An overnight stay at Crystal Beach, Zambales

My family and some relatives booked two cottages for an overnight stay at this resort last May. We've visited the place numerous times since I was in high school. The owner is a half-brother of my tito, my tita's hubby so we usually stay for free or get huge discounts on the room rates.

The beach is a well known surfers' haven. It's an eight hectare family owned-property, so no one has to worry about the next-door resort's guests spilling over to this resort's beach front.It has well-spaced cottages, numerous public toilets & showers, a powdery gray-cream sandy beach, a pawikan sanctuary, a restaurant that serves really affordable set meals, surfboards for rent, and surfing tutorials.

Driving to this beach resort is faster and easier now with the SCTEX as an alternative route.

Some of us had to go on half-day from work, another had a dental appointment in the afternoon so we had to drive in three different vehicles and left Metro Manila at different times.Our van left QC at around 8am and arrived around 2:30PM.

While traversing San Marcelino, Zambales, my brother, sister and the two kids who were with us, and I could'nt believe our eyes when we saw something, we could see it was an animal in flight in the middle of the highway but it was so huge, it almost spanned the entire road, our minds couldn't process what we were seeing, we couldn't identify what kind of animal it was! It had white wings, that looked like a huge bat's patagium, it had a very hairy body, no tail, it was so heavy it looked like it had difficulty lifting itself while flying. I asked them "Is that a bat or a bird?" They couldn't tell me for sure, we had goosebumps seeing it. My brother even stated. "Manananggal ba yan?" and drove faster wanting to catch a closer look.This was around 2PM in broad daylight. There were three kids along the highway that were pointing curiously at it. I was about to bring my phonecam out of my bag but it suddenly swooped to the left of the road and disappeared among the trees. Up to this day, we couldn't say exactly what we saw that afternoon.

We arrived at Crystal Beach just around 2.30PM.

We were met by the attendants and were showed to the cottages we booked, Tower of Luke and Cottage Job. The cottages have biblical names, owing to the fact that the owner used to be a Christian pastor, and the resort, before it became a surfer's beach, used to be a retreat center and was favored by religious groups as a venue for fellowship and prayer gatherings. In the early '80s no liquor was allowed in the premises. The sand also had high content of silicates, which made the sand shimmer with crystals, thus the name Crystal Beach. After the Pinatubo eruption and the ensuing ashfall, the crystals are not that noticeable anymore.

The rooms had airconditioning, towels and beddings were also provided but no soap or shampoo were included.

Since our group arrived in the place first we had first dibs in choosing the better cottage to stay in.

My officemates and I booked the same cottage in 2007, and I enjoyed the view on the 2nd floor balcony and the hammock then, so I preferred to stay in Tower of Luke.

The House of Job was a bungalow type, it had a concrete foundation and walls, with bamboo and wood as finishing, with capiz sliding windows and nipa roof, The shower and toilet was newer and better appointed there but my sister and I decided in behalf of our other sisters to stay at Tower of Luke instead. We let the guys in the family stay at Job.

The day was cloudy so we had an enjoyable time frolicking on the beach.

The water was rough and the waves were really harsh. My brothers and cousins had to transfer to a nearby beach so they can have their surfing lessons the next day. The instructor said the waves were too rough for beginners.

After our swim, my tita's van arrived before 6PM. We had a great time grilling pork-chops and eggplants with chopped tomatoes and onions.We also broiled big bangus and made a a brothy sinigang na baboy.

We brought our butane-fueled stove so we didn't have to pay for the 350peso rental for the resort's gas stove.

There was a shed made for grilling so it was there where we prepared the food.

We waited for the 3rd car to arrive because it was the third group who had the cooked rice. We had a hard time stopping ourselves from eating most of our ulam, and we laughingly chanted "KANIN" while waiting for the cooked rice to arrive.

We finally had our cooked rice at around 8PM.

That was really funny.

I'm still waiting for my brother, who has since returned to Singapore to post our jump shot pics and their surfing pics.