Travel Guide: Cagbalete Island
Off the coast of Mauban, Quezon, an unforgettable island experience awaits everyone – the Cagbalete Island.
Cagbalete is another jewel of the Quezon Province. Located in the Lamon Bay fronting the Pacific Ocean, it is another paradise in the province of Quezon surrounded by white sand that exposes during low tide.
This 1,640 hectares privately owned island is home to a diverse ecosystem. With unique variety of birds, rich marine life, and the abundance of unique species of plants, the island is a complete paradise for adventurers and nature lovers. Similar to Jomalig Island in Northern Quezon, a part of the Cagbalete’s beach is dotted with Agoho trees, a family of pine tree.
Just three hours away from the Philippine capital, Cagbalete promises an unforgettable and picture perfect island getaway you will truly enjoy. Visit Cagbalete Island, and discover a whole new experience.
How to Get There
Cagbalete Island is under the jurisdiction of the town of Mauban, Quezon. To go there, catch a Lucena bound bus in Kamias, Cubao, Alabang or Buendia. From Buendia, Jac Liner, Jam Transit, Lucena Liner and Ceres Transport have buses bound to Lucena that stop at Lucena Grand Central Terminal. Buses leave almost every hour every day for approximately three hours bus ride from Buendia, Pasay. Fare is at P210.00.
From Lucena Grand Central Terminal, catch a non-air con mini bus to Mauban for almost two hours travel time, fare is around P50-60. The last trip is at 6 pm. Alternatively, aircon buses to Mauban are located in SM City Lucena for P80-90, with trip up to 9 pm. Travel time via aircon bus is at 1 hour.
Upon getting off the bus in Mauban, it is only a short walk to the port where passenger boats to Cagbalete Island are stationed. Trips are scheduled at 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM daily, for P40-50 per person. The boats can ferry around 50-60 people. They usually drop off passengers at “Sabang” although they sometimes drop off their passengers directly to the south eastern part of the island where the resorts Villa Cleofas and MVT Sto. Nino are located. You may also arrange a private boat through your resort, rate is P4,000 two-way ( Mauban-Cagbalete-Mauban) and can ferry up to 25 people.
If you are going to the Pansacola, Villa Cleofas or MVT Sto. Niño from Sabang, you can hire a small banca there for around P400.00 one way or you can take the 1.5 KM walk.
Where to Stay
Tourists usually stay on the south eastern part of the island. There are three known resorts in the area – the Villa Cleofas, Pansacola Beach Resort and MVT Sto. Niño Beach Resort.
Villa Cleofas
Villa Cleofas has various cottages and rooms for rent ranging from P900 (for an open cottage that is good for eight people) to P4000 (big cottage with rooms that can accommodate up to 25 persons).
- Big cottage (25 people capacity) – P4,000.00 overnight
- Medium cottage ( 12 people capacity ) – P2,500.00 overnight
- Small cottage (8 people capacity) – P1,800.00 overnight
- Duplex cottage ( 4 people capacity ) – P1,500.00 overnight
- Open cottage (8 people capacity) – P 900.00 overnight
They have good facilities and offers different activities like beach volleyball, table tennis, karaoke, horse back riding, boat rental. They also allow camping along the beach for a fee of P300.00 per tent. For more information, visit their website at www.cagbalete.com or contact:
Ed Jacob: +639192205000/etjacob11@yahoo.com
Tonet/Tess Reyeg: (+632) 928-7934/(+632) 754-1063/+639178140496/+639178143475/treyeg01@yahoo.com.ph
MVT Sto. Niño
MVT Sto. Niño is located beside Villa Cleofas. They have rooms and open cottages and offer a more quiet atmosphere. Small open cottages along the beach costs for as low as P500.00 good for up to 20 persons while the big ones are at P1000.00 good for at least 30 persons; Standard room with fan is at P1500/ day good for 4 persons; Deluxe roomwith aircon is at P2000.00/day good for 2 persons; While the Bahay-kubo with room for 2-5 persons is at P1000.00/day. For more information, contact:
Fely: +639217275398/(+6342)7841036
Ryan: +639108823346
Pansacola Beach Resort
Pansacola Beach Resort is quite pricey compared to the two but offers great beachfront be it high tide or low tide. Contact Information:
Amang Rommel: +639202154613, (042)7840158
Activities
- Swimming and Beach Hopping
- Snorkeling/Scuba Diving (bring your own equipments)
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Camping/Picnic
- Bird watching
- Horseback riding
- Beach Volleyball/Frisbee
- Walk to the nearby Bonsai Island and see the century old bonsai plants
- Visit the neighboring Baliscar Island and its lighthouse
- Surfing/Skim boarding (Oct to Feb – bring your own board)
- Watch the sunrise
Tips
Boat ride from Mauban to Cagbalete Island can be rough at times and generally rough during the ‘ber’ months up to February, so prepare to be wet. Entrance fee at Villa Cleofas is P30.00, and P100.00 for MVT Sto. Niño. If you are staying in Villa Cleofas, you can arrange them to prepare meals for you or you can use their kitchen, dining hall and their facilities for cooking and dining, usage is on first-come-first-served basis and you have to clean the area and wash all utilities you used.
