Skip to content
Hiraya Cove
Check availability
Hiraya Cove
Check availabilityhello@hirayacove.ph
A tight overhead close-up of clear turquoise water over rippled pale sand, caustic light patterns filling the frame, shading from turquoise to near-white.

8 experiences

What a day here can be

Lagoons, tunnels, kayaks and the bay itself — the reason anyone flies four hours and then drives twenty-five minutes. Shot early, shot honestly, never colour-graded into a place that does not exist.

  1. An empty wooden bangka seen head-on from the water, bamboo outrigger arms spread wide, a bamboo canopy frame over linen-cushioned benches, clear turquoise shallows, sheer karst walls either side.

    Tour A · The Lagoons

    Schedule
    Departs 8:30 AM daily, weather permitting
    Duration
    Full day · eight hours

    The one everybody comes for, run the way it should be. We leave at 8:30 to reach Big Lagoon before the day boats come out of town, kayak the inner channel while it is still glass, and eat on Seven Commandos after the crowds have moved on. Our bangka carries fourteen and never more. If the wind is turning, the captain says so at breakfast rather than at eleven in open water.

    What's included

    • Big Lagoon and Small Lagoon by kayak
    • Secret Lagoon and Shimizu Island
    • Lunch grilled on Seven Commandos beach
    • Masks, fins and a licensed guide
    • Environmental fees and permits

    ₱3,400Per guest · minimum of four, or charter the boat

  2. A narrow limestone cleft opening onto a still emerald lagoon, sheer karst walls either side, a small palm-backed beach at the far end, a plain wooden boat drawn up on white sand in the foreground.

    Tour C · Hidden Beaches

    Schedule
    Departs 8:00 AM · Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
    Duration
    Full day · eight hours

    The longer run west, out past Matinloc, for people who have already done the lagoons or who would rather swim than paddle. Secret Beach is entered through a crack in the rock you have to time against the swell, so the captain decides the order on the day rather than the night before. Star Beach at the end, when the light has gone gold and the fleet has gone home.

    What's included

    • Helicopter Island and Matinloc Shrine
    • Secret Beach, tide and swell permitting
    • Hidden Beach and Star Beach
    • Lunch on the boat, grilled on board
    • Masks, fins and a licensed guide

    ₱3,800Per guest · minimum of four, or charter the boat

  3. A single wooden kayak on glassy jade water leaving concentric ripples, karst islands in dawn mist, palms and a thatched structure onshore, a lounger with a linen throw in the foreground.

    Kayak at First Light

    Schedule
    Departs 5:20 AM daily
    Duration
    Two hours

    Out at 5:20, when the bay has not been touched yet and there is no engine anywhere in it. We paddle north along the cliff line to the cove past the point, sit still for a while, and come back with the sun already warm. A thermos of Palawan coffee and pan de sal goes in the dry bag. It is the best two hours on the property and the hardest to talk anybody into.

    What's included

    • Single or double kayak, paddle and vest
    • A guide who knows where the current sets
    • Coffee and pan de sal on the water
    • Dry bag for a camera

    ₱1,800Per guest · included for Pool Residence guests

  4. A split-level view: coral heads and small tropical fish over white sand below the waterline, karst cliff, coconut palms and a thatched roof above it, clear turquoise water.

    The Dilumacad Tunnel

    Schedule
    Departs 7:00 AM · daily except Monday
    Duration
    Half day · two tanks

    A forty-metre swim-through under Helicopter Island that opens into a chamber wide enough for four divers abreast, then out the far side at about twelve metres onto a wall of sweetlips and jacks. Entry is silty and the tunnel is dark, so it goes one guide to two divers and only when the visibility earns it. Second tank on the reef at Dilumacad north.

    What's included

    • Two tanks, weights and full rental gear
    • One guide to every two divers
    • Boat, surface interval and refreshments
    • Marine park fees

    ₱6,900Per certified diver · the guided discovery dive is ₱4,200

  5. An empty massage table draped in white linen with three rolled towels under a thatched pavilion, a second table and rattan chair behind, planting, white sand and karst beyond, soft shade.

