Mt. Pundaquit | Traverse Anawangin Cove

July 20 -21, 2013
By : Mike
 
The province of Zambales has 173 kilometers of beaches, dive spots and surfing areas. This includes the famous beauty of Anawangin Cove. My first visit here was June of last year. The previously secluded beach of Anawangin is now a popular tourist destination.

Getting there you can take any Bus from Manila to Iba or Sta. Cruz, Zambales. Then get off at the town of San Antonio. From there you may buy your supplies first before chartering a tricycle to take you to the jump off point. There is two routes going to Anawangin Cove, the usual way is a 30 minute pumpboat ride from Pundaquit. And there is a land route, a 3-4 hours hike passing Mt. Pundaquit.

July 20, 7:00 AM. Five people ( Me, Kenneth, Mitchell, Donna May, and Decy )met at Victory liner terminal in Cubao. Donna was the first person to arrived at the terminal, she informed us that the earliest time of departure for Iba bound bus is 9:00 am, so we decided to take the Olongapo bound bus then from there we ride another bus going to San Antonio. 

We arrived at the jump off of Brgy. Pundaquit by 2:00 pm. Anawangin Cove is just 30 minutes away by a pumpboat ride. But because we are an adventure seeker, we choose the longer and rougher route by hiking Mt. Pundaquit.

We started the trek by 2:30 pm, a few minutes walk from the jump off it will led you to the foot of Mt. Pundaquit. You will passed by a lahar field before entering the grassland. first part of the trail is flat and then a moderately steep.

Lahar field at the foot ot Mt. Pundaquit

Before you reached the summit you will passed by a wide river. During summer it is dried-up, it is raging during rainy season. There are also several water sources along the trail that is drinkable.

Grasslands going to the summit with Kenneth and Mitchell

By 4:00 pm we reached the summit, the measured elevation here is 464 MASL. According to the locals, the name Anawangin is derived from the Ilokano word 'nuang' which means carabao. Our guide informed us there are a lot of aggressive carabaos roaming around the slopes.

Donna May

Decy

To view more photos click here..


After 15 minutes of rest and picture taking, we started to descent. Others will say that going down was much easier. But for me it wasn't! The rocks on the first few meters going down was just too much. Losing your balance could spell mishap. After a few kilometers from the summit, we finally made it to the cool array of Pine trees. (pano kaya napunta ang pine tress dun?) Some locals said, many were planted before the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. 

Shady cluster of pine tress

Few meters from the pine trees, the beach finally appeared. After an exhausting 2 and half hours we finally made it to the famous Anawangin Cove. The first time I was here it was crowded, and noisy. This time it was different, only 4 groups would be camping overnight.

The near-white volcanic sand of Anawangin

By 7:00 pm our food was ready, we rewarded ourselves by a marinated grilled pork prepared by Kenneth.

To view more photos click here..

After socials around 12 midnight, I went straight to my tent to have a good night rest. The next morning, we were informed by our bankeros that we need to trek again going back to Brgy Pundaquit due to high waves. 

The one way trekking now becomes two, we don't have a choice but to be ready and take the challenge. We cook our food a little early, (Thank you Donna sa spam) by 8:30 am we headed to the beach and stayed there for almost two hours. We left Anawangin around 11:00 am and arrived at Brgy Pundaquit by 2:00 pm. 

Huge waves strikes the seashore

At the summit part 2

Revisiting Anawangin cove was very fulfilling, thank you to Kenneth who initiated this event. Thank you also to Donna May, Mitchell and Decy for coming with us.

To view more photos click here..

Our Itinerary: 

0800 Departure from Manila

1300 ETA San Antonio; proceed to Brgy. Pundaquit

1400 ETA Brgy. Pundaquit/ secure guide

1430 start trek

1600 Arrival at Mt. Pundaquit summit

1615 Start descent to Anawangin Cove

1730 ETA Anawangin Cove

1800 Pitch tent / cook food

1900 Dinner

2000 Socials

0000 Lights out

0600 Breakfast

0700 Free time / Beach bumming

1130 start trek going back to Pundaquit

1300 Arrival at Mt. Pundaquit summit

1430 Arrival Brgy Pundaquit

1600 Return to San Antonio

1700 Shopping Duty Free Subic

1830 Head back to Manila

2300 ETA Manila