There are 2 islands which is worth to visit when you are in Pundaquit. This closer one from the shore of Pundaquit is Camara Island. In fact, there are usually 2 islands and only during really low tide (Filipino lang. - hubas), I have heard, it can be visible as one island. Then these 2 islands are connected by a sandbar.
( According to Wikipedia we have much bigger Camara Island and islet connected to it by a sand bar
. )
If you want to stand on Camara Island, you should know one thing, it can be really difficult for bangka driver to get to the shore of this island. Even looking from Pundaquit's shore, water of the sea generally seems to be calm, but a bangka driver can stop quite far from that island, and tell you that you can only swim now.
You do not need much time to visit Camara Island, so the best option is to take a cruise to both islands – firstly Camara and then Capones. There is no a big difference in costs if you visit 2 islands in one go comparing to visiting only one of those islands.
As regards me, I fixed bangka transportation with Joven Orcino (you can ask about him in Royal Patio Beach Resort). We paid only 700 PHP for the trip (you should take something to eat for a boatman too). The same you can negotiate with a boatman of one of many bangkas on the beach, but you must consider that in the morning they go for fishing. You would rather cannot plan a trip a day earlier because firstly you must be sure that the water is calm enough for a cruise. The better conditions of the water, the better places a boatman can find to reach a shore.
As I could notice, only a really small part of that island can be visited. This is area with some sand which you can see from the shore of Pundaquit – northern part of the main, southern island (usually Camara Island is visible as 2 islands – northern and southern - bigger one).
On the picture – the small beach is on right part of the bigger island.
When you are on this island, you can have a short walk to see rock formations there and nice views around. We liked to pick up seashells too, because we could find many good ones just there. Then we had to come back to our bangka just swimming back which was not easy. Bottom of the coastal island's water was really rocky, and waves there were big and strong.
As soon as we were back in our bangka, we started heading to the main destination – Capones Island.
To get to Capones Island description click: