Patar Beach (Bolinao, Pangasinan)

We fondly call Patar Beach in Bolinao, Pangasinan as our default beach destination during the Holy Week. In the absence of any other plan for the Holy Week, that's where we go to, almost always (that is, when we don't have a planned vacation in Boracay or Pagudpud or somewhere else or when we don't do any visita iglesia). That's where we went to this year (2013) as in last year and, as in the past so many years (since about 18 years ago).

Bolinao moments are real family moments predictably spent this way: join the procession on Maundy Thursday by walking after the centuries-old "poon" of our tito and tita (I have a separate blog article on this), and then Patar Beach on Good Friday and Black Saturday. We wake up early Sunday morning to depart for Manila, stopping over at Alaminos to buy dozens of longganisa at the public market.

I share the observation of many beach bums that Filipinos are quite obsessed with beaches with sugary or talcum(y) white sand plus clear water. In other words, Boracay. Well, Patar Beach is not like that - its sand is not sugary white but rather, light golden brown pretty much similar to the texture and color of light brown sugar. The sea is clear somehow but not as clear as Boracay.


my nephew in his beach moment; getting ready for the sunset



my niece in her beach moment too; despite comments,
the golden sand is quite ok, still feels nice to walk-squat-sit on

In my ten (10) or so times in Patar Beach, its sea has always been choppy and in most parts, gets deep abruptly. One has to be quite careful swimming there as stories of lost lives are common. In our case, we just stay safely close to the shore, up to shoulder-deep at the most.

Patar Beach is within walking distance to another age-old attraction, the Cape Bolinao light house, reputed as the second tallest in the Philippines. Perched on a hill of course, it affords a vantage point to view the South China Sea (er, West Philippine Sea).There are also caves along the way - I entered one many years ago and have no plans of entering another one ever. I guess no cave can ever compare to the beauty and grandeur of the subterranean channel (commonly known as underground river) in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

The way we enjoy Patar Beach is so simple - stay under the thatched nipa huts with good food (usually inihaw na liempo, inihaw na isda, pancit and ensalada with bagoong) and cold drinks and then start taking a dip only at 3 or 4 PM when the sunlight is less harsh to the skin until the sun sets, after which we call it a day. There are no other water fun activities anyway, unlike in other beaches.

    

    

our food last Black Saturday; in observance of tradition, we don't eat meat on

Good Fridays that is why we kid ourselves that during Black Saturdays,

yesterday's denial is today's indulgence; we are able to prepare this much

because our sister-in-law has a place in Bolinao where we not only sleep

but cook as well; we buy fish and vegetables at Bolinao public market

Of course, picture-taking galore always happens such as these:

siblings enjoying their photo session while the rest

of the relatives look on/do their own thing as well

my nieces, taking a break from their dip, with cute

pomeranians borrowed from their tita



     

my nephew on patar beach for the first time; he's taking up metallurgical

engineering in UP Diliman and it must have been an intense semana santa

for him had I left him out holed up alone at Kalayaan dorm where he stays



Once again, we thank our sister-in-law Angela for our stay in Bolinao.