WELCOME TO PAPAYA ISLAND
NASUGBU, BATANGAS

On a summer morning of June 1^st, me and my high school friends had a spontaneous trip to Papaya island cove's located in Nasugbu, Batangas. The reason of our trip was because of two of my best friends went home from Canada and Kansas after 2 years of residing there. Despite of only staying there for a couple of days, we had a bunch of memories made that we will remember. 

The night before June 1^st, we all gathered in Rhapsody located in Sucat, Muntinlupa City where my other friend lives. Our rented van fetched us there where we all met up. The van we have rented was included already in the package we found in Facebook. The said package deal we purchased costs 999 pesos per person, that included our accommodation on the island, breakfast and lunch, van for land travel and the boat to reach the island itself. We left the city at around 3am, had a short stop-over to buy snacks and to also use the bathroom. We reached Nasugbu at roughly around 5am and waited for our boat that brought us to the island. While we were waiting, we enjoyed the beautiful view of nature and took some pictures for memories.

I took the photo

The boat arrived at 5:30 in the morning, left the shore at 5:45 and had a thirty-minute ride going to the island. We reached our kubo safely at around 6:10am, it was just a half hour of travel but we felt like it was hours of being in the middle of the ocean. The locals gave us a warm welcome upon arrival; helped us with our bags and prepared hot coffee for us. After a light breakfast, we already headed out to a secluded part of the island where we fed fishes. After the short fish feeding, we immediately continued to the next activity: snorkeling. This one’s my favorite part of all because I saw different sea creatures in real life. We even got to see fishes that we don’t know and some enormous starfish. Next was the cliff diving, (which I didn’t even dare to try) but maybe next time I could be strong enough to jump. It was overall a great experience for all of us, even for me who’s just watching my friends climbing and jumping the high cliff. After the tiring activities in the sea, we got to eat some good food the locals prepared for us. We were very grateful for how hospitable they are; even gave us sweet watermelons for dessert. 

magnificent creation

boodle fight for lunch

The night came and we were exhausted and we just wanted to lay down and rest. But one of our friends suggested having a bonfire so we all agreed on it. Beach outings aren't really that fun when there are no kwentuhans along the seashore while seating in front of a bonfire. We had a lot of laughs and memories were made; as the night gets deep, the talks get deeper and serious.At this moment, I realized how to value friends and time because we can't take any of it back. But our memories will always remain in our hearts even when we get old, even we are not always together. 

The island was beautiful but our bond was the best.

bonfire and chill

photo shoot after cliff diving