Coffee and cream? Yes, that’s how my mom used to call us, “Kape at gatas” whenever she looks at my husband of 28 years. Being married for that long years doesn’t give us a credit as a perfect couple. Like other couples we have the ups and down of marriage and as my friend puts it, we should believe in the sanctity of marriage, no matter what situation you are in. To rekindle the romance, we decided to go to an island for our “honeymoon 101”, so; here we go…the perfect place for honeymooners and the enemies alike.

Tugawe island cove resort is in Caramoan, Camarines Sur. We travelled by plane (1hr and 10 min) from Manila to Virac, Catanduanes, and then by land (1 hour) to Codon port

where we were fetched by Blanca, our super butler in a small boat of Tugawe resort,

around 45 min from Codon to Tugawe. We were greeted by staffs politely and were ushered to our Cabana with welcome drink of ice tea in a pitcher.

The place was amazingly clean, refreshing and so serene, aha! I told my husband, I can shout, curse…Let it all out and no one would even care and he said the same but with more love and affection that he can do whatever he wants (wink! you know what I mean).

We are both beyond our golden years and we’re glad we came when our knees are still in good condition otherwise we would just be happy in our cabana balcony looking at the blue sky and the clear ocean.

Going uphill to the infinity pool and up more to eat in the restaurant was a bit troublesome but worth every step. The foods are fairly great considering the remoteness of the area.

We went up more to see the lighthouse which is still under construction, the place is unbelievably awesome.

Though there was no spectacular sunset, there was rainbow, I just wished I had a better camera to begin with but I think my canon point and shoot did fairly well.

At night, the lights at the pool and the sea breeze was so romantic to say “I do” once more, but they said don’t commit the same mistake, so we didn’t (hehehehe), nevertheless, my husband with the help of the staff gathered some fresh flowers and open a bottle of red wine to celebrate a never-ending story of love, hate and affection. Whoooh oh la Ia…I bet at one point reading my blog, I can see a smile on your face. Perfect evening for an imperfect couple equals a happy ending. Achhinnng!

Patricia Hewitt
The following morning, after breakfast we went island hopping, as usual Blanca (with Pay mario and pito) were there to guide and help us to have a whole day of fun and made sure everything was in… like kayak, snorkels, table and umbrella and of course

the foods were wrapped in banana leaves, different drinks in cooler with ice ohhh Blanca you made our day!thank you so much.

First stop: Katanghawan island, 30 minutes boat ride from Tugawe, a part of the island serves as a venue to shoot TV episodes of “survivor US”, white sands, clear blue sky and sea, snorkeling, fresh coconut drink.


2nd stop: Tinago island, 40 min from Katanghawan. As the name implies “tinago”meaning “hidden” marvelous island surrounded by rocks and green mountains.

A perfect place to camp for a couple who love nature. We did Kayaking, swimming and ate our “baon”packed lunch. The next time we come around, oh yes, we would love to come back again with full camping gear and a charcoal for grilling a freshly catch fish of the day!


3rd stop: Tayak lake 30 min from Tinago island. We hiked for about 15 minutes from the shore lines and walla! from blue water to green water, amazing Tayak lake!

4th stop: Pitogo bay, as i ran out of camera battery, i also ran out of words to describe the hidden paradise of Caramoan islands.

In here, instead of white fine sand, piles of smooth-edged white and red-black stones line the shores as if, it was purposely laid out. Remarkable beauty of nature!

Oh before i forget, let me introduce Kevin the great horn-bill of Tugawe, coincidentally same name of my youngest son.

On the way back to Manila, the weather was not that great so we have to re-route,it took us about an hour by boat to reach the nearest town from Tugawe,

another 40 min motorbike ride to Guihalo port,

2 hrs ferry-boat trip to Naga and another 9 hrs bus ride to Manila. Would i take this trip again?Oh yes! an adventure of a lifetime, Thank you coffee and cream, let’s drink to that, Cheers!

©Copyrights protected
Wow, that looks fantastic, it’s now on my bucket list of places to visit
Thanks! Certainly fantastic!