Polo: Padre Burgos, Quezon

I have been coming in and out to Quezon Province for almost my entire childhood, but I have never experienced going to Padre Burgos before. The only places I have been were Pagbilao, Mauban, and Atimonan.  Padre Burgos has always been known by the locals, and by word-of-mouth it has been said that its beaches are comparable to those of Boracay.

Three years ago, last week of January, my cousins and I were able to conquer the place via a private car.  Our destination, Polo, a quaint barrio nestled along the coast of Lamon Bay in Padre Burgos.  So far it is one of the beaches I have been in Southern Luzon.

Beautiful rock formation

This is the view at the window from the hut that we stayed in.
And yes, our hut is situated almost by the beach.

A spiky sea urchin found along the beach

Colorful bancas docked by the beach

From Manila (our-jump-off point, hehe) it took as approximately four hours before reaching Polo.  We used the route Antipolo-Laguna-Quezon for it has no pollution nor traffic.

Our team composed of five persons, which includes my cousins, Romelyn (Em), Arjay, Manny (cousin-in-law, is there such definition), and Liezl (Tiki).

Yup, this is us (L-R: Manny, Tiki, yours truly, and Em).
Credits to Arjay, he took the photo. You'll be seeing more of him though after the jump.

Upon reaching Quezon in the mid afternoon, we were all tired so decided to go to Polo in the morning the next day.  Later at night we had booze and barbecue party in Lucena at Tita Ely's flat.  

I don't know what to say here

The next morning I woke up early at around 5:30AM, but since everybody was too lazy and with hangover pangs from last night we left at around 8:00AM.  From Lucena proper, it took us around 45 minutes to 1 hour before reaching Barangay Polo.  I really love the Barangay, most of the houses are of nipa and sawali material, it just gives an aura of a real "probinsya".

We parked our car by the barangay center near the beach in Polo (main) then we rode a banca going towards the Polo cove. We are going to stay at Nanay Elsa's house for the rest our 2-day retreat. The team is lucky because Nanay Elsa's son even operated the banca. We had a more-of-like a "private cruise" going to Polo.

After a few minutes of waiting our very own private banca arrived

Some obligatory pictures with the banca :-)

L-R: Manny, Tiki, and yours truly

Em, having the time of her life

Clockwise from top: Arjay, Me, Tiki, Manny, and Nanay Elsa's son

It was rather a cloudy afternoon, and we were blessed with mild waves en route to our destination.  Upon arriving, Nanay Elsa greeted us in her kubo.  It was like a turn back in time experience for the place has no electricity, low-to-no signal, and stone-stoves.  I just love every minute of it. No bells nor whistles, just back to basics.

Shown here is Nanay Elsa waiting for our arrival

A detail of the roof of the hut where we spent the night.

Our home-sweet-home for the weekend

Our escapade wouldn't be complete without a case or two of Red Horse beer

Fresh catch: Alumahan sells at Php60 a kilo.
We actually saved almost 50% in buying from the fisherman as compared to the market price

What's better than grilled fish? Of course, "Fresh-from-the-Ocean" grilled fish!

Arjay and Manny

Cock ready to fight

Traditional stone stoves. This is where we cooked our meal during the rest our stay

Thinking of our next itinerary

Cynophobic Em. We are exposing her to dogs so as to desensitize her fear.

A few minutes later, Em and the dog are now good friends.

Our stay in Polo are composed of goofing around, much like this.

An "actual" banca making

Coconut juice, from the buko (of course).

Our generous host, Nanay Elsa with Tiki

Arjay cracking some corny jokes

Cute mother and daughter(?) dog

Stop yelling!!!

Fine sands and crystal clear waters.
And yep, that's Moby chocolate curls, a local "chichirya"

Yellow coconuts

Three bancas by the sunset

I've never seen such numerous Chocolate Chip starfishes in a single beach before

During low tide, especially in the early morning, coral formations and other marine plants are exposed  near the surface of the water..

While some are totally exposed, like this Soft-finger coral

More exposed corals during low tide

Checking out the marine produce.
If you are wondering where the produce are, it's underneath this text. Damn camera!

Posing with Totoy, Nanay Elsa's grandson

Freash catch!

Can somebody identify this type of fish

Chocolate-chip Starfish

The big men

Obligatory jump-shots

View on the farther side of the beach.  The farther we go, the more rocks we see by the beach.
I'll tell you, it is painful to walk this side of the beach without slippers.

Sea plants on the rock surface exposed during low tide

Reporting live for Lonely Planet

Polo is a very beautiful place, not to mention the hospitality of the locales.  We are lucky because we get to experience the real "fishing village" life.  I am definitely going back to this place again.