Beach Bumming

Visit to Puraran beach

PURARAN was the first of three beaches that my family visited during a trip to Catanduanes in August to attend a bonyag (baptism) in Baras, my mother's hometown. The bonyag coincided with the town fiesta.

The visit to the beach came as a break from feasting on steamed fish, chop suey, morcon and buko salad at Tia Glor's house, a bungalow beside the courtyard of the St. Lawrence the Martyr Church.

After a 20-minute ride on a pickup, our group of six reached a cluster of houses some 100 meters above sea level. Below us lay a stretch of white sand and the blue waters of the Pacific.

A short drive down a concrete access road brought us to the beach.

My daughter Mayi, all of 20 months old, shrieked with delight the moment she touched the water. We did not plan on letting her go into the water, but we changed our mind so as not to disappoint her.

And so Mayi experienced her first dip in the ocean with only a diaper on. She joined three village children whose father was spearfishing nearby.

The water was so clear one could see the tiny shells at the bottom. It was low tide.

As I watched the children frolic in the water, along came a Puraran resident lugging a yellow surfboard. He had just finished riding the waves and was on his way home.

Surfing came to Puraran, where the waves break on the coral reef some 200 meters from the shore, in the late 1970s. It was introduced by Australian national Mark Lawless, who "discovered" the village as a surfing area.

Since then, 20 Puraran residents have picked up the sport. Two of them have become champions. One won in the Cloud 9 surfing competition in Siargao, Surigao del Norte, and the other in the Quick Silver surfing contest in La Union.

Edgar Tanael is typical of a villager who learned surfing from a visitor. He said Peter Sutton, also Australian, taught him the sport in 1981 when he was 13 years old. The Australian left him a surfboard.

The surfing season, which starts in September and ends in November, draws surfers from such countries as Australia, the United States, Germany, Holland, Finland and Japan, according to Tanael.

They get excited when a storm is coming. "Foreigners want a low-pressure area because of the big waves it brings," Tanael said.

Some foreigners plot the path of a low-pressure area even if it is still in the Marianas, 1,000 kilometers away.

"Guests go to Virac (the capital town 30 km away) and use the Internet to get the latest weather reports," Tanael said.

Waves of 8-10 feet

Some go to Puraran a week before a typhoon is expected to pass the island-province. "When the typhoon doesn't come, they get heartbroken," Tanael said. But when it does, they enjoy waves of 8-10 feet.

Not that waves are the only attraction of Puraran. Peace and quiet and a stunning view work their magic on visitors.

At the time of our visit, there were a number of foreigners in Puraran, including an Australian who was on the flight that took me, my wife, daughter and mother from Manila to Virac. Another guest, a Japanese, had been staying at the beach for two months. There was also an American from Hawaii and a Briton, who brought his Filipino wife and kids.

"They just love the peace and quiet here," said Tanael as he showed me a well-thumbed copy of the "Lonely Planet" travel guide on the Philippines, which describes Puraran as a surfing site.

When not surfing, visitors can go fishing and snorkeling. Those who go trawling can catch turingan, durado, malasugi and barracuda. Inland, they can visit the Gigmoto Falls and the Balakay caves of Baras.

Despite the competition from other resorts in the country, foreigners enamored of Puraran don't want the place "developed."

Their wish has largely been fulfilled. More than 20 years after a foreigner first rode its waves, Puraran remains idyllic. There are no honky-tonk bars. No speedboats. No swimming pools. No peddlers.

The only structures are the three huts on the beach and a number of cottages. A volleyball net is strung between two bamboo poles.

Puraran's small community of fishermen and farmers relocated to the side of a mountain, along the road overlooking the ocean, after huge waves spawned by a typhoon demolished their dwellings.

The restaurant that a Japanese businessman built in the 1980s on a rocky outcrop was not spared. Neither were the first cottages, which had to be rebuilt farther from the shore.

Of the cottages, seven are operated by the Majestic Beach Resort and four by the Puting Baybay Resort. "These are not enough to cater to the tourists," said Domingo Joson, Jr., a visitor from Manila who was on his "second honeymoon."

A room costs 300 pesos per person daily. With meals, the fee goes up to 500 pesos. Short orders at the canteen, named the Majestic Restaurant by foreigners, are reasonably priced. A pancake costs 40 pesos; an omelet, 35 pesos; a cheese-and-tomato sandwich, 25 pesos; San Miguel Beer, 20 pesos; Coke, 15 pesos; and tea, 10 pesos.

How does one get to Puraran? From Virac, one can take a jeep bound for Gigmoto for 25 pesos. Hiring a tricycle costs between 350 and 500 pesos. To get to Virac from Manila, one can take a plane for 1,728 pesos. Asian Spirit flies to the town daily.

Our next stop after Puraran was Igang Beach in Virac, a 15-minute drive from the commercial center. This time we were a group of 18, half of whom were children, including a newly christened baby girl.

The beach has a single hut, sitting under a canopy of trees, where we deposited our things. This time Mayi was wearing her fuschia swimsuit.

Not far from us were several men casting a panke (net). Like in Puraran, waves break on a coral reef some 200 meters from the shore of Igang.

While we were frolicking in the water that afternoon a ferry appeared on the horizon. It was on its way to the port of Virac from Tabaco, Albay.

The next day we hied off to a white-sand beach lined with coconut trees in Marilima, also in Virac, a 25-minute drive from the commercial center.

We were offered fresh buko juice as welcome refreshment at the Kosta Alcantara Beach Resort.

The resort has an imposing two-story rest house with an anahaw roof. The rest house has a bar, a dining hall with hardwood tables and chairs, a chapel, air-conditioned rooms and a terrace.

The resort's biggest attraction is the majestic view of Mt. Mayon across the water.