Lakad Pilipinas

The first island we visited during our stay at Dasol was one that can clearly be seen from the Tambobong beach, the petite Collibra Islet.

It is a 20-minute or so ride via fishing boats from the mainland.  Island tours are priced at P800 per boat, seems a a bit expensive, but it can load up to seven passengers and can be at your disposal for the whole day if you wish, so price is justified.  Be sure to bring food and water along as you won’t get any from the islands you’ll be visiting.

From afar, you can clearly see a ring of white sand surrounding the island, making it look like a perfect place to lounge by its beach. Upon closer inspection though, what looks like fine sand is really a mixture of sandy and stony shores. There are places where the sand is fine, but you better bring your own parasol if you plan to stay long as there are hardly any trees growing near the shoreline and the sun can get hot pretty fast without a shade. 

The island can be fully explored in less than thirty minutes, it being just around a hundred and fifty meters across. It looks a bit like a small hill in the middle of the sea with its top part chopped off. The twelve-foot elevated middle part looking like some  sort of plateau with dried up plants (probably due to the intense El Niño weather the country is experiencing) and the surrounding lower parts, a mix of craggy rocks and fine sand coves.

I saw a few bonfire remnants along the top part of the island, indicating that more adventurous travelers can camp upon the isle.

The northern part of the island, the one facing Tambobong, is where the sand is, but after exploring a bit of Collibra, we found a really good spot at its western end. This was where we spent a good hour swimming and snorkeling. The beach slopes gradually but gets pretty deep on some parts.  Really nice place for a swim; its water, warm and crystal clear. My only beef though was that there were but a few fishes we saw when we snorkeled.