We took advantage of the 3-day holiday we had last April 1-3 and packed our bags then headed straight to the land of Sweet Mangoes – Zambales. It was hot but for all we care. T’was the sense of adventure that we felt that even the scorching sun won’t prevent us from going. Besides, this is our chance to get out of the pressures our job entails.

First stop, Potipot Island. A small island located in Uacon, Zambales. With its white sands along its shores and the blue sea and green trees, this island will leave you in awe. You can clearly see the life under the water without submerging yourself. Well you can see more of course if you do. Anyway, we spent the night in Potipot and slept in tents.

The disadvantage though in going to Potipot during this time (holidays) is that there are many people that come and go. Madami din kasing ibang mga dayo na pumupunta dun. But the sad part of this trip to Potipot is that you will feel sorry for the island. You can see how the island is slowly being commercialized and how tourists treat it.

It is not bad to have other people visit the island. As long as they preserves the ecosystem and doesn’t destroy anything on the island. It’s ok to get starfish and be amazed then return them in the sea. What is NOT okay is if you start catching them then lay them in a plastic and sprinkle it with salt and leave it under the sun. Ano ‘yan daing? Kung ikaw kaya i-daing ano kaya mararamdaman mo?

This is just one of the many things that I was able to observe visiting Potipot. Others includes clearing out some trees to have rooms for cottages that can be rented by tourists, people walking through some corals, collecting jellyfish for fun, catching small fish just so he can get applause from other visiting tourist and get some sort of “Wow! Ang galing naman niyang mangisda!” remarks. Iiissshh!

Anyways, despite all of these, we were still amazed with the beauty of the island. And below are some of our photos we took.