Manila Ocean Park

Got a text from Saida that she's coming to Manila for a short vacation. Since it was a short notice, I was not able to file a vacation leave from work. So we scheduled to go around during weekend.

She has an early flight Sunday, so we decided to just go around the city. It would be a hassle to go out of town given the short time that we have. Several options came into our minds, but we decided to visit the Manila Ocean Park.


Manila Ocean Park is a themed marine park. But it's more than just fishes and other sea-creatures. There are the colorful clown fish, the lion fish, the rockfish, the "butete", sharks, rays and other fishes. There are also crocodiles, birds. Kids will surely love this place - it's fun and learning at the same time.

other kinds of fish 

clown fish 

lion fish

One would also enjoy buying some local items in the souvenir shops. Your group would also enjoy boating where you will ride a motorized banca over the fishes in the aquarium with glass flooring so you would see the fishes swimming under.

Your group can also go to the fish spa where groups of doctor fish eat your feet's dead cells, which is said to heal your wounds. I myself was a little afraid to try this since I saw that the fishes were not that small. I know going over the place can make you hungry. But you don't have to worry since there are also restaurants inside so you could satisfy your stomach's desires.

Trip to Potipot Island, Zambales

It's been a while since the last post in this blog. This article was supposed to be posted last year as we visited the place right after we visited the hundred islands in Pangasinan.

Before going back to the busy life in Manila, I and Ron went to the small island in Candelaria, Zambales - Potipot. I've only been seeing and reading about this island online and decided to stop by after Pangasinan since it's in our way to Manila.

potipot island, zambales

We left Alaminos City around 10am and took a regular bus at the terminal. Since it wasn't a special trip, we had many stops and finally arrived at Candelaria at around 5pm. Since we had little preparation for this extra trip, we asked a local to cook our dinner. We waited almost an hour for the food to be prepared and it was already past 6 when we hit the motorized banca to the island. It took us 5 minutes to reach the island.

It was dark since there was no electricity in the island. Good thing we had our flashlights ready. While some would not stay in a place where there's no electricity, we got more excited about it as it added to the adventure and back to basic feel of the place. We just had our dinner and we slipped to our tent and waited for the sunrise.

We woke up early the following day enough to catch the sunrise. It was indeed a very wonderful morning as the island was almost all to ourselves. The place was quiet, very nice, far from the noise of the city. We had an early breakfast and immediately dipped ourselves into the very clear waters that surrounded the island.

sunrise in the island

Although the island was only 5 minutes away from the mainland, the water and the place was unbelievably clean and clear with its white sand glowing under the sun. The island was very small that you can see the whole of it in just couple of hours. And that's exactly what we did.

the clear waters of the island

the island all to ourselves

other side of the island

It was almost 10am when we packed our things and left the island. The memories we had in Potipot will remain in the photos we will forever treasure.