SAN ANTONIO, Zambales—While beach camping has earned the Zambales coast a short but lovely mention in the Lonely Planet’s May 12, 2011, article listing the Philippines as one of the “Top Ten Value Destinations for 2011,” locals say it’s the emerald jewels scattered on the province’s turquoise sea that really make visitors want to come back.

“They’re the magnets that draw tourists in,” said Lyn Rillo, an officer at the Zambales provincial tourism office, as she herded a local TV crew filming at a beach resort in the coastal village of Pundaquit here last month.

“As you’d notice, the beaches in this part are not exactly ideal for swimming because of the strong waves. But those islands over there pack them in,” Rillo explained, gesturing to the three rocky outcrops sitting just 2 kilometers out in the sea.

From afar, the Capones and Camara islands simply looked like ragged brown-and-black rocky formations set on the deep-blue water. And they are. But a closer inspection reveals the islands to be breathtaking sculptures of rocks chiseled by both water and wind.

On both islands, the sheer cliff faces, the waves crashing on rocks, and the patches of smooth white-sandy beaches all contribute to an image of a rugged, tropical paradise.

On Capones, the bigger island, sits a Spanish-era lighthouse, the Faro de Punta Capones, now solar-powered and continuing to serve as a beacon to vessels in the rough seas. Easily one of the most photographed in the country, Faro de Punta Capones, with its crumbling companion brick structure, adds another point of interest to visitors, especially shutterbugs.

Camara Island, meanwhile, boasts of a sandbar that connects two islets.  Allan Villacillo, the boatman who took us for a ride around the islands, said this part is a favorite for day picnics, even when the connecting sandbar disappears during high tide.

Both Capones and Camara are becoming hot spots for surfing, diving and snorkeling. But to this day, both islands are still uninhabited—save for a small unit from the naval training school in this town and a crew which maintains the famous Capones lighthouse.  To date, there is no commercial establishment on the islands.

Villacillo said that as far back as he could remember, the only real inhabitants the islands ever had are the swallows that nest on the sheer brown cliffs.

Such raw beauty apparently made the islands more attractive that in just the past few years a whole industry has mushroomed along the surf-washed sands of Pundaquit.

Now Nora’s Beach Resort, Pundaquit Luxury Resort, St. William’s Cottage, and Jimz, to name a few, are squeezed side by side along the beach, offering tourists rooms and meals, meeting and conference venues, beach huts, and even billiards and videoke.

“Our visitors come from all over,” gushed Ate Nora, proprietor of Nora’s Resort, where we had our lunch of native Filipino fare. Nothing extraordinary there—except for the fact that she serves Zambales mangoes for dessert, and proudly, too—but her restaurant’s parking space was cramped with vans, SUVs and passenger jeepneys from Bulacan province.

At her place, Ate Nora explained, daytime belongs to visitors from other places. At night, the locals arrive for restaurant food and videoke singing.

Beach huts for day tourists are priced at P300, while huts with a bed and an electric fan go for P500 to P800 a day. Meanwhile, boats that can seat 10 people can be had for P1,500 for a round trip to the islands. Those for 20 passengers are priced at P3,000.

Elsewhere in the province, several other islands also draw hordes of visitors, benefiting the hundreds of restaurants and beach resorts that line up Zambales’s 173 km of coastline.

The famous Subic Bay in the southern tip of the province boasts of the Grande and Pequeña islands—harbor guardians to the former Subic Bay Naval Base, which have been exclusively used as resort islands only by the top brass in the US Navy.

The bay also has the former Snake Island, which in recent years has been transformed into the Pamana Island Resort.

Up north, the bay of Masinloc has a cluster of three islands—San Salvador, which is a barangay of Masinloc, the islet of Panglit; and Magalawa Island, which is a part of the neighboring town of Palauig.

All three islands are inhabited, but only Magalawa is advertised on the Web as a “perfect getaway” for swimming, water and sand sports, Jetskiing, scuba diving and snorkeling.

San Salvador, the biggest of the islands, however, is popularly known for its “Pulo” mango—one of the most delicious in the world—as well as for its marine reserve and fish sanctuary. The latter attraction, which boasts of giant clams, lobsters and stingrays, is also a favorite dive spot, precisely because of its rich marine diversity.

Farther up north in the town of Candelaria, the small white-sand island of Potipot serves as the anchor attraction for the strip of community resorts, restaurants and hotels that line up the kilometers-long Uacon Cove.

Known as the “Boracay of the North,” Potipot has no electricity or running water, but foreign and local tourists just can’t seem to have enough of its powdery sand beach and clean water.

At the northernmost part of Zambales are the twin islands of Hermana Mayor and Hermana Menor, which are also blessed with white-sand beaches, but are considered too far (at least 45 minutes by pump boat) to be commercially accessible.

But the local government of Santa Cruz town is now developing a marine sanctuary off Hermana Menor, also in the hope of making the area a popular dive site.

Like Pundaquit, the barangays of Sinabacan and Uacon in Candelaria have become resort communities because of Potipot, which only has a few beach huts.

“There are some who camp overnight in Potipot, but most of the visitors prefer accommodations with air-conditioned rooms and hot showers so we’re supplying the needs of the market,” said Karl Edejer, a medicine student in Manila who helps his parents run the Beachhouse ni Dok resort in Zambales by booking clients through the Internet.

Karl said their rates come from as low as P1,600 for an overnight stay at a regular “aircon” room to P6,000 overnight at the two-room main house with loft.

During peak days in summer, even the tree house in the resort is being rented out to visitors, most of them coming by private cars from Manila.

The island-business, however, is mostly seasonal in Candelaria, said Karl’s father, Emi, an anesthesiologist based in Olongapo City but a native Candelarian.

“For about three months in a year—two months in summer, and another month during the December holiday season—it’s good business. The rest of the year, it’s just break even,” Emi said.

Still, Emi said they managed to expand the resort over the years because of the summer receipts.

Last month, as the summer season reached its peak, Emi and his wife Janet, a bank executive in Manila, as well as their four college-age children, had to help out in managing and feeding their guests at the Beachhouse.

“It’s a family affair,” Emi said of their resort business, “especially when this is how you send your children to college.”