Huzzah, it’s my first beach trip of the year!

Are you familiar with the “Titas of Manila”?  If not, this Manila Times article, this Buzzfeed list and the official Titas of Manila Twitter page should get you up to speed.

Although technically, only A is the legitimate “Tita” (aunt) in our group, we – C, N and myself – find ourselves at that age where we relate more to the older generation than the younger one.  Case in point: late last month in our chat room these girls were itching to go to the beach but dreaded the party scene that seems to be inescapable when you hit the sands.  By the time I logged on to the chat room (I turn off the internet during work – how Tita is that?), they had somehow already found a place and booked a room for a night.  It was decided that we were going to Puerto Galera, a place where only N had been to before, but we’re going to stay in Talipanan – the Tita-est beach of them all.  I didn’t want to drive all the way to Batangas Pier because honestly, traffic on the South Luzon Expressway sucks during the summer weekends and the overnight parking fee at the port was more expensive than the roundtrip bus fare.  I consulted Ph-Commute on directions to go there because unlike my companions who met up at the DLTB bus line in Taft, I was came from Alabang South Station.

Traffic wasn’t too bad and I arrived at the Batangas Pier earlier than the others.  Truth be told, I was kind of freaked out by the amount of people who amassed at the port, because they all seemed to be going to our destination.  There were a lot of young things bearing their fedora hats and selfie sticks.  I couldn’t help but compare our very chillax experience to Cagbalete. 
Aside from the crowd, another concern of mine was the fact that we were going to ride a ferry to Puerto Galera because I puked my guts out the last time I was on one.  Thank goodness that the boat Gallerian lines (the only line allowed to dock in Talipanan) wasn’t air conditioned so I didn’t get too seasick.  Or maybe it was the Bonamin that C bought for me that helped, I dunno.

When we arrived in Talipanan, all of my fears of the beach being too crowded disappeared.  All of the good things about Talipanan are probably all of the bad things about it: there weren’t as many establishments, there were fewer activities to be done on this side of the island, and there were definitely fewer people.  While the Talipanan beach strip probably wasn’t as long as the strip on White beach, we probably had more space on the sand per person in Talipanan if you put it in to the person/space occupied on the beach ratio.

Because of our limited time on the island, we opted to forgo sleeping in and woke up super early to go swim, LOL.  Hey, we hit two birds with one stone by avoiding the sun and the crowds.  We only spent about twenty-four hours in Puerto Galera and while I could’ve used more beach bumming time – you know, just parking a bench in front of the sea and staring into nothing – it was still a very refreshing trip.  I’d definitely want to go back and stay longer.

Here’s our itinerary and expenses: