The Pink Sand Beach (Sta. Cruz Island) @ Zamboanga City; Philippines

So yeah, beaches and the sea aren't my thing, but I am always up to explore the areas I find myself in. So when I got the chance to see the famous Pink Sand Beach on the island of Sta. Cruz in Zamboanga City for work, I got on the boat with my colleagues and our local hosts and headed for the pink sand!

There's the island!

Sta. Cruz island is a small piece of land off the coast of Zamboanga City. It took us about 10-15 minutes to reach our destination from Paseo del Mar.

PINK SAND!

Clear turquoise seawater

Sta. Cruz is actually made up of 2 islands; the larger of the 2 (also known as "Las Islas de Sta. Cruz" or "Great Sta. Cruz Island") is the island of the Pink Beach everyone talks about, the smaller one is a protected area where public access is restricted as it is a site of a military camp.

The island itself is rustic almost undeveloped aside from some huts/cottages here and there. It also doesn't have any fresh running water, but has plumbing and toilets which use seawater. So you might want to bring some drinking water if and when you visit!

The pink sand is caused by the tiny crushed pieces of red organ pipe coral (which are broken down by the tidal forces over millions and millions of years) that get washed up on the shore by the sea.

The reason for the "pinkness" in the sand

A bigger piece

It's not a barbie or hot shade of pink, but a nice warm peach colour. Some of the photos you may see online of the Pink Sand Beach may have been edited and photoshopped to look very very pink, so don't get your hopes up that it would be a barbie paradise. To me it is several tones lighter than the colour of Pink Himalayan Salt.

My weird feet on the pink sand

The island interior is a blanket of dense greenery, with what I would like to believe are all native species of trees. There are no hotels or any form of accommodation on the island, which I think is nice as to keep the island as natural as possible and minimise human impact.

A nice thing is that the local government as well as the management of the island set strict rules which all tourists and visitors are required to follow; like: 1) whatever comes on the island must leave the island (all refuse and trash, plastic, metal and glass and even biodegradable ones must leave the island with whoever brought them there) and 2) no sand, no matter how small the amount may leave the island (so if you want to have the pink sand in when you leave, make sure you take A LOT of photos).

It's nice to know that people are starting to realise that sometimes the best way to keep an island paradise beautiful and healthy is to minimise the degree of human impact and make tourism work not only for the tourists, but also for the environment.

How to get to the Pink Sand Beach?

Trips to the island are available on weekdays and weekends. Interested parties can go directly to the City Tourism Office in Paseo del Mar.

Fees:

Entrance Fee: PHP 100.00 per person

Terminal Fee: PHP 5.00 per person

Boat Fee: PHP 1,000.00 per person

*same rate will apply even if the group is less than 10 persons!

*an additional PHP 100.00 per person will be charged for a group that exceed 10 persons!

Hut/Cottage Rentals:

Small: PHP 100.00

Large: PHP 200.00

Pavilion: PHP 500.00