A supposedly overnight hike to Mt. Natib ended up to a very unique cove to cove adventure in the town of Mariveles, Bataan. Due to bad weather condition, our organizers decided to cancel our hiking activity for our safety. One of the organizers is my friend, Rustan, who accommodated my first visit in Mariveles.
I left home around 01:00 AM to catch the bus trip directly to Mariveles in Cubao at 02:00 AM. I arrived in town around 06:30 and went off the bus at Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) where our service jeep was waiting for us guests. The Oriental Bataan was our first destination. It is where we took our breakfast and the usual meet and greet session with my fellow tourists.
We had the time to explore the hotel and I took advantage to take some pictures. The hotel was great, the attendants were very accommodating and the interiors were awesome. The swimming pool was well-maintained. I also like the style of their spa area and jacuzzi.
The Cliff Lounge area of the hotel was interesting. The hotel has also a place for team building activities. Our limited stay in the hotel was memorable. I enjoyed our stay even just for a limited period of time.
From The Oriental Bataan, we went down to town proper of Mariveles for more adventure. We visited the KM 0 of the historic Bataan Death March. After that, we visited the various scenic views in town. We visited the Zig-Zag Road which gives you a Baguio City view feels. We visited various coves which has a scenic view like in Batanes maybe because of its lush green grass on top of the hills.
The highlight of our tour was the overnight stay in the beach resort in Apatot Cove. The cove can be reached thru a hundred descent steps from the highway. Considering the bad weather, we still managed to enjoy our tour. We helped each other prepare our food for dinner. We had so much fun that night. The rainy weather made the event more interesting. We had some liquors and we had so much fun with the games that was prepared by our fellow tourists. We bonded so well that we enjoyed the night even without electricity.
We woke up early the following morning for another adventure. We enjoyed our time along the shores playing with the sand and the dancing with the waves. We even recorded a short-video playing "Pak-Ganern Challenge". After breakfast, we decided again to trek for another cove. The view of the Five Fingers of Bataan was clearly seen at this point. The lush green grass at the hill made the place more inviting and refreshing.
We packed our things happily. Our last destination was a visit to Balon Anito which is a mouth of a dormant volcano. You can really see bubbles coming up at the water surface. The locals call it a hot spring so we dipped our feet for a relaxing feeling. We ended our tour at Elong's Hapag-Kainan where we shared our different experiences about the tour.
Indeed, cove to cove experience was very unique and very memorable. Happy people does make the adventure even more interesting. I was lucky to have meet these kind of people that made the experience very memorable.
