Caramoan Island, Camarines Sur

    The name Caramoan has been officially adapted since 1619, the year it was founded by a Spanish missionary friar, Francisco de la Cruz Y Oropesa. Fr. Oropesa penetrated the thick virgin forest of the Caramoan Peninsula and founded a small settlement in a place called Baluarte. This settlement was subsequently turned over to the administration of the Holy Bishopric in 1696.

    The small town of Caramoan is located at the tip of Caramoan Peninsula, a rugged place of land extending into the waters of the Maqueda Channel on the North and East and Lagonoy Gulf on the South.

    Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, it was determined that the place was once called Guta de Leche, which was given by Dutch traders who operated a gold mine in Lahuy Island and who frequented the area to trade with the natives. The name was perhaps derived from the milkdrop stalagmites found among the rocks of Guta Port. Upon the arrival of the Spaniards, the place came to be called "Carahan" for the sea turtle, which was at that time to be found in great number along the shores of the Peninsula.

    Caramoan is one of the thirty-five municipalities of the Province of Camarines Sur and is situated at the heart of the Caramoan Peninsula at the southernmost tip of Luzon. It occupies the lower eastern portion of the Province of Camarines Sur. It is bounded on the north by the town of Garchitorena and the Pacific Ocean; on the northeast by the island province of Catanduanes; on the south by Lagonoy Gulf; on the east by the Maqueda Channel and on the west by the municipality of Presentacion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramoan,_Camarines_Sur