“par, nag-iinano ka?” (what are you doing?), asked a friend by text message to which i replied, “waray” (nothing). “kalakat kita” (let’s go somewhere) came the subsequent text message and i hurriedly replied, “kana” (in agreement). It was four in the afternoon. Quickly, i got into my car and met up with them. Stocked two cases of beer and ice and loads of snack food taken from another friend’s mini-grocery. spontaneity is always the name of the game among this set of friends.

i originally suggested to go check my tree house near the beach and while away time there but the caretaker was nowhere to be found so we opted to go to another beach. by then, the sun was still comfortably above the horizon.

went to the unused airport and diverted into a dirt road (good thing, it was dry so we didnt have any problems proceeding up to a few meters from the beach). we parked the car at tessie’s retreat place (if am not mistaken of the name) providing much needed security.

there were five of us… each had his hands full carrying things we needed… mostly food and drinks, guitar and of course, my camera gear.

we followed the trail and on the way met a bunch of beach goers going back after a day’s stay. finally reaching buri baras beach, it was such a sight… the beach was totally desserted… and the sun was slowly setting in the horizon. took this chance and here are the photos.

we truly had a great time with the talents of my friends in guitar playing and singing (one of whom is on a holiday from his stint abroad). it was like reminiscing good old times.

info: buri baras beach is located north of catbalogan, approximately nine kilometers from the city proper. upon reaching the village of sulangan, turn left to take the small road going to the wharf (this will take you to the improved unused airport). upon reaching the airport, notice a small dirt road to the left of the runway (right at the beginning of the runway) and this will take you a few meters from the beach proper. almost at the end of this dirt road, there is a resort (also a good place to unwind) called tessie’s retreat resort. the rest of the way to the beach needs to be trekked following a trail which would take at least five minutes.

cottages are available in the area (100 php) and there are small variety stores for some minor replenishment of supplies. there are also two karaoke places though i prefer to shy away from cottages near these areas as the music comes up blaring. there is no entrance fee.