You read it right. It’s pink!
Welcome to Sta. Cruz Island of Zamboanga City. It’s really one of the country’s most beautiful stretch of beach! and we do have a lot of them. It’s the most famous of the 11 islands that is under the jurisdiction of Zamboanga City. Its popularity mainly due to its unique pinkish sand, a color that is a result of the mixture of the beach’s natural white sand and the pulverized (by years of erosion) of the rare red Organ-pipe coral.
It used to have a colorful reef a few feet from the shore and under the Presidential Decree No. 654, President Ferdinand Marcos declared that the Santa Cruz Islands as National Park and Tourism Development in the City of Zamboanga. Sadly though, due to illegal mining of coral reef, it had been completely stripped bare. :( But still, above water, its beauty is hard to surpass.
The boat ride takes about 20 minutes from Fort Pilar. The view is poetic with the aquamarine water and the scattered islands and mountains. And one of our backdrop, is the radical province of Basilan. This is the reason, and we were told not to be alarmed, that we needed a police/military escort with BIG guns to go to this little expedition. It’s a little bit exciting.
Some of the more conservative families we’ve met in Zamboanga city have never been here. I don’t know if it’s a shame that such beautiful island will never be fully developed for ecotourism. It would have given the locals alternate source of livelihood than excessive and dynamite fishing and coral reef mining. Hopefully in the near future, the conflict will be resolved and the people in the southern part can live more peacefully. Looking back at photos in the photo album is almost eerie because they seem so peaceful. The way that the colours contrast almost looks as if they have been edited on some type of photo retouch program. The aqua blue with the pink sand seems like a masterpiece that Guadi might have just designed himself. Basilan’s radically violent history somehow creates a dark shadow over this dream island. Heres just one example of the injustice. Perhaps more and more travellers like myself will soon stumble across this hidden pink diamond of the Philippines.
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its beautiful pala, sayang i wasn’t able to go there when I went to Zamboanga City. i thought its not that clean, i was wrong. well, another reason to go back to zamboanga.
yes it was very pretty! and worth going back for. pero there are so many places to go to in our 7107 islands, no?
lilliane, your group looks like dignitaries on excursion with military escort. hehehe
i’ve heard a lot about the pink sand of zamboanga. i want to visit this place too when the peace situation becomes stable, hopefully soon..
haha… we’re ambassadors of good eats. we come in peace. :) i think it’s truly worth visiting, RV. Ikaw pa, you’re so near. Our hosts said it’s over hyped by media daw. And the bombings are isolated cases. hehe.
OMG, I want to be there right this second, seriously, that has to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Ahhhhhh!!! Pink sand and turquoise, what could be better???
they’re so easy on the eyes… cannot help but relax… =)
Great shots of the beach! 2 weeks ago when I was there, the weather was kinda gloomy and it didn’t do justice to the pictures. Apart from the beach, Greater Sta. Cruz Island has a cemetery dedicated to the Sama Badjao people wherein they have little wooden boats enshrined in their tombs.
Oh, I would have wanted to see the cemetery! I didn’t read ahead before going and nobody offered to take us there. Do u have photos of it?
Photos? I have better than photos! Will share the 360VR once I’m done post-processing :-) Nice blogsite by the way.
Here it is, the graveyard of the Sama people in Greater Sta. Cruz Island:
http://www.virtualphilippines.net/Panoramas/Balangay/Zambo_Tawi/Sama_Graveyard.html
Gorgeous! I wouldn’t mind being there right now. Looks very isolated and not so populated with beach goers.
hayy… ang sarap magtampisaw!!! pero hindi ba talaga nakakatakot pumunta doon dahil malapit sa Basilan?
gorgeous shots of the Island. I’m flying to Zamboanga next month for a summit I’m attending. You just made me miss Zamboanga even more. BTW, Neil is a good friend
Thanks! Buddha =) You are missing it because you’re from Zamboanga? Have a nice trip. Neil is a good friend and my dive instructor
i wish i had a little more time when i visited zamboanga city. it could have been awesome to experience the pink beach.thanks for sharing photos ;-)
It’s a reason to go back then! :) Thanks for dropping by again. Cheers.
probably making it to Sta. Cruz for the holidays instead. I see, you we’re also with Kris (who’s a friend from church).
That’s good news! You should go check the ancient burial place i didn’t get to see. Check the link posted by Firefly. It looks pretty interesting.
It IS a shame that locals aren’t aware that such a thing of beauty exists just minutes away. I could fly straight to this place right this second, if I could!
They know it’s there, they just don’t feel safe going. Thanks for dropping by.
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I grew up and finished my studies in Zamboanga City…
It was always been my dream to visit this beach which is only 30 minutes pump boat ride from the city proper. Inshallah I will visit this wonderful place and fulfill my dreams when I go vacation this december, Inshallah.
wanted to go there. . .but how? any suggestions? :D
You can go to Fort Pilar and arrange for boat and escort. Have fun.