The sea was sparklingly green and the sky, a deep cobalt blue. On the horizon, an island emerges, blinding white sand encircling its fringes. We went to Dasol on the trail end of a storm—the sky gray, and the sun, persistently hiding beneath a thick blanket of clouds.
Beautiful weather was the last thing we expected as we rode an outrigger boat and headed for a Dasol island hopping adventure from Tambobong Beach.
The sun was about to set but there was no sun. The waves were slamming with force at the sandy banks of the beach and there were uprooted sea grass everywhere you look. It was the rainy season but we have a long weekend to spare. With a very beery deliberation, it was decided that our feet was to be led to Dasol’s Tambobong Beach in Pangasinan.
The road was still as bumpy as I remembered it to be. It seemed doubly so now that I’m traversing it using a tricycle we rented at the Burgos Market and it was muddy due to the previous night’s rain.
I learned that the road to Dasol would finally be paved just before the year ends, in preparation for the first ever Asin Festival that was to be held near Tambobong Beach.
Everyone’s crossing their fingers for this to finally come true.
But that was two years ago on my first visit to Dasol, a very short daytrip due to work schedule. I was longingly looking out the window at the setting sun back then, knowing I had no choice but to turn my back to it. This time, I am ready for Tambobong’s sunset.
Well, sort of.
An excursion to a beach would not be complete for me without me walking as far as I can on its shoreline. I usually do my beach strolls the next morning after arrival when I have just wakened from a refreshing night’s sleep and the previous day’s lengthy travel is just a dim memory.
If you ever plan to drive through the twisting rough roads of Dasol, Pangasinan and visit the far-flung beaches of Tambobong for an overnighter, there is literally only one place you can stay in, the Matabang Beach Resort.
The resort is owned and personally operated by a retired husband and wife tandem of Mr. Sherwin and Heyse 
The second island we explored after our swim at the diminutive Colibra Island was the nearby rocky isle of Balas Nagtaros. We were here to visit the Cabacungan Cave and it took around twenty minutes via our rented boat to get from Colibra to the island.
The island looks craggy from afar, and indeed, it proved to be one as our boat’s engine was killed and our boy co-captain started maneuvering the craft by swimming and pushing the entire boat into its rock-strewn shore.
I was amazed at what that little sunburnt kid could do.
The first islet we visited during our island hopping adventure in Dasol, Pangasinan was the one that can clearly be seen from Tambobong Beach, the petite Colibra Island. The island’s name is pretty confusing. Some call it Culebra, sometimes Snake Island (the area is frequented by sea snakes before).
It’s a twenty-minute or so ride via fishing boats from the mainland. Island tours are priced at Php800.00 per boat; seems 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 I guess the price is justified. Be sure to bring food and water along as you won’t get any from the islands you’ll be visiting.
It was our yearly family excursion and while we usually frequent the shores of Bataan for these activities, this year we went a bit way off and tried an unknown cove in Dasol, Pangasinan. A cousin recently discovered this beach thru 
With all the preparation set, we departed Manila at midnight and arrived at Pangasinan at daybreak. The beach was still way off from the main highway and it took us a good hour and a half of sparsely paved road before reaching the fishing village of Tambobong.