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may kuryente at tubig b jn? if in case may dla n electric equipments or gadgets?
i am so excited And i just can hide it .. haha i song for a NATURE lover !! so Kahit san kapa mapunta ma E-enjoy mo yan!! Di naman kelangan maging Pinaka Famous yang pupuntaha mo ee… mga tropang lakwats !! kita kits sa Cagbalete sa APrl 27 28 …. =)
You are probably reading this message because you are planning to visit this place or you are curious on what others can say about this place. For me, i cannot recommend this place. I have no plans of going back this place also, even if someone invited me for free. If you have been to Coron, Boracay, Panglao or just even Anawangin cove and you want to go to a nice place where you can see nature to relax then you should not go here. You will definitely not appreciate this place. Even if you are considering a tight budget i still cannot recommend this place. Value of money you will spend here is not worth what you will see and do here. I went here this holy week with my family but had been disappointed with several things. Not that i am expecting it to level with the famous destinations we have here but i may say the place has no positive qualities at all you may consider to recommend it or to go back to it some other time. Whether considering budget, beauty of place or perhaps the people you will meet there i can’t find reason why i will go back here. If you want to go here for the sake of just visiting the place because you have been to many places then that could be a good reason.
Just this holy week (2012), the department of tourism decided to raised the boat transportation from P80 (2-way) to P180 (2-way for adult) / 140 (2-way for children). The additional P100 would go to what they call Environmental fee (like in Boracay). Some genius tourism officer in the area or some official may have thought of a way to get easy money. This is an unreasonable price addition considering i did not see anything that may show where this money is going, even the locals there do not see any improvement with the process. The locals even think that everything now is wrong in their place. I did see several police officers and coast guards roaming around without doing anything useful. I would like to commend a “porter” who somehow care in arranging the irate tourist passengers who are waiting the boat even it was no longer his job to do so, a job that should be done by the insensitive police, coast guard and tourist officers in the area instead of just roaming around gossiping. Receipts for the boat ticket that were being issued to some tourists do not have BIR Number which makes me believe that there is red tape on going with this new boat fare. Process of the tourist office / coast guard is not organized also that made us wait for the public boat under the heat of the sun for 4 hours. I just noticed that the cost guard on duty that time (Coast Guard Luna) seems very interested with the registration form where all tourist signs, probably not of security concern but because this would determine the amount of rebates they will get. It makes me feel that the tourist office just want your P180 boat fare so they make ways for you not to learn about private boat rentals specially if your more than 15 in the group which sometimes make it more economical to hire private boat than to pay the P180/person that the tourist office are charging. Even the locals believe that there is some anomaly on going so this needs to be resolved or else there will be lots of unsatisfied guests who would not care to recommend or go back to this place. See the names of the officers managing this area.
Anabelle Calleja – Tourism
Ton2 Pansacola – Tourism
Xyra Manipol – Development Center
Rachelle Pansacola – Development Center
James Laureles – Coast Guard
GodoFredo Diaz – Barangay Captain
We went there last Saturday and Villa Cleofas’ entrance fee changed from 30php to 50php.
Smallest cottage is 1500php. Still, we had a great time there!
We went there last weekend and the resort rates changed from 30php to 50php (Villa Cleofas).
Had a great time there!
maganda ba ang signal ng globe, smart at sun?
nung nagpunta ako dun, meron isang family, ginawa nila, iniwan nila dun sa simbahan yung sasakyan. masikip kasi sa pantalan…walang space para pagiwanan ng sasakyan. pati yung mga hiway…masikip..kaya, kailangan talaga secured parking.
btw, how come mas marami nag-stay sa south eastern part nung island? mas okay ba ung tubig and scenery dun? how long ung trek? sorry andami kong tanong
Hi there,
Just need to know, if magdadala ng sasakyan.. meron bang parking area sa pantalan ng Mauban? Is that safe? And would you know the cost?.. Lastly, we’re planning to go there this week and since kasama parents namin, I’m leaning towards Little Prince kasi I’ve read somewhere na mas malapit na lakaran ito. Meron namang mga locals na sasalubong samin dont di ba na pwede pagtanungan I guess? kasi I’ve tried calling ung number ng Little prince pero out of service na.
I hope you reply.. salamat!