Pagkilatan, Batangas

May 2010

A low profile site with an above average fun factor - that's the Pagkilatan promise.

Pagkilatan is a simple, quiet town located in Batangas City. It is an ideal site for snorkeling and skin diving. Its shores are covered in pebbles and eight-foot logs occasionally decorate the area.

I love the place! It is so pristine and all natural. The water is cool and marine life abound underneath. Farther from the shore, you'll get to see corals and giant clams. The marine life is not as rich as Ticao's and Coron's, but it is way better than what I saw at Palaui Island.

Pagkilatan gave me a lot of "firsts." This was when I first experienced a clown fish look up and stare at me straight in the eye. I exclaimed with joy afterwards as I thought it was being friendly; little did I know that it was only protecting its territory from threats like us, humans.

This was also the moment when I first approached the deep, dark ocean. I used to be scared of swimming across (what to me is) the beach's safe line - where the sand, pebbles, corals and everything visible disappears; where the water suddenly changes  from pale blue to striking/dark blue; where the sea suddenly becomes 30 feet deep. This is where the safe beach suddenly becomes a seemingly dangerous harborage for sharks and the unknown.

But I badly wanted to see the giant clams my friends saw at the far side of the cove, and to see those would require that I swim across the deep, dark mysterious ocean. So I sucked in my irrational fear, wore my friend's flippers, and swam with him to the far side of the cove.

It was a very liberating experience.

Speaking of flippers, this was also the first time I used one. It was marvelous. It tripled my speed and made me one with the waters. I was suddenly a fish in the sea, a welcome creature of the ocean.

A simple trip to Pagkilatan, Batangas changed my life in more than one way. It was a time of firsts, a moment of liberation, and an event when the ocean opened itself up to me. My friends and I only had a bunch of canned goods, a giant bar of chocolate, a few bottles of San Miguel, and fifteen hours. How can something so meager bring about such a change in me?

Pagkilatan. It was a perfect fit in my web of life.

What's yours going to be?



 














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5 comments:

  1. Wow! This is the first time i heard about this place in Batangas!

    I will invite my friends to visit this place..

    Thanks for Sharing..:)

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  2. Suuuure. Go ahead! "Coboy" place yan btw ha :)

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  3. Hi.. So parang Anawangin Cove siya?
    Thanks..:)

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  4. Hmm no.. As in beach lang talaga siya by the road. It's not commercialized, and there are only a few simple resorts lined up along the beach. :)

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  5. Great pictures. This shore is just beckons me. How cool to gaze into this photos in winter. It’s making me a little bit jealous. On the other hand, it is making me happy to know that I will visit it eventually. Thanks for the tip-off! I will book the tickets in the morning.

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