Where the Heck is Marinduque?: It is Deja Vu at the Katague Household

Planning to Visit the Philippines Soon?

There are hundreds of tourists attractions in the Philippines. But as a lover of the Island of Marinduque (Home of the Morions and Heart of the Philippines), I am indeed partial to its beauty, charm and its friendly and hospitable residents. Therefore, help me achieve my dream of seeing this island becomes a world tourist destination, by telling all your friends and relatives about this site. Welcome, to you all, new readers and faithful followers of this site! The photo above is Poctoy White Beach in Torrijos, Marinduque with beautiful and majestic Mt Malindig in the background. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on infringing your copyrights.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

It is Deja Vu at the Katague Household

Our Six Grandchild, Christmas, 2011

It is deja vu time at the Katague household. My mind flashes back about 35 years ago, when our oldest son was a student at UC Berkeley. The University of California in Berkeley was only about 30 minutes from our residence at that time. Our son would come home every other weekend to do his laundry and raid our food pantry and refrigerator. My wife does not mind it if our son will just informed us what items he is taking to his coop House( the Cloyne Court) that week, so she could replenish our supply. However, sometimes, our son forgets to inform us what food items he took. My wife will just later realized it was gone. My wife gets upset and it was time to give our son another lecture on how to continue communicating with us.

The raiding of our food pantry by our oldest son stopped after he went to Law school. This time the school was about an hour drive from us and he was busy with his homework even on weekends. However when our oldest daughter went to college, the raiding of our food pantry on weekends resumed. This ended when she moved to an apartment with a couple of her girl friends. The next year our youngest son went to College at UC Davis. He stayed at the Frat House and seldom returns home to do his laundry, so the raiding of our food pantry stopped. The raiding of our food pantry resumed when our youngest daughter went to UC Berkeley. However this was not that often since our daughter was staying in the dorm and because of her involvement with Cheer Leading, she seldom goes home on weekends. However on several occasions, she invited a dozen of her football friends to have a typical Filipino Feast in our House. My wife was very happy to cook for her college friends from UC Berkeley, mostly football players and cheer leaders.

Yesterday, after 35 years of hiatus, the raiding of our refrigerator and food pantry resumed. Our oldest grandson who is now in college ( Sacramento State University) visited us to do his laundry. The university is only about 20 minutes from our residence. We invited him and his mother( our oldest daughter) who was helping him settled in his dorm for dinner. My wife cooked an two additional Cornish Hens for him to take back to his dorm.

This episode in the Katague household tells us time is passing by pretty fast. Our grandson is now 21 years old. In a couple of years, he will be graduating from college. Then maybe he will get married ( he has a steady girlfriend already) and gave us our first great grand child. We hope my wife and I are still healthy and have a clear mind when that time comes. For now it is deja vu time on the raiding of our food pantry and refrigerator.

ABOUT ME

I am a retired (Chemistry Team Leader from USFDA) Filipino-American who loves writing, gardening and photography. My wife (of 58 years) and I enjoy the snowbird lifestyle between the US and the Philippines. We have a small but very private beach resort( see above video) in the beautiful island of Marinduque, Philippines. I have several blog sites(ten), a personal blog, blogs about retiring in Marinduque and our beach resort and conference center-CHATEAU DU MER. I also write for www.squidoo.com now owned by HubPages.com

Marinduque: A Photogenic Province and Tourists Destination

Marinduque is a photoblogger dream. The province is endowed with unspoiled white sand beaches, pristine blue waters, fringing reefs, virgin coral reefs, coves, limestone caves, meandering rivers, mountain peaks, cascading waterfalls and streams, fabled sulfur and hot mineral springs,old churches and of course beautiful sunsets. The Internet is filled with photographs of the scenic beauty of this island not only from the local professional photographers but also from amateur photographers all over the world. The province has more than six big islands popular to beach lovers, scuba divers and snorkeling enthusiasts. It has Mt Malindig known to mountain climbers and hikers. It has Bathala and Tarug Caves popular to spelunkers and just curious seekers. In one of the eight caves of Bathala, there is a resident python, believed to be enchanted. If he shows himself when you visit the caves, it is suppose to bring you good luck.

Sunset over Tres Reyes Islands- Photo from panoramnio.com The nearest and most accessible islands from the capital town of Boac are the Tres Reyes Islands ( Islands of the Three Kings), Gaspar, Melchor and Baltazar in the town of Gasan. The local names are Laki, Pangkog and Man-nga ( see map above). These islands are located southwest of the mainland. The other three group of islands bigger in area and more populated are Polo, Maniwaya and Mongpong Islands. These are located in the Northeast part of the mainland in the town of Santa Cruz. Maniwaya's Polo Maria White Beach is being develop as an alternative to Boracay. There is a bigger island, Salamongue Island which is not as well known to the tourists and residents.. I really do not know the reason, but I believe it is not as accessible from the mainland . Moreover, it is not as developed( no electricity or running water) compared to the other islands.

One of the most popular white beach located in the mainland in the town of Torrijos is Poctoy White Beach. It is about a 70 minutes drive from downtown Boac. Poctoy White beach with Mt, Malindig as the background is the most photogenic and the most photographed scenery in the island.

Just late last year, the former Elephant Island in Lipata, Buenavista, owned privately, was renamed Bellarocca Resort Island and Spa. It has been converted to look like Santorini Island, Greece with buildings all painted in white sticking in the cliffs. From what I heard, this resort is one of the most expensive and luxurious resort in Southeast Asia. The cheapest room charges $300 per night excluding meals and other amenities. When I was in Marinduque last year, I met a few rich and famous Filipinos( businessmen, actors and actresses, TV personalities)) from Manila as well as Korean and Japanese tourists at Masiga Airport in Gasan on their way to the resort. From the resort advertisement, I know that the most expensive accommodation is a 3-bedroom villa with its own pool and jacussi charging about $ 800 per night without meals. Dong Ho, Oggie Ramos, Ferdz Decena, Allan Barredo, Sydney Snoeck and Dennis Villegas are some of the photographers that I know who have photo blogs about Marinduque. Their pictures are beautiful, unique and mesmerizing. It is worth your time to visit their photo blogs sites. Looking at their photographs of Marinduque, its Tradition and Culture will surely make you proud of the beauty of our island paradise.