My Summer Experience at Borawan Island

During the planning stage of our Quezon trip, I told my friend that I don’t want to go to Cagbalete Isalnd, since I already went there and Borawan because of the place being commercialized instead of retaining the simplicity of the island. But since we will be staying at Tamarind Tree Resort in Padre Burgos, we included Borawan in our itinerary.

After having lunch at Dampalitan Island, we then ride our boat to head to Borawan Island. This is the most popular of the Islands that you can visit at Padre Burgos Quezon. Before we even started our trip, I knew already that the island would be crowded by people.  But I never expected that it would be that heavily congested by tourists.

a view of Borawan from our boat

Our boat had a hard time finding a place to dock as there are lots of boats at the shore. The moment we stepped at the island, the guard would ask you to log in your name and pay Php 150.00 entrance fee. The next thing we did after paying is finding a shady place to stay. All cottages we saw are occupied already so we walked along the beach looking for a place to stay. The only shade that you can find in the island aside from the cottages is the shadow from different rock formations that can be seen in the island.

After going back and forth the shore of the island we finally found a spot, which is the side of a cliff with a shade offered by the trees above. But the spot that we found is still not the best spot that the island can offer. The place we found is  among the rocks. The sand is in our spot is not fine that it's hurts when we tried to walk on barefeet.

a view of the beach from our spot

our spot under the cliff

We didn’t plunge to the water immediately as it was so hot because the sun is already at its peak. One of our friend already wanted to take a swim as it was hot and by his constant nagging we eventually gave in and started to wade in the water. But we were not able to stay that long into the water as we find it already dirty. The water is not as clear as that in Dampalitan and we felt something itchy just after a few minutes of staying at the water. We took some pictures at the water and then decided to head back at the shore.

Since Borawan is becoming a go to place during summer, you can expect that basic commodities are already present at the island. There is a cafeteria, sari-sari store and souvenir shop already at the place. Just expect that the goods being sold are expensive. There is also a restroom and shower room that tourist can use free of charge.  

the murky water of Borawan

We did no stay long at the island, since we cannot swim due to the murky water. Though we still tried to find a better place to swim but the area where the water is clean is the docking place of the boats and there is also no available shade in that area.

our boat

If you would want to go to Borawan, I think you would appreciate the place more if you would go there during the beginning of summer when there are only few people who are visiting the island.