Growing up, I was taught that the Philippines was an archipelago composed of a staggering 7,100 islands. But recently, that number has changed. The Filipino National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) had suspected there were actually a lot more for a long time. Using synthetic aperture radar satellite technology and in-person checks they remapped the country and came up with over 500 more islands … 534 more to be exact. The 3 main islands are Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao but there are thousands of smaller ones. A friend of mine says his family owns one in the Quezon province that is so small there are days in the year when the whole island is under water. I think he was joking ... then again, maybe he wasn't.

Disembarking from our motorized outrigger boat, we crossed over the wooden pier spanning the crystalline turquoises waters of the cove and into an island of colossal karst rocks and cliff walls. Just slightly beyond the white sand beach of verdant Pangabangan Island where we landed we encountered one of the most remarkable sights we’ve come across in all of our island-hopping adventures.