Surf Town of Baras | Puraran Beach, Catanduanes

May 25, 2020July 25, 2021 Rex Lim Lim baras, bato, BEACH, beaches, BLOG, catanduanes, GUIDE, ITINERARY, majestics, puraran beach, resort, surfing, TRAVEL, virac

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Have you heard of the Majestics of Puraran, Catanduanes?

For surfers and travelers, I am sure you’ve heard of the Magic Left of San Antonio, Zambales, with its sweet left hand waves. There’s also the Cloud-9 of Siargao, where waves rise to massive overheads. Siargao, in addition, has right breaking waves with a reputation of thick hollow barrels that is famous around the world. There’s also this one spot in Puraran, Catanduanes, that has been a famous spot since 1988.

The Majestics

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The waves here are called the “Majestics”. This was after the beach was “discovered” by an Australian surfer named Peter Sutton in 1984. In 1988, Puraran Beach was featured in a California based surfer magazine. This feature enticed surfers from around the world to venture into this far flung municipality in Catanduanes.

It was high noon, but the foreboding clouds looks ominous enough as it hid the sun under its thick cotton canopy. There’s hardly any soul on the beach, and even the resort is devoid of any visitors. The onslaught of typhoon Tisoy is still evident; some nipa huts knelt down beyond repair, Coconut trees with most of its leaves shriveled and debris washed up on the shore.

Then from afar, perfect barrel waves breaking onto off shore reefs roared, it continued to intensify into sets of colossal forces rushing towards the rocky outcrops near the shore. It trembled after every crash, these massive wall of glassy water painted in shades of blue and green can make any surfer giddy.

Off Season

July to October is when the Majestics’s are the highest. But during my visit, partnered with bad weather conditions on a gloomy December morning, I decided to just take my sweet time in this beach.

Puraran is one of the many almost isolated beaches in Catanduanes. This beach offers a picturesque montage of towering hills, peculiar rock formations along the shore, barreling waves and hospitable locals. The golden sands spreads out far and wide into a narrow shore ideal for swimming.

Next Stop: Binurong Point!

How to Get There:

By Air:
- Cebu Pacific flies to Virac, Catanduanes 4x a week from Manila (Mon/Wed/Fri/Sunday). Flight takes an hour, departs 06:10 from Manila and arrives 07:25am in Virac
By Land:
- From Manila (Pasay, Cubao) take a bus going directly to Tabaco in Albay. Travel time takes 11-12 hours and costs around 900php/pax
- From Tabaco, take a pedicab going to Tabaco Port.
- At Tabaco Port, take a passenger boat going to Catanduanes (4 hours travel time):
  - via San Andres – 290php (aircon), 220php (non-aircon)
  - via Virac – 320php (aircon), 240php (non-aircon)
  - There are also fast crafts going to Virac (2 hours travel time) but trips are limited
- At Virac Town Center, you can hire a tricycle to take you to Puraran Beach. Although this is a expensive, you can partner this trip with Binurong and Balacay Point.

If planning to explore the Happy Island, always avail the services of the guides since most of the destinations are tricky to go to. This trip wouldn’t be possible if not for my very accommodating guides:

Virac/Bato/Baras: Kuya Michael Tanael (0948 742 3206), Kuya Joel Tanael (0948 125 5566)
Pandan: Kuya Noel (0927 180 0840)

Chasing Catanduanes: This 2-day adventure series takes us to the pristine pastoral hills, stunning beaches and sweeping coastline views of Catanduanes. This happens to be my 64^th province that I visited last December 09-10, 2019.

The Land of the Howling Winds and the Happy Island; this island facing the Pacific has been sculpted by devastating typhoons passing through here since time immemorial. This made its awesome topography truly a work of nature.