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Island-hopping in Zambales: Beach resorts in Anawangin, Nagsasa and Silanguin Cove (2023)

Kara Santos

Friends who were fortunate to have traveled to Anawangin Cove and nearby spots like Nagsasa Cove, Silanguin Cove, and Capones years ago often talk about how the area was once a pure and raw area for camping and getting away from it all.

This area in a secluded part of Zambales facing the West Philippine Sea separated by mountain ranges from the mainland used to offer secluded spots for back to basics camping where mountaineers would head after trekking through by land. 

Nowadays, Anawangin is known as a popular weekend getaway for leisure tourists who usually just take a 30-minute boat ride from Barangay Pundaquit or San Miguel to reach the more secluded coves. Joiner tours make the area more accessible for barkadas who want to avail of van transport and pre-arranged boat transfers coming from Manila to unwind for the weekend.

While you can still enjoy simple camping in some areas, there are other accommodation options now suited for couples, families, and leisure tourists who prefer serenity and creature comforts compared to the usual party atmosphere in other resorts.

Silanguin Cove

As part of the Lakbay Norte Media Tour in Subic and Zambales organized by NLEX in partnership with local tourism offices, we had the opportunity to stay in the newly opened Emon Pulo Beach Resort in Silanguin Cove for 2 nights. This upscale beach resort, which was launched during the pandemic, served as our jump off for a half day island-hopping trip to nearby coves. 

Photo from Emon Pulo Beach Resort

Emon Pulo Beach Resort is a modern yet homey Filipino-style tropical beach resort. The beach resort’s landscape and accommodations, which includes VIP poolside rooms and a unique glass treehouse with a view of the bay, exude comfort, safety and class.

The resort has an in-house restaurant, various amenities and fun activities (including mountain bikes) that guests are free to use, ATVs, jet skis, and more. It even has its own helipad for guests to get here on a quick 2-hour ride from Manila.

We enjoyed a very comfortable stay here, thanks to the hospitality of the resort owners and staff. The rooms were very clean, modern, and new, with everything you’d expect from a typical hotel. According to staff on duty, we were one of the first guests who stayed in some of the hotel rooms. As of our visit, construction is still ongoing in some areas and on the hotel’s second floor.

While the resort had satellite WiFi, the place will make you just want to unplug. Like many coves in the area, there’s no cell signal on Globe or Smart, so for the most part, you can put your phones away and enjoy quality time outdoors with a view of the mountain and sea.

Our group appreciated having access to the resort’s speedboat getting here from the Subic Bay Yacht Club and going back via Pundaquit, and during our morning of island-hopping, as it made travel time much faster. 

Nagsasa Cove 

From Silanguin Cove, our first stop was Marahuyo Resort and Campsite in Nagsasa Cove, a laidback beach area with gray sand ideal for camping and glamping.

Like the more popular Anawangin, the area has agoho trees, which offers a scenic backdrop for camping as well as good shade from the summer heat. 

The resort has native kubo rooms, beachfront rooms, a hill top property and a pool. Like the other nearby coastal areas, there’s no mobile signal here due to the high mountains. The resort does have solar-powered electricity and offers satellite internet for P100/hour or P350/day.

You can climb a small hill where steps lead up to a viewing deck offers a good view of the cove and mountains. Those interested in staying overnight or visiting, can book via their Facebook page.

Anawangin Cove

We were supposed to visit the two smaller islands first before our lunch stop but a sudden rainshower forced our boat to dock at Anawangin Cove. Some of us just spent the time swimming and chilling under the rain before the sun came out in full force again. 

Anawangin Cove used to be a simple and quiet coastal area with agoho pine trees, where tourists just camped out. However, the area has rapidly developed over the years with beach resorts. We stopped at Anawangin Cove: Destinare Beach Resort & Campsite, which is divided into 5 stations.

While there are still spots here where you can camp, as of May 2023, the area also has simple glamping tents, nipa hut type cottages with electric fans, and concrete rooms with air-conditioners, which according to resort owners were requests from guests.

There are also public restrooms and an in-house restaurant, though guests can still bring their own supplies for cooking. The beach resort is pet-friendly.

The resort has also brought in a lot of different activities to keep guests entertained including the usual water activities, fire dancing, and bonfires.

There’s now a swimming pool fed by mountain spring waters for kids to enjoy if the waves on the beach are too strong, an area called “Takshapoo” (based on a Kapampangan curse term) where guests throw glass bottles against a wall to release their negative emotions, a paintball area, and even a mini-enchanted forest complete with lights and garden ornaments in the works for the requisite photo ops.

You can get the best view of the area from Wishing Mountain. Visitors can climb 300 steps up to get a great view of the coast.

Group photo from Hungry Byaheros

Capones Island

Capones Island is a small island approximately off the coast of Zambales characterized by huge rock formations and steep cliffs surrounded by white sand and coral beaches.

The Capones Island Lighthouse is located on the hillside near the western end of the island. Since the speedboat couldn’t dock on the island, a few of us just jumped off and enjoyed floating in the waters for a while here and admired the island from afar.

There are no accommodations on the small island and tourists aren’t allowed to camp out here, but they can stop for visits during island-hopping trips.

Camara Island 

On the way back to our resort, we also cruised by Camara Island, another small island frequently visited during island-hopping trips. Camara is just a few minutes boat ride from mainland and it has areas with white sand although majority of the area is rocky.

This small island has a sandbar in between two landforms, so it’s popular for photo ops. However, tourists are not allowed to camp here.

Pundaquit

Pundaquit beach in San Miguel, San Antonio in the mainland of Zambales is usually the jump-off point for island-hopping trips to Anawangin Cove, Nagsasa Cove, Capones Island and Camara Island.

For those who don’t want to stay overnight on the islands, there are a lot more accommodation options to choose from in Pundaquit. During previous trips, I stayed in Casa San Miguel‘s Bed & Breakfast.

Find places to stay in Subic, Zambales, and Pundaquit via Agoda here.

How to get there

NOTE: This trip was made possible by NLEX Lakbay Norte, a media familiarization tour in Northern Luzon that aims to promote safe and fun travel by highlighting destinations in the North.

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