Alibijaban Island - An Unspoiled Beauty

Late last year, A family friend of ours told me that his home town of San Andres, Quezon, has a small island off its coast which the locals go to for swimming. He boasted of crystal clear waters on powdery white sand, and more importantly, it was still tourist-free.

Just another tourist beach, i presumed. Like what they said about Burot Beach at Calatagan. I have this impression that since Quezon province is known for Cagbalete and Pagbilao, another "pristine island" might just be a well kept private resort. I'm a natural skeptic since i'm allergic to crowded tourist destinations.

Then he mentioned the name, Alibijaban Island. I grabbed my mobile phone and searched online for other's posts who may have been there already. The name was a tongue twister so I even had to ask twice about the spelling just to get it right.

AHLEE-BEE-HAH-BUN (as in the hotdog "bun")

Yes, there were others who already blogged about it. Interestingly, unlike other "off the beaten path" destinations, there were actually only three bloggers who wrote in detail about the place. All of them are experienced travelers who really find time to trail blaze unknown spots.

This is a good sign, i thought. Saturated destinations churn out hundreds, if not thousands of hits online. This island has to be legit.

My travel buddies are more mountaineers than beach bums. Convincing them early this year to check out Alibijaban was impossible because it coincides with the climbing season, November-March. A mountaineer myself, I waited for summer to pitch in the beach idea. Besides, it was my plan to choose a date a few days before my birthday.

So it was decided that we'll do it on May 2-4. My pre-birthday getaway.

Thanks to the previous bloggers, for Alibijaban visitors, we know that Superlines has a direct route to the town of San Andres, Quezon, the jumpoff point to the island. I called the terminal and confirmed that the daily trip leaves every 5:30pm.

Yes, it has open windows because there are no aircon buses available for the route. Apparently, i was told by the bus conductor that local passengers from San Andres are more likely to get carsick when the bus is airconditioned. The good thing was that it was already 5:30pm and after the bus gets off the city, the ride becomes more comfortable on the highway and provincial roads.

Just a heads-up for guys like me who require more leg room than a usual passenger, be ready to sit sideways every now and then throughout the 9 hour trip to ease your legs. These are not the usual provincial buses with reclining seats, they're more similar to those city buses plying EDSA everyday. :)

After two stop overs and a numb left butt cheek, we arrived at San Andres, Quezon at around 3am.

Maurice aka "Kuya Togz", our local contact who is also the nephew of Kuya Bert, the one who told me about Alibijaban, was already waiting for us. A fleet of five sidecars took us to the place where breakfast would be served.

Kuya Bert on the lead sidecar

After a 9 hour bus ride, the smell of the sea coupled with the fried eggs, dried squid, dilis, and hot coffee was more than we could ask for.

 Around 5am, after everyone was bloated due to the unusual crispiness of the dried squid, we headed to the beachhead were the boat would pick us up for the 30min ride to the island itself - but not without the photo-ops... of course.. :)

Sunrise at San Andres, Quezon

This boat would be able to float again once the tide would rise

As the sun was coming up, we headed for Alibijaban

Upon arrival at Alibijaban, this cottage was reserved for us by the caretaker. We named it our indoor Jacuzzi and pool since at around 10am at high tide, the bamboo floors would be submerged an inch deep. Allowing us to dip in the water under a roof for a few hours, or until the low tide around late afternoon..

There are no accommodations on the island. For those who would stay overnight, they should bring their own camping gear. Just choose where you want to pitch your tent... At that time, the beach was literally ours for two days.

Bakawan trees show their roots on low tide

If you walk along the beach towards the northern part of Alibijaban, there is a small cave you could explore.

If you're too lazy to walk, you may also hire a small boat to tour you around the island, or buy some coconuts from the plantation @7 pesos each.... the boat costs P100 or depending on how many would fit before it sinks...

I have prearranged for Togz, our guide, to get us some local catch since I've planned that most our our meals would be grilled. Oh yes, he got them fresh from the nets of local fisher folks...

Ginataang Manok (native)

There were no visible roads on the island itself, but the caretaker of the place told us that a barangay exists on the other part of the island around a kilometer from where we were. Hence the reference to a certain "Kapitana" from the previous blogs I saw. The picture below shows a dirt track where tricycles pass, as seen from the road marks.

The place we were at is a privately owned property by a wealthy engineer also from San Andres. A total of six local caretakers are tasked to maintain the cleanliness of the beach at this portion of Alibijaban. Luckily, our guide is a relative of the caretaker so pre-reservation of the "Jacuzzi" cottage was possible.

the only concrete bridge on the island to pass over the river when high tide

The inland river is passable by foot at low tide

Mang Aguido (right) the beach property caretaker

Everyone loved this spot so I left my hammock permanently there for other island visitors use

Sunset at Alibijaban Island

For those who would camp overnight, be sure to prepare for the annoying "nik-nik". Like the "gamo-gamo", it's attracted to any form of light and would swarm any light source all night long.

If you plan to drink booze as would any other camper would do, do it while the sun is still up. The moment the sun sets, these insects rule the night on the island. Also make sure your tents are insect-proofed.

After all the exploring, the beach bumming, the seafood galore, and the socials, it was time to head back to San Andres and leave Alibijaban. The boat that brought us to the island picked us up around 10:15am. By 11am, we were freshening up on the same place the previous day where we had breakfast.

While the ladies waited in line for the showers, the guys decided to multitask... take a bath at the same time...
With two dippers, a big bucket of water refilled by a garden hose, all eight guys were all dressed and good to go even before the five ladies finished bathing.

Our guide's hospitality didn't end there. As i've told him that since the van was scheduled to pick us up around 1pm for Lucena, we would just look for a local carinderia to have lunch. (assuming that it would be too hassle for him to take care of us again for that matter)

Still, he arranged that we take our lunch inside the house of one of his relatives.

We were served brown rice with beef adobo and local Alimango (they had the forbidden aligue but they were relatively small).

Overall it was a fun and pleasant experience. Not only that the experience had far exceeded my expectations with regards to the beauty of the island, but the hospitality of the local San Andres folk, in particular the Lustanas family are really something that me and my friends would cherish.

For those who also want to enjoy the beauty of Alibijaban Island, here are some of the cost details and the itinerary we used:

Bus fare from Cubao to San Andres, Quezon - Php 450 (one way)
Van fee from San Andres to Lucena - Php 4,500 (good for 13 pax) Toyota Grandia deluxe
Bus fee from Lucena to Cubao - Php 220

Boat fee - to Alibijaban and back to San Andres - Php 2,000 (good for 15-25) *negotiable

Cottage fee and overnight fee at Alibijaban good for 15-20 - Php 1,000


Day 1

4:00pm - Superlines Cubao terminal
4:30pm - bus boarding
5:30pm - Depart Cubao

Day 2

3:00am - Arrive at San Andres, Quezon
4:00am - breakfast
5:00am - depart by boat to Alibijaban

Day 3

10:00am - head back to San Andres by boat from Alibijaban
               - freshen up
11:30am - lunch
1:00pm - Depart for Lucena via rented van
5:30pm - arrive Lucena
6:00pm - depart via bus for Manila
10:00pm - back to Manila


You may also contact our guide:

Maurice aka "TOGZ"  0910 7870501, 0929 5650166

The author with Alibijaban guide Togz (left)