Trifter

Ever been curious about what all this wakeboarding hype?

Now’s the time for you to explore–the Philippines now has a world-class wakeboarding facility, and it’s located just south of Metro Manila!

Image via Wikipedia

Camsur Watersports Complex

Government-owned CamSur Watersports Complex in Pili, Camarines Sur offers its guests a blast of a time wakeboarding (and learning how to) with its cable system, ramps and pro shops. They even hold international competitions yearly. Yes, it’s known around the world. In fact, professional wakeboarders visit the complex all year round. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see them pulling stunts on the ramps, doing somersaults or simply gliding alongside one another on the same cable.

Image via Wikipedia

The cable system is also safe for beginners to try; although it’s recommended that you get on the kneeboard first before moving on to the actual wakeboard–just to get used to the whole balancing act and the cable as it drags you across the water.

Be sure to stretch before attempting to go for a whole session! Wakeboarding is actually more challenging than it looks.

Accomodations

Camsur Watersports Complex is located on a 6-hectare property just behind the city hall. It also offers its guests a wide variety of accommodations: there’s tiki huts, multi-colored containers, wood cabins, cabanas, villas, the barn-like houses in Ecovillage and of course, the Mansion Suites for the guests who prefer to lounge around in luxury after an intense day of working the ramps. They’re quite affordable, which makes it really convenient especially for the backpackers who come from Manila.

Getting There

Manila to Naga

Getting to Naga or Pili is a piece of cake too: you can take a bus from either Cubao or Pasay. We took a bus from Cubao at 10:00PM once, and it cost us Php800 for a one-way ticket in a bus that has very comfortable La-Z-Boy seats and its own bathroom. Not bad, considering that it helped us sleep the whole way to Naga (the trip took us a total of 8 hours), allowing us enough energy to get on the cable the very next day!

Naga to Pili

Once you get to Naga, you can either explore the city itself (there’s lots of interesting places to go to–chuches, monuments, bars, restaurants, markets) or go straight to Pili where the watersports complex is.

As soon as you get off at the bus terminal, you can ask a tricycle driver to take you to another terminal where the shuttles to Pili are. The trip to Pili will cost you around Php40 per person for a 20-minute drive to Pili. Just tell the driver where you’re going: the watersports complex. That’s exactly where they’ll drop you off.

Enjoy your trip and happy wakeboarding!