Mahatao town proper is 7 kilometers away from the town of Basco. We know because we biked it. One and a half times!
Though on our official Southern Batan Island tour, now with 13 adults, infant, tour guide and van driver, the first stops were in Mahatao, and so were the last.
CHAWA VIEW DECK
A SEAIR plane flying back to Manila
We stopped by the town proper to visit the San Carlos Borromeo Church and register ourselves at the Tourism office. I made a separate blog post about that, here.
Then a short stop by the side of the road to get pictures of this. We were told by our guide that this makes for a nice swimming area as it has a flat bed of rock/coral. You would have to go down though and I could not imagine how.
Our next short stop was not far along was this white beach area, which I thought was the Homoron Blue Lagoon. I’m not entirely too sure about that though. It might be the Di-atay Beach.
DI-ATAY BEACH
A beautiful cove with multi-colored rocks and white sand and is ideal for picnics and beach combing. It is located along the national highway between Mahatao and Ivana; 9.85 kilometers from Basco.
Then we proceeded to the towns of Ivana and Uyugan. After we were done with our last stop in Uyugan, which was the alapad and the ruins of the LORAN station, we headed for Rakuh-a-Payaman, more popularly known as, “Marlboro Country” where we had our lunch for the day. Our tour guide made arrangements with a caterer who brought the food and the utensils and everything else up the pastureland so we could have our lunch in a windy little hut that made for a really great rest stop. (P300 per head)
RAKUH-A-PAYAMAN OR “MARLBORO COUNTRY”
more hedgerows
Rakuh-A-Payaman is a communal pastureland overlooking farm fields and the Pacific Ocean.
One can see both the Mahatao Lighthouse and Mt. Iraya from the Payaman—both fantastic
additions to an already scenic view.
This is the closest photo I have of the Mahatao Lighthouse, as my aunt had sprained her ankle walking in someone’s backyard in Sabtang and we were told that getting to the lighthouse involved some trekking. We opted not to go to the lighthouse anymore, in consideration of her condition, as well as the ages of 9 people in our group (ages 40-63).
The grass look all orangey when we were there, perhaps because Batanes supposedly has 4 seasons and right about this time, it is autumn.
I took a lot of photos here because the hills just seemed endless and I didn’t know that the beach I could see from there was where we were headed next.
This is where you marvel about God’s creation. When you’re in this spot, a visitor oftentimes silently stands in awe and whisper a prayer. The endless rolling hills, wind-swept communal pasturelands for cattle and horses, . Perfect scenery for nature lovers & photographers. The Sound of Music should have been filmed here.
I’m not entirely sure I agree, but what I can say for sure is, go see it for yourself and be the judge. *winks*
My mother’s friends had been itching to go swimming for days. So, even if my aunt had trouble walking, we made our way to Diura.
DIURA VILLAGE & MANANOY BAY
The van made a stop at a local community. Then we were all told to bring only what we need for swimming as the walk would take about 20 minutes. Mananoy Bay is 9 kms from Basco town proper.
We passed by this family of carabaos on the trail
Somewhere along the way, we made a rest stop at a bamboo beach and that afforded us this view.
We were headed to the legendary Rakuh-a-idi or more popularly known as “Spring of Youth”, quietly tucked in below where the first Ivatans lived.
Spring of Youth, photo by Andrea Lazaro
One can also offer prayers at the Our Lady of Lourdes grotto located near the spring water’s main source.
We were told we could swim at the beach, so I found my way to the beach. From the pool, the path was in between these shrubs.
And this is what I found, rocks! Sharp rocks! *winks*
We left the area at about 3 o’clock and made it to Basco early enough to still rent bikes and go biking around the town. (Will post about our biking trips tomorrow).
Click here to view the entire set on Flickr.
Related links/references:
[…] Church, Radiwan Port, Honesty Coffee Shop – Uyugan Tour: Song-song Ruins and LORAN Station Ruins – Other places in Mahatao: Chawa View Deck, Marlboro Country, Diura Village & Mananoy Bay, Spring of […]