Camayan Beach Resort, Olongapo - an easy getaway from urban stress.

June 1-2, 2013

Camayan Beach Resort is one of the easiest getaway from urban stress. Being only over a hundred kilometers from Metro Manila, this beach resort is an easy escape for those people who would like to relax and enjoy the beach. Formerly known as Miracle Beach of Subic Bay, it was developed and was renamed to Camayan Beach Resort.




This beach getaway was a company-sponsored outing by the company I work for. Though the stay is only overnight, Schadow1 Expeditions had a glimpse and ample experience of what this beach resort can offer.

This beach resort is at the end of Ilanin Road at Olongapo City. Passing through the Zoobic Safari (a zoo in Olongapo) and Ocean Adventure, which is an exhibition water park for dolphins and more. The mentioned water park is owned by the same owners of Camayan. Schadow1 Expeditions highly discourages the capture of wild animals for exhibition and profit-making and highly condemns the removal of such species from their natural habitat, as such, we discourage the patronage of such establishments, instead, encourage for an education encounter with these animals in the wild without changing nor manipulating their habitat.

The good thing about Camayan Resort is that they allow the monkeys to thrive along without destroying their habitat. In a way, we encourage them to continue this trend as it promotes eco-tourism in contrast with what is done with their water park.

Monkeys at-large at Camayan Beach Resort

To get to Camayan Beach Resort, you have to drive all the way to south SCTEX and turn right going to Tipo and to Olongapo. Head straight until you reach Subic Bay International Airport and passed that until you reach Ilanin Road at your right. Passing through Zoobic Safari, Camayan Beach Resort is at the end of the road.

Subic Doppler Radar used by PAGASA for Rain forecasting

Along Subic-Tipo Expressway, you may be able to see the Subic Doppler Radar atop Mount Santa Rita (444 MASL). The doppler radar is used by PAGASA for rain forecasting to which the range is around 200 kilometers radius, covering up to San Fernando, La Union and Baguio at the north until Gumaca, Quezon and Polilio Islands at the east and Mt. Halcon of Mindoro at the South. Coordinates: 14.822183,120.364015

Mt. Natib as seen along SCTEX

While along the SCTEX, you may be able to see the rough ridges of Mt. Natib and the tallest peak of Zambales, Mt. Tapulao (2037 MASL)

Finally, after over a 3-hour ride, we reached Camayan Beach Resort.

The Camayan Beach Resort occupies about 14.4 square kilometers of land to which a small portion of it is a three-storey hotel-type lodge, a restaurant, and the rest is all beach. Coordinates: 14.765089,120.250253

The rooms where we stayed has 2 queen-sized beds, air-conditioned, a decent bathroom and a television. The rooms have a back door veranda to which you can enjoy the Subic Bay breeze during early morning as it is only a few meters away from the beach. A great place to hang-out and have a coffee.

The 3-storey hotel-type lodge

Bathroom complete with essentials such as shaver, shaving cream, soap, shampoo, toothpaste
and cotton buds

Bathtub

2 queen-sized beds

Veranda over-looking the bar and the beach

The beach occupied by Camayan is a 200-meter light-gray sand facing north of Subic bay where you are enticed with the beautiful mountains of the Zambales mountain range which includes Pundaquit (464 MASL), the mountain gateway to the hidden Anawangin Cove, the ferocious Mt. Pinatubo (960 MASL), and Tapulao (2037 MASL) from afar.

Camayan Beach and Mt. Pundaquit

The beach is guarded by lifeguards who are on the watch until 8:30PM. Beyond that, the beach will be off-limits.

Beautiful Sunset beyong Pundaquit and Subic Bay

Kayaking is also part of their activities and is a must-try.

During our night stay, there is a performance by African acrobats doing their fire dance and stuff; and Filipinos playing  tribal songs using an instrument native to Maguindanaoans of Mindanao to spice up our evening stay.

Filipino Native Tribal Sounds using Kulintang

Dining

The Reef is the bar/restaurant available at Camayan Beach Resort, the lunch and dinner servings offers Filipino and Western (mainly American) dish. They are all delicious except that the serving is not that many and you may crave for more.

They offer buffet breakfast and this breaks their limited lunch and dinner offerings. Chefs will be there to cook your omelet or sunny-side up on the spot, and the variety of choices for your breakfast is commendable.

 The resort also offers diving lessons via Camayan Divers to which you can enjoy what Subic bay offers underneath it.

Entrance fee to Camayan beach if not staying overnight in their hotel/lodge is Php 300 for adults and Php 250 for children. Bringing of your own alcoholic drinks requires a corkage fee.

The route to Camayan has been mapped by Schadow1 Expeditions and is available for access on Openstreetmap Philippines,  and Google Maps. Routable GPS maps for Garmin devices is available for free on Openstreetmap Philippines and for contributors of Roadguide Philippines.