Crystal Beach: Quick camping fix

And an excuse to take a shiny, red pickup truck on a roadtrip.

We were toying with the idea of visiting the municipalities around Laguna de Bay. But the planning was a bit too tedious. So, we ditched the plan and opted to visit Crystal Beach in San Narciso, Zambales instead.

After a few U-turns, shouting bouts with the GPS, almost driving through a couple of boats straight to the sea, and waking up a fishing community in the process because the truck was stuck in soft sand, we finally made it to Crystal Beach at 5 in the morning. By the way, for some reason Google Maps shown the shore as a road. With everyone of us not knowing where to go, we naturally followed Google maps and ended up almost kissing the sea. See the tire tracks here? We went all the way. The moon was so bright it looked perfect for a melodramatic suicide scene.

The guard accommodated us and assisted us in choosing the spot to pitch our tents at. We were the first to arrive and the place was deserted.  Camping rate is at P150 per head. It was dark and we all decided to catch some sleep first. When the sun rose and and shone, we went ahead and bought food supplies from the town's market.

First agenda of the day: Brunch. It's a good thing that my friends are great at cooking! Camping is always better when you are with people who cook really well and who come up with not just the usual camp food. A particular person who made several bowls of leche flan at the campsite in Mt. Pulag came up often in the conversation. Gusto ko na sya makilala. As usual, since  I am admittedly not good at anything related with food preps, the only help I gave was to stay away 🙂

It was a big brunch of tuyo, sauteed hotdogs, sinigang na isda, and scrambled eggs!

The harsh midday sun made it hard for us to resist the ice-cold beer in the chest.

We had a great campsite. We were on a spot covered by the pine trees, with a long table to fit of all of us right smack in the middle, a couple of steps away near the restroom, with a hammock hanging nearby, right beside the pump for washing, and with a grilling area right at the back.

The sun finally decided to simmer down a bit and it was time to swim!

Farther along the shore, the sand was even finer. I'm fine with any color as long as the grains are..well, fine. 🙂 Walking barefoot on soft sand is enough to make me feel that I certainly am on vacation. At the far end of the shore, we found the place where fresh water meets the sea. 

It instantly turned into our very own infinity pool, complete with crabs for our entertainment. We made fun by splashing water at small crabs. They looked funny at eye-level.