The blue-green waters of the Minalahus cove enveloped my body as I jumped from our boat to access the island.

A few minutes ago, we were stuck waiting, a hundred meters from the shore, from our outrigger boat. The nearby cove was too shallow to navigate and we have to wait for the tide to rise back up. I was itching to start snorkeling; our boatman said that this was the place to do some underwater fun.

Not wanting to wait any longer, I opted to just swim all the way to the shore.

The water was opaque green and I was unable to see anything as I plunged into the waters of Caramoan. A few seconds of flapping and the water quickly turned shallow, knee-deep shallow. I slowly made my way to shore, savoring the swim.

The Minalahus seabed is covered with seagrass. Fishes do indeed abound but I didn’t see whole swarms, just a few swimming about. I also noticed a few blue starfishes and more interestingly, huge colorful sea slugs. I don’t know what these are called (turns out they were sea cucumbers) but I stayed away from them, as they look menacingly yucky, so no photographs too (I was afraid they’d suddenly shoot up from their restive position and bite my fingers off, hehe).

I arrived at the beach after some minutes. The sand here was still very fine, though not as fine as those in Matukad Island. One thing that immediately grabbed my attention was this huge rock right in the middle of the cove. It looks almost like it was left there by design. Some visitors were climbing towards its top to have their photos taken. The rock has some pretty jagged edges, so extra care must be taken if you ever plan to scale it.

Minalahus’ sandy area is not that large, I estimate you can fit two basketball courts here (maybe less) and that’s it. Everything is surrounded by towering limestone cliffs similar to those found in Coron. I’m unsure if there’s a trail or path that leads inwards to the island’s heart but I doubt there is.

I opted to go back into the water since our boat was still stranded at the mouth of the cove and all my camera gear (except my underwater one which I brought with me) were still aboard it.

I swam and photographed all I could until the battery sign started flashing. Ouch, just when I was having a grand time photographing underwater bubbles on macro mode too.

For those who prefer wading and swimming on shore, this may not be the beach for you. The seabed is full of plant life and walking over them might not be the most comfortable thing to do (besides you might even accidentally squelch a sea cucumber or two, which would be a very icky experience I would suppose).

We left just before the sun started to go below the horizon, my aunt was worried that we might encounter rough waters on the way back and she doesn’t want to get caught at sea by twilight. No sunset by the beach for me, double ouch.

 

Minalahus Island
Address: Caramoan, Camarines Sur, Bicol Region