Maniwaya Island, Marinduque

March 13, 2019

Maniwaya is an Island off the coast of Santa Cruz Town in the province of Marinduque. This island boast a white creamy pastel sand beach, a sandbar that disappears and a nice view of sunset to lure you to a perfect weekend relaxation.

There are different ways of going to this island, depending on your itinerary. Marinduque has a lot of spots to and it would be great to complete what this province has to offer. But since our trip was hosted by a popular resort in Maniwaya island - Wawie’s Beach Resort, our travel was an easy breeze.

The van owned by the resort picked us up at Jolibee Turbina at around 1 AM. There were a few stop-over during the trip but by 5 AM we were at General Luna port.

It was a cold morning at General Luna port area, and we smelled the freshly baked pandesal near us so I was tempted to buy. Nothing beats a hot pandesal luckily I have a tumbler filled with hot coffee. My early morning breakfast was served.

Since it was dawn still, our group waited for an hour before boarding so I walked around and checked the place. Nearby are public market, carinderia that serves hot meals and of course the port which is the gateway to Maniwaya Island.

Around 6 AM, the small boats started to fetch in passengers to transfer to a bigger boat across the sea. This was necessary because we arrived early morning and it was low tide. The bigger ferry board couldn't land on the shore. The fare per head was Php 20.00, this is excluded in our package.

Looking at the bayside, I was filled with awe on how calm the sea was. It was so serene and the sun was rising with perfect golden rays touching every faces and spots. I am always happy to see sunrise, and this was one of the many great photoholic state Ive seen. General Luna port is blessed.

The boat ride took only an hour and a couple of minutes to reach the island. We were greeted with almost white sand and pebbles. The first sight going down of course like any other low tide encounters was bit of a dismay. The dead weeds, rocky sands and unclear water; but as we walked towards the main location we were happy and all smiling. The sand becomes finer and whiter. It wasn't really white and fine on a closer glance, but I guess the striking sunlight enhances it to that.

A few more walk, we were greeted with breakfast buffet at Wawie's Beach. Details on a separate post here - https://lizlemonades.blogspot.com/2019/03/wawies-beach-resort-maniwaya-island.html

From there our great weekend adventure on this island began.

Oooppsss... here are our baon... Afraid to get hungry? We just like to much, all the time.

After breakfast and a few minutes of rest, we hop back to the boat for an island tour.

We were late for sandbar already so we headed direct to Mongpong Island for a quick swim and photo ops with their famous rock formations. Oh how I wish I knew how to swim.

After the Mongpong Island tour we headed over back to the resort and took our lunch. Since the heat was up during lunch we decided to take some naps before soaking up in the beach.

It was a super nap. The kubo was ventilated perfectly and I felt energized waking up. When the rest of the group was up, we went outside for a walk and tour around the shores.

Outside Wawie's Beach are a few stores selling souvenirs and halo-halo and other street food. Their tshirts were priced from Php 220- Php 250, and some ref magnets and keychains for Php 25.00 to Php 50.00

And of course, who could resist a Halo-Halo in this setting. Halo-halo for Php 30.00 and a few fishball made our chitchat more fun in a vacant cabana. Full and happy, we were.

After Halo-Halo, we headed to the other side of the beach where statues of Moriones are standing like guards of the Island. It was nearing sunset. And the atmosphere turned golden. Walking in the shoreline made me wish that someday there will be a collective effort to make this Island really beautiful because this other side has not been taken care of.

I hope all the beach resorts owners will not only take proper care on their area but whole shoreline. It would have been perfect to walk end to end if all areas were clean.

As the sun kept dropping, I tried my best to walk fast because the perfect sun view is infront of Wawie's Beach. Unfortunately i didn't catch it on time. Falling short on deep breath, I stopped and sat down half way towards the resort and waited for my friends.

People were sitting and swimming and taking pictures against the sunlight. And laid our backs and was amazed how it felt so relaxing. And there, we kept talking for more minutes. What to the topic? Work! Alas! But hey, it was work that brought us there anyway. Fair deal of topic I guess. Haha!

Pardon for my ugly manly feet... can't help to take a shot of how happy they were hehehe..

We had a fine dinner and a coffee and conversation mode with Tatay Warly that night. Then we got back to sleep since none of us are fond of drinking like the other groups in the resort. We woke up early and prepared for another island hop which we missed on the first day.

And this is Palad Sand Bar. There were too many people and boats around. So take turns are a must to get your perfect photos. I was thankful with Paul in his effort to give our group some perfect shots.

When were done, we soaked in to the water and the temperature was just perfect.

That was it. We took our last lunch of the 5 hosted meal and went back to the boat back to General Luna around 11 AM where the van was waiting to take us back to Manila. We left General Luna port an hour after and around 5 PM ,we dropped off at Sto Tomas, Batangas.

I am looking forward to having great weekends with these gals. Until next time.