“So near, yet so far”, I thought to myself as I stare at the island known as Potipot from where I was standing in Isla Vista Beach Resort. “It is still closed to visitors”, the manager told me. Ever since the world re-emerged from the clamps of the pandemic, resort owners in Candelaria, Zambales, have been clamoring for the reopening of Potipot.

Approaching Magalawa Island