Situated at the far north-eastern part of
Marinduque is Maniuaya Island, the paradise at large that is ironically small on the map. Saying it’s underrated is probably an understatement. I’m
afraid I could not give justice picking the proper adjectives there is to describe it, thus, it’s still best if you’ll see it yourself and give it the praise it deserves, as doing such is way too
out of my expertise. However, to put things in their simplest forms, let's get to a common notion on its main asset: the beach.
Fresh
from a tiring cave stretch we previously had, we jumped our way to this haven with a boat
chartered exclusively for the group, at late past noontime. Since I never had
any overnight island experience prior to this, I have nothing to compare
the experience with. But my hopes were sky-high that this would be an excellent one merely by considering the distance we had to travel just to reach this one. We were practically miles away from the busy city streets and I could help but imagine the raw beauty waiting for us at the end of the stride.
As
soon as the boat pulled off, the vibe was great with clear skies decorated with the searing sun and the breeze leaving a cooling skin touch. The waves were awesomely cool and occasionally challenging at the
same time gracing us with a bumpy ride. I was too restless and sleepy at
that moment out of tiredness but the ride was too good to
lose a glance at. So I was practically all-eyes all throughout the voyage
merrily feasting my eyes with the amazingly clear turquoise waters. We were
merrily feeling the breeze and unbelievably praising the crystal clear waters as we stride and in about an hour, our feet were finally chasing
the island’s mix of fine and sugary but white sands.
We
arrived at the unspoiled and obscured destination just in the nick of
time for the golden hour. The plan was to leave this island the next day before the clock’s hands strike the top of the hour, thus we made it to the point not to miss the grand sunset. The sun was still up but was fast approaching the horizon in a few minutes. Inevitably, we captured some moments as the sun was ghastly setting. Well enough, we did get one hell of a good shoot.
Comes
night-time and enough of the beach course, the adventure was totally
not over yet. The night was dark but full of adventures as we celebrated
ourselves with a bottle of "light", a
handful of laughs, and music under the cloudless sky. The next day came, and we never had
enough of the island’s offers yet thus we had another round of beach
exploration before packing up.
Despite
such short stay, I could say that the island itself was great, much to relaxation
and serenity it has purportedly shown me. We could have stayed there a little
longer but our itinerary points us to leave before lunchtime.
