San Vicente Long Beach | Palawan’s Longest White Sand Beach

As far as the eyes can see. San Vicente Long Beach

All eyes were on me. Somehow, my presence interrupted what seemed to be an early morning trade of freshly caught fish and other seafood. I was running the upper stretch of the San Vicente Long Beach in Palawan and just reached the rocky cliff cutting the long stretch of this white sand beach on the other side. I was already heading back when I caught this small crowd and it seems from their reaction, they don’t get as many visitors as early as this morning. “Magandang umaga po! Ano pong meron dyan? (Good morning! What’s in here?)” I asked, bringing out my best smile which seemed to have broken the tense and curios atmosphere. I was reciprocated with the genuine smiles from the locals and they went on with their bargains, weighing-in of goods and sale. I went on with my run back to where I started.

The San Vicente Long Beach seen from a hill

Undeveloped Beauty of a Beach

In my first few days of stay at JuRiSu Resort in the midst of San Vicente Long Beach, I have only seen one traveler, a foreigner, in that part of the beach. The first time I’ve actually stepped on the famed 14km white sand, I wanted to see for myself if the sand was as fine as people say. Yes it was, it felt soft under my feet. It stretches as far as the eyes can see with no marring structure to be seen. San Vicente has caught the eyes of developers already and much of the land are bought. Good thing the local government already have an ordinance of a no-build zone 50meters from the beach. This is also to safeguard any structure from high tide surge during unfavourable weather. From my wandering I’ve only stumbled upon Club Aguttaya, a posh boutique resort with pool nearing completion.

There were abundant growth of beach crawler plants, like the morning glories (ipomoea) adding greens and purples to this beautiful beach. It is also more than a relieving site since the extracts from their crushed leaves is a quick first aid salve for jellyfish stings. Good thing I had no use for it that time when I came to swim at the beach one afternoon. I saw a group of young kids enjoying their time on the beach and was enticed to take a splash as well. The beach has more rocks than sand which I really liked and the waves were playful. I stayed there until sundown even after the kids went ahead. The isolation was sort of a bliss. The purple sky calming and the clouds looking glorious with all those spilling lights.