1st adventure - Kaybiang Tunnel

Kaybiang Tunnel
Date: March 19, 2016
Written by Julius Angeles (the driver)

The tunnel entrance, with a simple reminder of where you are

This day marks the start of the final examinations in our college. Thankfully, none of us in our circle of friends had any schedule, and since we were just celebrating the end of our thesis, we decided to have a long roadtrip to the edge of Cavite. We decided on going to Kaybiang Tunnel and Nasugbu.

Kaybiang Tunnel, located at Maragondon near its border with Ternate and Nasugbu, is the only mountain road tunnel in Cavite. With a length of 270 meters, Kaybiang Tunnel is the longest of its kind in the Philippines. Yes, it's just 270 meters (you can't believe it? I can't believe it either). Despite its length, it is an essential transport link between Cavite and Batangas. You see, it connects two segments of the Ternate-Nasugbu Highway together, allowing it to pass thru Mt. Palay-palay National Park. Travellers between Manila and the beach resorts in Nasugbu can experience a scenic trip through the mountains of Cavite as an alternative to the traffic-choked urban centers in Aguinaldo Highway and Tagaytay, which was, until the Kaybiang Tunnel opened around early 2010's, the only road connection between Manila and Nasugbu via Cavite.

Before going to roadtrips, make sure you got enough gas.
This is full tank already! :)

At around 10, we were already on our way from Dasma to Kaybiang. We passed thru the urban centers of Manggahan and Trece Martires, and by 11:30, we were already at Naic. We stopped for lunch at a certain elementary school in town, where one of our professors serve as the principal. The team got to see how school principals spend their time in school.

We continued our trip at 1pm. As it is a weekday noon, traffic is pretty light. Roadsigns along the highway assured us that we were on the right track to Kaybiang. We passed by major tourist attractions in Ternate, like Puerto Azul and the starting point of the Pico de Loro hike, until we reached a junction at KM post 67.

Open roads as we enter Maragondon's north border

A lot of motorcycles and tricycles at the Maragondon-Ternate road

Roadsigns are there to remind us where to go

Straight goes to Caylabne and Marine Base

Turning left at this intersection, it's three kilometers more to the tunnel. The winding road is breath-taking (probably because all of us never encountered these kinds of roads in Dasma, hehe). Anyway, after a long descent down the mountain, an overhead sign reminding motorists of the height clearance of the tunnel told us that we reached our destination.




Passing by KM post 70 and a left-turn bend, we caught sight of the tunnel. Needless to say, the team was impressed by what we saw. It's not everyday that we got to see these kinds of sights, after all.





There are stairs leading to the top of the tunnel entrance. We took the chance to climb it and have photo-ops around the tunnel.

The view from the top of the tunnel entrance

Since there are pretty few vehicles passing thru, photo-ops
in the middle of the road are feasible as well.

After the tunnel, we continued our way towards Nasugbu. A kilometer ahead, after another long downhill ride, we are treated to a fantastic view of the sea in a rest stop.

The rest stop

This is what you can see if you decided to stop

As we continue our roadtrip around Nasugbu, we realized just how mountainous this part of Luzon is. The highway has a lot of steep climbs and sharp curves! It's truly an experience for us who were used to travelling on the relatively flat roads of Dasma.

We went for a quick visit to the resort barangay of Calayo to check out the beaches there.

Between barangays Looc and Calayo, fields flank the 2-kilometer
straight road section

A quick visit to Brgy. Calayo to check out the beaches.
These boats can be rented for island hopping, apparently.

After the quick visit (read: ocular inspection), we continued towards home via Nasugbu and Tagaytay and ended our happy roadtrip at 7 in the evening.

This is only the beginning of our adventures. I wonder where our feet will take us next.