though, as we had been blessed with a beautiful morning sky during our visit to the Calatagan Sandbar. Not only that, but it somehow cured all our hangovers by giving us a wonderful beach fix.
