Burdeos, Quezon

Our trip to Burdeos (part of Pililio Island) in Quezon was my first beach backpacking trip with my newly upgraded Fujifil X-T10 (from Nikon D3200). Managing my expectations, I did not really thought much about this trip. It's just the normal "go to the beach, relax, tinker with the camera and shoot" kind of weekend. Never did I thought that it has surprises hidden behind its sleeves.

Let's just skip to the daylight beach and island life. Let me show you what this island has in store for us as the sun went down.

Let's count to three.

#1. Thor's day at the beach

There are numerous islands at this part of Burdeos, but we chose to camp at Pandanan Island. I chose to hang my hammock on a small open hut facing the seashore. As I prepared to go for a shut eye, I set up my tripod, focused my camera at the stilted house by the sea and set its interval shooting at one shot per 30 seconds with 30 seconds exposure each for a total of 15 shots (with 30 seconds gap per shot). 

f/5, 30 sec., ISO 1600, 52mm (5/14/2016 8:29 PM)

It was starting to drizzle that night and I just slid inside my hammock and took a nap. The roaring thunder and occasional lightning woke me up then I realized I left my camera on interval. I scanned through the shots and as it turned out, I got this one - my first time to capture lightning! 

Sea of Clouds

Many are enthused to try mountaineering in order to witness the elusive sea of clouds. I know this because I too was curious. Mt. Pulag was my first-ever mountain since it has been well known for catching the sea of clouds. I'll share to you my three favorite shots of the sea of clouds, shot over the years in different mountains. 

So, ladies and gentlemen, Let's count to three.

(In order of date taken)

#1. The Calm Before the Storm

Our Mt. Pulag climb in December of 2014 was my 4th time in this mountain and this time, we tried the Akiki-Ambangeg traverse. Towards the tail-end of the ascent towards the saddle camp, you will be treated with a beautiful view of the rolling grasslands and since it was already late in the afternoon, the clouds started to set at the lowlands, treating us with this view:

Mt. Pulag (at the grasslands just above the mossy forest ascent in Akiki Trail), December 2014

Taking the Torch: 40 Mountains Project (part 4 of 4)

FINALLY! The last of the 4-part blog entry for the 40 Mountains Project. I Started writing about this 2 years ago and did not really thought about any time frame to finish all 40 mountains. At that time, I already had 17 mountains, mostly minor climbs on destinations near Metro Manila - Bulacan, Batangas and Cavite. I really had no goals in particular about trekking in the mountains. I just wanted to take photographs, and where else can you see great subjects? The mountains.

...and the beautiful beaches and islands of the Philippines, of course.

So this journey to complete the 40 mountains brought me to the peaks of the Cordilleras, the northern island of Itbayat, the imposing peaks of the Negros Island - Kanlaon and Talinis, the great mountains of Mindanao - Apo, Dulang-Dulang and Kitanglad, up to the mountains of our neighboring countries.

It enabled me to see awesome things - in exchange of buckets of sweat and excruciating body pains (hey, this is an awesome way to lose weight!), money spent on mountaineering (and photography) equipment as well as travel and climbing costs (taught me how to save and budget my meager salary as well as to juggle work-climb balance). So in essence, this is an expensive and very tiring undertaking. HAHA! As what they say, experience is the best investment. And that numerous unforgettable experiences are definitely worth every penny.

Anyway, feast your eyes on these mountains for this last installment.

Life begins at the mountains. Here are the mountains 31 to 40.