While everyone else is busy celebrating the commemoration of our Independence Day, we are getting hit by these rather big waves down at a shoreline in Iba, Zambales. My sister, Isabel, tagged me + the little man along to her quick get-away with friends + colleagues from work. We have not hit the beach this year yet + I thought it will be a great opportunity to get some tan and have some fun with the sand, so I readily agreed to come.

We left Bulacan a day before Independence Day and rode the bus bound to Zambales at the SM Pampanga terminal. A late afternoon trip, I thought, is most convenient to take, especially when travelling with little children, since they can simply dose off and sleep the rest of the trip. Which is what exactly my little man did. The rainy, cold weather even made him sleep better during our bus travel.

We arrived to the Iba bus terminal a little over 1am, and since the little man had a good sleep in the bus, he was still up and bouncing about and was ready to explore the place even in the wee hours of the morning. Our very late dinner of sinigang na hipon and fried fish is really perfect for the cold, rainy night.

We loved our nipa hut-inspired accommodation and now that I think about it, I regret that we were not able to take photos of it. The air-conditioned room is big enough to fit all 6 adults and my little rowdy boy. And since the weather is rather chilly, we skipped the air-con and turned on the fan overnight, instead.

Our plans to get up very early the next day was thwarted by our lack of sleep the previous night. It was almost 9am by the time we made it to the beach. The little man was put off by the black sand and was to squeamish about the litter in the beach, which the big waves washed to the shore through the night. He played in the water for a little while and decided to just settle in a spot in the shore to play with his toys in the sand.

The waves were really big that day and we had a wonderful time getting washed and hit by them as we stood our ground a few feet near the shoreline. There were folks surfing that day, probably taking advantage of the big waves, too.

The sun was up and glaring after an hour or two and after getting soaked and seeing my little man retreated to as far back as he can so the tides won’t reach him, we decided to go back to the resort to get ready to go home.

This is probably the quickest get-away we’ve ever had and I really would’ve enjoyed soaking and swimming in the beach for a couple hours more. I just wished we had enough time to shop for souvenir items like keychains or kitchen anti fatigue mats, perhaps! Nevertheless, we all enjoyed the experience and I cannot wait to hit the beach again soon. Hopefully, we’ll be able to have another beach getaway with my little man and his dad soon.  😀