While traveling between Metro Manila and Naga City in the Camarines Sur, I took the opportunity of taking photos of sections along the coastal roads in the towns of Quezon Province. These include roads in the towns of Atimonan, Gumaca and Atimonan, which face the waters of Lamon Bay, which in turn joins waters of the Philippine Sea as well as the Pacific Ocean. I have old photos of coastal roads on the other side of the province on the Bondoc Peninsula and will feature them in another post.

An old tire placed along the sea wall to advertise “vulcanizing” services to motorists, particularly truckers passing along this highway. “Vulcanizing,” of course is the term used for various services concerning ones tires. The shoulder stretching along the seawall serves as parking spaces for trucks plying routes along the Pan-Philippine Highway.

A peek at a small harbor located at the mouth of a river – there are many small ports located along Philippine coastlines. In some towns, there are several including those serving fishermen rather than passengers. One can see the lighthouse at some distance from the bridge where I took a quick shot.

There are many stores and eateries along the road and many travelers can choose among the carenderias or turu-turo’s. I haven’t tried eating at any of these eateries along this route but during field work, we routinely check out where we can have lunch or merienda. In some cases, you can even have viand cooked for you if you don’t like what’s being offered on the counter (often it’s just pots or pans containing various viands for the selection of the customer). For such seaside towns and barrios, I assume there’s a good supply of fish that can be cooked a number of ways.

Many stores have their usual customers (suki) among truckers. The wide shoulders provide for parking spaces but these may also bring about some hazards especially at night, and when the trucks are maneuvering. The excellent pavement conditions, and the level and straight sections can induce drivers to speed up along these roads, and such contributes to increased risk of road crashes.

I imagine it must be nice to live along the coast with a good view of the sea and with fresh air coming in from the east (Pacific Ocean). But then I am reminded of the typhoons that generally come from this direction. Quezon is one of the provinces that’s regularly on the roll call for when typhoon signals are announced.

In cases where the water is not deep enough for the larger vessels or bancas, piers are constructed. Such serve not only fishermen but people living in islands of the coast in Lamon Bay.

Some sections of the road have no inhabitants and can be quite dark at night given there are no lamp posts along the highway.

Typical pier serving large, motorized bancas serving as ferries to islands and other coastal towns. Such maritime transport are often advised to stay at port during inclement weather as they are not as sturdy as they look. Notice the outriggers that serve to stabilize the vessels as they encounter waves in the open sea.

Port of Atimonan – the construction of this port was supported by funds from the Government of Japan. Most ports are under the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), which is an agency under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).