I recently contributed my own favorite Philippine beach on Inflight Traveler Magazine’s summer issue. The list was quite diverse, with contributors checking in at famous beach places like Baler, Bantayan, Calaguas, Apo Island and Coron, but there were a few who chose more off-beat beaches in El Nido, Dingalan and Masbate. I picked someplace in between, a beach close enough to Manila but still a challenge to visit for the casual tourists—the Tambobong Beach in Dasol, Pangasinan.

”Located near the western tip of the municipality of Dasol in the province of Pangasinan, Tambobong Beach boasts of a two-kilometer long fine white sand beach. The area is a bit off-the grid, one needs to endure a dusty and bumpy hour-long dirt road track from the Burgos’ main highway. The drive is definitely worth it though. The beach is protected by a cove, so the water is calm and extremely clear; perfect for swimming and snorkeling. The seabed slopes gently and transitions from sand to grass to corals as you go further from shore.

There are hardly any tourists during off-peak season except for a few locals and fishing boats docked on the shore. And these boats you can actually rent to visit the nearby islets of Colibra, Crocodile and Balas Nagtaros where more beaches, both fine and rough, awaits. There’s also the Balinmanok Wreck, a sunken ship relatively near the beach where you can snorkel around before coming back to shore. Tambobong Beach’s another unique feature is that it curves northwards, so it is possible to view both sunrise and sunset along its shoreline.”

~ INFLIGHT TRAVELLER MAGAZINE IS AVAILABLE ON MAJOR NEWSSTANDS NATIONWIDE.

MY BEACH OF CHOICE

ALSO CONTRIBUTED A PHOTO OF PASS ISLAND IN BUSUANGA