My Hundred Islands (Pangasinan, Philippines) Weekend Getaway - Exciting Things to Do in Pangasinan

My friends and I left Manila at 2 AM by bus. It was a bumpy ride, but because my friends are fun to be with, they made me feel safe and decorated the whole trip with laughter, stories, and more stories. After four hours, the conductor was kind enough to tell us we had reached our destination. We got off the bus, and waited for the inn owner to fetch us.

When we arrived at the inn, we were pleased to see that all eight of us could have one bed each. It was already 15 minutes past six, so our stomachs began to grumble. The owner said we could have breakfast at a marketplace about 50 meters away from the inn, so when we were all set, we walked towards the place (see below).

Don't be deceived by the picture. It just so happened that we were there very early, so almost all the stalls were not open at that time. The place is actually a collection of stores that sell mostly souvenir and gift items.

Pangasinan is known as the country's top producer of bangus or milfish, so of course, we enjoyed boneless bangus / deboned milkfish for breakfast.

Although there's not much to see but empty cottages, docked boats, and a lighthouse, we took some time to enjoy the view and take some pictures.

We had no choice but to rent a boat to hop from one island to another. (I don't remember how much we paid, though.) We saw lots of caves, sand, and rocks, and did a lot of swimming. If I remember it correctly, tourists can visit all the islands, but only three of them -- Governor Island, Quezon Island, and Children's Island -- have mini-grocery stores that you can rely on when you're thirsty or hungry. But if you're planning to go there, be warned that these stores sell items at outrageous prices.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful islands we managed to take.

We got tired and bored of swimming, so our boat-driver-slash-tour-guide said there's a place for water jumping enthusiasts. We had difficulty convincing two of our friends to jump into the water because they are scared of heights, but it was really, really fun!

Look at the pictures!

After jumping into the water, our nice boat-driver-slash-tour-guide took us to a spot where we can snorkel and enjoy the beauty of corals and some fish. Unfortunately, since the coral reef is severely damaged, it was not a beautiful sight.

After more than six hours, we decided to go home. The sunset was beautiful.