08 March 2009

Bagasbas Beach

A long overdue entry.

Bagasbas Beach was one of the places I enjoyed in my visit to Camarines Norte last February 9-12. Because Daet's a pretty quiet town, there wasn't much to do at night except hang out at the beach. So after dinner at Mr. Chinese Magic Man's restaurant in our first night in Cam Norte, the six of us (Dickie, Michelle, Dante, Robin, Joel and me) headed for Bagasbas Beach.

The place was a little deserted when we got there, which was surprising. I was kind of expecting more people to be enjoying the sea breeze at that time. I'd kill to have a beach near my place, and the Daet folks are lucky to be living near one.

The cold wind stung my face a little and I was glad I had worn a light jacket because I get cold easily. Our group spent several minutes just marveling at the scary waves. Bagasbas Beach is a surfing and kite boarding haven for local and foreign surfers alike and apparently holds the title of 61st surfing destination in the world (Dante read aloud this piece of information from a flyer on Daet as we wolfed down the laing in Central Plaza Restaurant earlier that evening).

It turns out we were just a day late in witnessing an annual kite boarding competition. Too bad. I would have wanted to see that. Bagasbas Beach is, they say, a good place for newbie surfers--although the big waves I saw that night didn't look newbie-ish in my opinion. Haha. (Surfing--one of those things I have yet to try. My officemate Cecil and I are dying to learn surfing one of these days but we're still checking out cheap packages and the ideal time for us to go on leave from work.)

Anyway, the guys, especially Dickie, were craving for a beer and some chips. So we walked along the beach strip to look for some munchies and drinks. The place isn't like Boracay's White Beach which is crammed with restaurants, bars and shopping stalls--and that was just fine with me. I liked the solitary, raw look and feel of Bagasbas. And even if the small, dimly-lit bars along the beach looked a little run-down (probably because of the strong winds), the entire place had its own charm.

There was a sari-sari store right across the place where we parked, and Dante, Michelle and I volunteered to get the drinks. I forgot the name of the place, but it was managed by this amazing old lady who was sewing under poor lighting conditions as she ran the store. Before we decided on our orders, I watched her as she steadily inserted a sliver of thread into the eye of a needle and started doing some complicated stitching. She looked 85 years old and still had better eyesight than me.

As I wasn't in Manila, I didn't expect the place to sell vodka and the like. So beer was the choice drink of the night.

"Anim na San Mig Light po," Dante said to the old lady.

I made a face. Never liked San Mig Light Beer. I'm not a beer person at all and I prefer the taste of tequila or vodka or wine. But if I had to drink beer, I'd choose something other than San Mig Light. So I inquired if there were other beer beverages.

The old lady peeped into the ref and recited, "San Mig Pilsen, San Mig Light, Colt 45, Red Horse--"

"Red Horse," I answered promptly. "I want Red Horse too," Michelle added.

For a second there, Dante stared at us women like he was gauging our beer-drinking capabilities and then turned to the old lady. "Uh, apat na San Mig Light at dalawang Red Horse po," he said.

So the men ended up drinking the girly beer while us girls had Red Horse.

(Red Horse. Yum. I haven't had one in a very long time. It was my favorite beer back in college and of course, it got me way tipsy on several occasions. On one school night, a friend and I made a bet on who could finish 1 liter of Red Horse first. So he parked his car in Shell, and we bought ourselves a 1-liter bottle of Red Horse each. I won the bet. Well, I nearly retched outside Shell Select, but still, I won.)

I was thankful that the Red Horse beer made my body feel all warm because Bagasbas Beach really had some mean winds. While the others ate balut (I was so inggit, but I didn't need those extra calories) and drank beer, I watched as a few children played tag in the sand as the waves crashed onto the shore.

The entire shoreline wasn't that long and it was the perfect spot for running. I was itching to run. Brought my running shoes with me, actually, in case there was an opportunity to run. I asked Robin jokingly if he was willing to drive me to Bagasbas Beach the next morning at around 5am so I could run, and he wasn't too hot on the idea. Haha. The others teased me, saying that I could run from our hotel to Bagasbas (which was a 6K distance), then run along the shore, and run back to Jollibee in time for breakfast. Haha. Sounded like a good plan actually, although I knew the UN Dept. of Safety and Security would have a fit if they found out I was running on the deserted roads of Daet alone at an ungodly hour.

We went back to Bagasbas Beach the next night to have dinner in Kusina ni Angel. The grilled seafood was super delicious--and super cheap! Dickie insisted on paying for the entire group, and when the bill arrived, the total bill was like 900 pesos. Nine hundred bucks for a dinner of six which consisted of various seafood including large prawns. The price is completely unheard of.

Given the opportunity, I'd go back to Daet just for Bagasbas Beach. I owe myself a run. And it won't hurt to have a cold bottle of Red Horse too.

Here's my lopsided take on Bagasbas Beach from the car during one of those mornings.

3 comments:

  1. hey gina girl! i think i've been there. on one of the site visits too. does it have a breakwater like what we have on roxas blvd? must be that. i remember the WAVES.

    ms let and i (and the agency girls and mang abe!) had the best halo-halo somewhere then we killed time sitting on the breakwater and listening to mang abe's kwento about married life and how "malaki ang ari-arian niya" (wink, wink). hahaha!

    but no alcohol for us. we were such pa-tweetums. hahaha!

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  2. Yup, it had a breakwater! You and Ms. Lelet must have caught the beach at a good time dahil nakapag halo-halo pa kayo. Yum. When we were there, it was just too cold for halo-halo. Haha. We hung out at the breakwater as well, just chatting and looking at the waves, which were incredible. I promise to go back there someday.

    Grabe si Mang Abe mag-advertise ng worldly possessions nya ha! =P

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  3. Anonymous1:57 PM

    I've been there honey, lets go back for the red beer and seafoods.



    after we run of course.
    I LOVE YOU...

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