    The Hilom Ritual

    Schedule
    Daily · 9:00 AM to 7:30 PM
    Duration
    One hundred and twenty minutes

    A traditional hilot opening with warm banana leaf and coconut oil to find where the body is holding, then ninety minutes of deep work through the back and shoulders, and a scalp finish with calamansi and lemongrass. It ends with ginger tea on the sala steps and no one hurrying you off the bed. Therapists are trained by a hilot practitioner from Taytay who still comes down twice a year.

    What's included

    • Warm banana-leaf and coconut-oil opening
    • Ninety minutes of deep hilot bodywork
    • Calamansi and lemongrass scalp finish
    • Ginger tea, and as long as you want on the sala

    ₱5,600Per guest · book the 5:00 PM slot for the light

  6. A table for two on white sand: white linen cloth, two place settings, wine glasses and a lit candle, two empty cane-backed armchairs, turquoise water and karst pinnacles, golden hour.

    Table for Two on the Sand

    Schedule
    Nightly by arrangement · two tables maximum
    Duration
    Three hours

    One table, set on the sand below the casitas at the hour the light goes, with lanterns dug in around it and nobody else within fifty metres. Five courses off whatever came in that morning, served by one person who then leaves you alone. We do a maximum of two of these a night and we do not do them in a swell, because a table in the wind is not romantic, it is just sand in the soup.

    What's included

    • Private table set on the beach
    • Five courses from the morning landing
    • Lanterns, linen and a dedicated server
    • A bottle of sparkling on arrival

    ₱9,800Per couple · wine pairing a further ₱4,800

  7. A weathered timber table with three clay pots, a whole fresh fish on a banana leaf with halved calamansi, an opened young coconut and a linen cloth; karst, palms and turquoise bay behind.

    Heirloom Kusina

    Schedule
    Monday, Wednesday and Friday · from 6:00 AM
    Duration
    Three hours

    A market run to the Corong-Corong landing at six, then three hours in the back kitchen at Alon cooking four dishes the chef learned at home rather than at school: kinilaw, adobong pusit in its own ink, ginataang langka, and whatever the boats made possible. You eat what you cook, at the counter, with the crew.

    What's included

    • Market run to the Corong-Corong landing
    • Four dishes, cooked start to finish
    • Recipe cards to take home
    • Lunch at the counter with the kitchen

    ₱2,900Per guest · maximum of eight

  8. A traditional wooden sailing outrigger with two canvas sails catching a low sun, bamboo outrigger arms, calm jade water, karst headlands in silhouette, a canopied cabana onshore.

    Sunset Sail on the Bacuit

    Schedule
    Departs 4:30 PM daily, weather permitting
    Duration
    Two hours

    Out on the smaller bangka at half past four with the engine off once we clear the point, running on the sail across to the channel and back. Cold beer, calamansi soda, and a bowl of chicharon. It is not a serious sail and nobody pretends otherwise — it is a way to be on the water when the bay turns pink and the light comes off the karst.

    What's included

    • Two hours on the water under sail
    • Beer, calamansi soda and chicharon
    • A crew of two who know the channel
    • Return before dark, always

    ₱2,400Per guest · charter the boat for ₱14,000

Why there is no Tour B here

We run Tour A and Tour C on our own bangka, which carries fourteen and never more. Tour A, the lagoons, from ₱3,400 a guest, leaves at 8:30 daily so we reach Big Lagoon before the day boats come out of town, kayak the inner channel while it is still glass, and eat on Seven Commandos after the crowds have moved on. Tour C, the hidden beaches, from ₱3,800, runs Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday out past Matinloc — Secret Beach is entered through a crack in the rock the captain times against the swell. Tour B we book for you with the town operators at cost rather than running it ourselves, because it is the weakest of the three and we would rather say so.

Check availability