Ever heard about Capul Island? I guess most of you doesn’t know what it is and where it is or if it really existed.
Capul is an island municipality in the province of Northern Samar. It is located between the main Samar Island and Luzon Island in the heart of the treacherous waters of the San Bernardino Strait facing the Pacific Ocean. It is a historical island dated back 1800 when the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade was still flourishing. Capul got its name from the shortened word “Acapulco” on which the island also serves as the last stop of every galleon vessels coming from Manila before it continues its voyage to Acapulco, Mexico.
Together with my friends, we went to Capul Island after we visited Biri Island which is part of our Northern Samar Adventure.
Coming from Lavezares town after our Biri trip, we headed to Balwharteco aka Looc Port in the town of Allen. We took the 12 pm passenger boat that will take us directly to Capul town proper but due to some sudden change of sea weather condition, our boat rerouted and docked us at the San Luis port. Upon arrival, we went directly to its tourism office and registered. There are lots of places in the island that has a historical value but we only visited those that are accessible and near the town proper where we stayed.
👉This story is part of my Northern Samar Adventure Series.
Capul Church
It is located at the heart of Capul next to their town plaza and its municipal hall. It was built by the Jesuit priest around 1596 in the patronage of St. Ignatius de Loyola. It was declared as National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum.
Capul Fortress and Watchtower
It is a approximately 2 meters thick wall that surrounds
Capul Belltower
It was built around 1861 by the Franciscan priest under the Archdiocese of Cebu
Capul Lighthouse
It is located at the northernmost part of the island which serves as a navigational guide for maritime transportation as it stands at 39 ft. The caretaker of the lighthouse allows the visitors to climb at its view deck weherein you can have a clear view of Matnog, Sorsogon in the north, the main island of Samar in east and the province of Masbate at the west.
Titoog Hill
Located here is the lighthouse and the one of the three Circular Japanese World War 2 Gun Emplacement. It is overlooks the San Bernardino Strait which separates the ports of Matnog and Allen.
Swimming around the big waves
It was one of my favorite part wherein we reminisce our childhood days while playing around the big waves of Capul. I almost got drowned when the waves pulls me at the deeper portion but luckily I was able to recover.
One interesting part of this trip that amazed as so much was the dialect that the locals are using. They speak Inabaknon instead of Waray-Waray considering their geographical location. Inabaknon is a family of language of Sama-Badjao which is not part of the Visayan language family.
Tips and Reminders:
- Make sure to catch the passenger boat as its schedule is only ones a day and leaves Capul Island on the other day.
- Habal-habal is the only mode of transportation in the island
- Locals are friendly, you can ask them to teach you some Inabaknon words
- Elecrticity is only available from 4:00 pm to 12:00 midnight.
- There are homestay available in the town proper, you can ask the locals for assistance.
- LEAVE NO TRACE
👉Watch the highlight video of Northern Samar Adventure on Youtube
How to get there
There are several options to choose on how to go to Capul Island but I would suggest to take the passenger boat via Allen for it is more convenient and cheaper compared to the others. It Departs from Allen around 12:00 to 1:00 pm and leaves Capul around 6:30 to 7:00am the next day.
MAKOYSWORLD 