Mt. Mag-asawang Bato Tingloy Island, Batangas

Mt. Mag-Asawang Bato is also located in Tingloy Island, Batangas. It is actually near the Masasa Beach. Masasa beach is also one of the beaches near Manila that is still not yet populated.

How to Get there:

* From Buendia Taft, ride a bus going to Batangas Grand Terminal. Fare is 157 pesos
* From the Grand Terminal ride a jeep going to Mabini and depart at Anilao Port. Fare is 37 pesos
* Once at Anilao Port look for the List from Coast Guard and list your names for you to be able to ride the boat going to Tingloy Island. They are observing a first come first serve policy.
* Boatride from Anilao Port going to Tingloy island takes an hour. Fare is 65 pesos.
*From Tingloy island, ride a tricycle going to Masasa Beach. Fare will be 15 pesos per head. This is also the jump-off for Mt. Mag-asawang Bato.

Total Fare cost (From buendia to Tingloy) = 274 pesos


Suggested Itinerary:

If you are planning to go overnight, you can first setup your tent at the beach and hike. Then enjoy the beach after. You can also ask some of the locals to take care of your things while hiking. You can leave your bags on their house. Don't worry the locals were very kind and nice.

We have one of the locals as our tour guide for the hike. We hired Kuya Berto and he is actually nice. We paid him 500 pesos for that. The hike will take around 1-2 hours depending on how fast you are and also depending on how long you are going to stay at the summit.

You can find Kuya Berto in this store.

Kuya Berto's Store

* You can also have yourself challenged by hiking at the famous Mt. Gulugod Baboy in Anilao Batangas that is also near the Anilao Port. We are about to have it the next day, but my friends were already exhausted and we decided to have a sidetrip in Tagaytay instead.

The Trail:

The trail is actually fit for beginners like us. You can have it done for about 2 hours or so.

Rocks that are stacked made by other hikers

The view <3

The Summit:

It is fulfilling seeing the summit and seeing the famous rocks at the top of Mt. Mag-Asawang Bato. You can see the breath taking view of the island. You can also see from afar the famous Puerto Galera Island.

*You can actually climb up the peak of the Rocks to enjoy the 360 degree view of the island.

My brother and my friend enjoying the peak of one of the rocks :))

Masasa Beach

After a tiring trek at Mt. Mag-asawang Bato have yourself relaxed and freshen by the cooling breeze of the waters of Masasa beach. Just a 15-20 minute walk down the beach from the Jump off point.

Here are some photos of the beach:

Stunning rock Formation at the beach :)

Masasa beach : For budget travellers

We went to Masasa beach in Tingloy Batangas last weekend (April 9-10, 2016). We have read some reviews and blogs about the place. We were excited since it is one of the beaches near Manila that is affordable and not yet crowded. So we planned our trip and make sure to have it documented for future references (wala na kasi kaming mkitang latest review sa net). So we decided to create our own. hehehe

How to get there:
From Manila, take the bus bound to Batangas pier, ask the conductor to drop you at the Grand
Terminal. We took the bus at Jam liner Terminal at Buendia Taft. The trip going to the Grand terminal took us roughly 2 hours.

Then from the Grand terminal, we rode a jeep going to Mabini, this will take almost an hour. What we know is that we will be going to Talaga port, but because it was late the jeepney driver told us to have the boatride at Anilao Port. Since they have the last trip by 4pm. We reached the port at 2pm. We waited for about two hours before we ride the boat. We had the last trip.

*You need to write your names on the list form the coast guard to have you booked for the next ride. Travel time is about an hour.

This is the boat going to Tingloy.

We arrived at around 5pm. Then we get a tricycle going to Masasa Beach. Travel time is about 15 minutes.

Finally! we reached our destination! we were so excited to look for a spot to have our tent setup. There were also numbers of tents that has been installed throughout the coast. We also expected that there's a lot of trashes everywhere coming from the irresponsible tourists.

Enjoying the Sand :))

Enjoying the view

Corals

Campsite

Sunset <3

Accomodation: 
We have brought our own tent, so the accomodation is FREE! 
But there's also some huts that you can rent for a night, the only thing is that we do not have enough time on knowing how much it is and to see how it looks. 

Things to remember:

- Bring your own water and food.  (Wala kasi mabibilhan. May mga tindahan kaso malayo at hindi ganun kakumpleto mga items na tinitinda nila.)
- Bring your own tent. Wala kaming nakita na nagpaparent ng tent.
- There's no comfort rooms. So dapat hindi kayo maarte.
- No shower rooms as well. Pero may balon dun na pede kayo maligo for free!
- Last trip ng boat pabalik sa Anilao ay 9am. Meron ding mga private boats na nagooffer ng ride pabalik after 9am. Price range 1800-2500 pesos.
- Kung balak niyo magshot sa beach. pwede naman kaso mahirap makahanap ng yelo.
- Huwag na po magkalat. Oo, madami nang basura ang masasa beach pero dapat tumulong na tayo para hindi na un lumala.
- Umalis kayo ng maaga para masulit nyo ang stay nyo dun and kung trip nyo magbundok may time pa kayo. May malapit na bundok dun, Mt. Mag-asawang bato. Pwedeng pwede niyo isama sa itinerary niyo. :)

Budget:

Bus going to Batangas                     P157.00
Jeep going to Mabini                       P37.00
Boatride going to Tingloy               P65.00
Tricycle going to Masasa beach      P15/ head

Total: P274 one way

*The trip going back to Manila will be the same route. The only thing is that, Jeepney drivers were having a short trip and they are depending on the number of passengers if they will reach the Terminal. The driver did not took us to the terminal and we rode another tricycle for P10 and the travel time is about 15 minutes.

What you can do in Masasa Beach:
Aside from swimming you can also enjoy the nature by trekking at the Mt. Mag-asawang Bato. Some of the tourists were actually adding this on their itineraries. We actually planned to go hiking and trekking in that mountain also in Mt. Gulugod Baboy. Unfortunately, we have limited time and we decided to just enjoy the beach and plan to go back to those stuff. I will definitely share the experience once we get back. :))