Overnight camping in Kalanggaman Island

The only sound we could hear in the vast ocean was the roaring of the motorboat. The captain on its wheel, maneuvering the vessel smoothly.

Nobody attempted to speak or talk. Everyone was already weary from the past two days of strenous activities, hopping from island to island and town to town. Saving all the energies left for the final activity.

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The sun's setting down. The skies turning into a golden color. Everywhere I look, I see gold! My favorite time of the day. Of course I couldn't let it pass without capturing its gloriousness. And then out of nowhere a dolphin came out swimming into the sun's direction. We were elated at the sight of the sea creature. But as the sun sets down, so was the disappearance of the dolphin. As per the boatmen, it's not a rare sight in the vicinity, they can be seen around the island especially in the afternoon.

A few minutes later, we finally arrived at our destination - Kalanggaman Island. After months of anticipation, I finally got to step on the long stretch of the island's sandbar. This is it. We are really camping in an island in the middle of the ocean. It's a bit scary and exciting at the same time. Hello! We are in the middle of the ocean and the boatmen already left us, the captain said he'll come back for us the following day. We we're like castaways. We were left there carrying our bags, foods that we brought from the market, two camping tents, two 5 liters drinking water and two 10 liters of water for washing off or cooking. We were on our own. No guides to help us.

The island has no electricity and the water comes from the ocean. Good thing we decided not to cook our dinner or else we would end up eating in the dark.

Visitors or campers in the island is also limited. They don't allow overbooking to protect the island and to avoid overcrowding. So we were one of the lucky ones who got in the list. Yey!

I didn't attempt to help in the setting up of the tent, I'm not good at it. So I took the task of preparing our foods for dinner which is basically just getting it out of the plastics. Haha. Since we didn't achieve the sunset in the island, we decided to camp on the area where the sun will rise. And it's also the area with less ants! They are everywhere!!! Maybe that's why it's called Kalanggaman because there are lots of ants inhabiting the island.

Actually, it was our second set up. We initially set up our tent in the shaded area near a shanty but after setting it up, some of the campers moved away. We thought it's for the better, so we can have the shanty by ourselves. Then suddenly we heard a sound. A gecko's sound!! It's in the shanty beside us. So we immediately moved out. We cannot risk getting jumped by it (if it jumps or whatever). I told you it's exciting and scary in the island. Haha

So when we we're finally settled in the not so shaded part of the island, we prepared for dinner. After dinner, we went to the middle part of the island to wash off and also check if there's bonfire set up. Unfortunately, there was no bonfire.

It was still early for bed so we decided to rent out a lounge chair where we can lay and stargaze. There's nothing much to do in the island at night. Reception is also bad in the island so mobile phones are basically of no use.

We grabbed the opportunity to catch up without interruptions since we have no mobile phones in hand. When we were out of things to talk to, we just lay there and look up at the astonishing sight above us. That night we were blessed with clear skies and gazillion stars. I was hoping to see a shooting star or even a falling star so I could make a wish. I saw some but was always too late to make a wish. Haha.

Hours passed and I was still fighting the urge to sleep as that was a rare moment that I want to savor. The others went inside the tent to sleep. When it got chilly and I was left outside, I joined them inside. I also remembered we still have to wake up early for the sunrise.

I am not a morning person
I never get up, as in never, on my alarm - even in snooze. So it was a struggle for me to wake up and get out of the tent early in the morning to catch up the sunrise. But that morning, I woke up early. Just in time for the sunrise.

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I came to appreciate the beauty of the island when morning came. We were on the side of the long stretch of sandbar. I took a walk up to the end part of the sandbar. The sand in the island wasn't powdery white, it was offwhite rough sand. But still beautiful. I got absorbed at looking for nice seashells and other interesting things along the sandbar, when I went back, breaksfast was already prepared.

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After breakfast, our group decided to tour the whole island. Since we were already on the other end of the island, we took a long walk to the other side. At the other end of the island, there was a resort being built. We saw a number of 7ft tall wood pyramid.

As per the caretaker, someone bought that part of the island and turning it to a resort. The pyramids will be the tent like accomodation for the guests. It was a wonderful idea but I was saddened by that news. It slowly losing its virginity. I'm glad I got to experience it before it become commercialized. I hope they don't ruin the island. Also, when the resort opens, that part of the island will become private. I was curious why that part, when there are other parts much better than it. The answer was on the end of the resort. As we went to explore the end part of the island, we saw another sandbar slowly disappearing. The caretaker said it only appear during low tide. We got there minutes before high tide. We asked if we could still go there, he said it's not advisable because the water goes up fast, if we are not a good swimmer might as well not push it. But two brave friends went to it. They had the sandbar to themselves. While the rest stayed and swim, we also saw sea urchins. There are lots of sea urchins in the island. They said we can eat it but I did not dare. We're too far away from the hospital to risk getting food poisoned or something.
A few pictures we took during the morning tour.

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We got picked up before lunch. As I have said there's nothing much to do in the island. I wished there were water activities like snorkeling or scuba diving.

I took a few more photos and when I was satisfied, I settled at my seat and look at the island as it fade away from my sight.