December is my birthday month and this is probably the third year that I have "solemnly" celebrated my day with selected friends. I always festively celebrate my birthday since I started earning my own money. It just hit me one day that I would like to treat myself in a different way.

The original plan was to do a day hike, I even considered joining one of those group hikes near our place. But my feet suddenly craved for sand and it has been long since I last visited the beach. :D ~ After few comparisons, blogs and contemplation, I finally chose Crystal Beach - - my beach! (pun intended :P)

Crystal Beach is at Zambales, just a few hours drive from Manila. I first visited Zambales on our Potipot Trip last 2013 - so I'm quite "brave" to visit it alone.

My mind was set to go alone on this trip but one of my good friend happen to be free on that day, so I was able to spend time with Daena on this one. ♡

How to go to Crystal Beach?

• Go to any Victory Liner Terminal
• Ride a bus bound to Iba, Zambales
• Get a ticket that will drop you off at San Narciso
• From San Narciso, ride a tricycle and ask to drop you off at Crystal Beach

For this trip, we went to the Victory Liner at Pasay, since we are both nearer that terminal - - we didn't know how to go to the Cubao Terminal and we are both not that good with directions. haha.

So we made the 10AM trip! On to the second "glitch" we did today. Being all excited and all, we bought Iba-bound tickets (at P314.00). As the conductor was checking the tickets, he told us that we should've just paid our ticket to San Narciso if we are going to Crystal Beach. - - Lucky us. haha

Well anyways, if you are checking this blog for budget, the fare would be much cheaper if you go to the Cubao Terminal and you would be there at approximately 3-4 hrs just like the other blogs use to say.

Since we traveled from Pasay, traffic has added two hours. We had one stop at SCTEX for restroom break.

Few more hours and passengers are starting to alight the bus - hooray! Civilization!

By 4:00 PM, we were dropped off at San Sebastian Church as the blogs said. You will see the church right away and there's a huge mural of Crystal Beach just beside it.

After taking few photos and evidence of our arrival, we crossed the other side of the road and as usual the people there knew where we are off to. :) Just make sure to pay the exact fare to the tricycle driver (P30.00/2 pax) or you'll be asked to pay more.

Hooray! We're here! - the tricycle trip is for about 7mins.

As soon as you enter the place, you will feel the relaxing vibe. Very calm and inviting! We were greeted as soon as we stepped the reception area.

We took the P750/each Camping Package - they will setup the tent for you and it comes with a mat and a pillow. And the good thing about it is that it has a P250 worth of consumable food! We literally just brought ourselves on this trip and this is really good for us.

It was not a long wait when we were escorted to our tent. Gladly, we were given a camouflage tent which is easily recognizable for both us dummies. haha.

Since we arrived later as what we have expected, we just had a small snack at King Solomon's Hall - their in house food hall; and appreciated the beach.

We wanted to see the sunset, but so much for our luck the clouds were the main show for today. :P

It was still cool though.

The waves here are super perfect for surfing! But yeah, it was really my day to just relax, no sea for me today!

As the life guard are calling the surfers and swimmers off the beach, we went back to our tent and slept our tired bodies.

Ah yeah, their public restrooms are clean with running water and light. The camping area was strategically planted with lovely pine trees and there are handy water pumps everywhere too. There's also lights positioned on places that needs light, enough to see all the tents but not disturb anybody sleeping at night.

They also have an open bonfire at 8PM, which I didn't witnessed. Daena told me that it was fun! There were people playing the guitar and they had beer, songs and stories.

I woke up at 2AM and was able to moon-bath. The Moon was so bright that night and the waves are your background music.

Oh! They also have a snack there too, that sells for 24hrs. You can buy drinks there and snacks.

Letting the time pass, I noticed that there are people checking in and out as early as 3AM. Though their website mentioned specific times, you can walk in and out of Crystal Beach anytime of day. Apart from the resident dogs, we saw some visitors stayed with their pet dogs though it was noted that pets are not allowed at the beach.

Here's a view from our tent.

We got up as soon as we saw surfers and hanged-out at the beach! Morning sea is always the best. Goodmorning Crystal Beach!

By 9:30AM we head back to have breakfast. They have breakfast buffet served everyday at P285.00, we used our food stubs here and just added the remaining P35.00 to avail the buffet. The buffet is complete with your choice of drinks - coffee or juice, breakfast snacks - cereals, bread, pancakes, and rice meals - - rice, hotdog, egg, fish, the likes and fruits!

Buffet was perfect after a morning surf and we did consumed as much as we can!

After having breakfast, we had a chance to roam the place and explore the other parts of the resort.

Apart from tents, there was also an area where you can hang hammocks and a huge hall for events. There are cottages that can cater all range of group. And you can notice how all the pine trees there are planted strategically from each other - very beautiful.

There's also areas with tire swings and an obstacle course good for team building.

From the camp site by the shore, you would also see pine trees that are yet to grow. The view from the shore is so cool both in the morning and in the evening!

More photos!

After discovering where the shower area is, we decided to clean up and pack our things.

We exactly checked out at 12PM. We took a tricycle back to San Sebastian Church and looked for a place to have lunch at.

Just near the vicinity is this food joint that's open for 24hrs - Sanvid Food House

It's an open area with tents and huts to dine at. They serve snacks and meals at a very affordable price. And attendants are lively. :)

After a nice lunch, we had back to the tricycle terminal in front of San Narciso Church and waited at the designated bus stop.

We rode a Cubao-bound bus and dropped off at the nearest MRT station.

Overall, I enjoyed my Crystel Beach experience and would definitely visit back again. I highly recommend the place to friends especially to everyone who likes to surf.

Good points with this trip:

• They have a consumable P250 food stub included in all of their package fees.
• They have the cheapest surfing fee, as far as the surfing spots I've been to.
• You can walk-in and out of the resort anytime.
• The staff are very approachable.
• Clean restrooms.
• The beach is very clean too!
• There are grills that you can use to cook your food with.
• There's no corkage.

Noise is not discouraged at the resort though it would be best to keep the noise down at night. It was really silent during our stay but few campers have their own speakers for their music that can be heard from afar.

If you are on a tight budget, bringing in your own food and snacks is ok but don't forget to clean up after yourselves. The place is clean and well maintained as it is.

You may check their site for more information and their package rates. - - http://www.crystalbeach.com.ph

Thank you for reading all the way through! :D

**The photos used at this post are taken with my Sony Xperia Z2, with the following applications used: Adobe Photoshop.