It was time to leave Luzon, the largest Philippine Island, and head for the island of Mindoro; we had gotten some good views from the Batangas area.
My wife and I loaded the fast ferry at Batangas and took the 3 plus hour trip to Calapan; the scenery was nice as the boat past a few small islands dotted in the Sibuyan Sea. We explored Calapan and Victoria which were polluted little cities, there were nice views of the High Rolling Mountains which contain Mt Halcon (2,587m) and Mt Baco (2,488m). We found a restaurant with friendly owners so we had dinner there and breakfast the next morning; they warned us of the NPA (National Peoples Army) problems on the island and an abduction of a foreigner a couple of weeks previous. In the morning we took a 2 hour jeepney ride to Puerto Galera and the White Sand Beach; I rode on the back of the jeepney, the scenery was excellent. We strolled the beach and swam for the day, it was an excellent location and very quiet at the far end of the beach, away from the bars and night life. The marina at Puerto Galera had some nice little sail boats.
The next morning we left our nice cottage and boarded a jeepney back to Calapan, I would never tire of that scenery, where we hit the bank and then loaded an old sweat bus headed south for Roxas. It was so hot and dusty in the old crate; the 120 kms seemed like it was 400 kms. There WERE nice views of Lake Naujan and the mountains, once the landscape flattened out the banana and coconut groves flourished. Once we got to Roxas we found a place to stay on Melco Beach,
and then took a tricycle ride into the "town proper", the people there were not very friendly; ones we came into contact with anyway. There is a lot of jealousy in the Philippines; in some ways who could blame the locals, who for the most part lead a very difficult life while the tourist has a comfortable existence.
At 10:30 in the morning we left the dock on an outrigger boat and crossed the Tablas Straight to Tablas Island. Two young guys were standing on the extended bamboo floats to balance the boat, water kept splashing into the boat getting locals wet, I thought it was fun and a bit adventurous.
I did not have to use the facilities on the boat, squatting down in a plywood box where excrement just drops in the sea.
We landed at Odiongan and boarded a jeepney for the 43 km trip to Santa Fe, I stood on the back the whole way and the views were awesome; many locals were waiving and yelling hello; what a sharp contrast from Roxas. The road was extremely dusty, my teeth were caked in dirt but a teeth brushing and a swim in the sea would solve that problem.........this was a great day.
Our next day was very different, as is so common with the ups and downs of travel life. We boarded an outrigger boat for the 9:30 departure and it pulled away from the pier at 10:45...we were on "Philippine time". We passed close by Carabao Island so we got some good views; we then made 4 stops along the touristy White Beach on Borocay (we would return here soon). Once we landed at Caticlan, Panay the rush was on to get to Iloilo, which was 225 kms south. We boarded a bus to Kalibo which took one hour and then we took another bus, arriving in the big metropolis when it was dark. Our plan in this area was to meet friends who ended up to live 30 minutes north of Iloilo, they picked us up and we ate dinner.
Next day, after a quick breakfast we headed out to the island of Guimaras. We went there for the christening of our friends son Joshua; after the christening we went to a large party where there was a roasted pig, we had a lot of fun. That night we stayed at a local resort which had 5 swimming pools and a very nice room for us to stay. In the morning we were picked up in a jeepney from our friends husband and taken to the ferry; on the other side we were picked up by our friends brother in a jeepney. We went to Zarraga to load some of his relatives, then proceeded north up the east coast highway to Conception; the scenery was very nice; there are many islands off the east coast of Panay. We stayed in a fishing village, which took a long time to get to since the jeepney had to crawl along for the last few kms; the people were very pleasant. That afternoon I swam out to Bananan which was a long swim; the skies were beautiful as the sun was setting.
While swimming back there was a rumble in the water like I had not experienced before; it turned out that there were some local fishermen using dynamite for killing fish, they then go along in their boat and pick the floating fish from the top of the water. This practice of using dynamite is supposed to be illegal since the explosives destroy reef and other fish habitat but people still do it. Many times in the Philippines the coast guards stand on land watching such infractions because there is no boat for them to use.
After a night of listening to dog fights, cats meowing, roosters crowing, and snoring in the other room we headed out in a boat to tour around.
The highlight of that day was stopping on a beach for lunch and a swim; the menu on this day was clams, jumbo shrimp, milk fish, and mango...tasted pretty good; there were so many shells on the beach.
On the way back south to Zarraga we passed an overturned sweat bus, there were 2 ambulances there; the previous month an overloaded ferry sunk; it is dangerous traveling around this country. Our friends family was so nice to us on our visit, very hospitable. On the next day as my wife rested I went with our friends to do some business in Iloilo, the highlight for me in this city was visiting the Molo Church which was built in 1863.
The following day we said goodbye to Zarraga and caught a sweat bus with our friend to Roxas, after Dao it was new territory for us. I had noticed 2 policemen get on the bus in a town but it wasn't until they got off that I noticed they had a prisoner in handcuff's with them; not something we would see in Canada. Once we got to Roxas our friend phoned a local friend who picked us up and took us to their place for lunch; this business owner has armed guards that travel with him for safety. These friends have 3 house keepers who made sure that we were treated like royalty. The next morning after having shrimp and crab for breakfast we were taken for a tour around Roxas; the highlight was the Santa Monica Church which was built in 1774. In the church was a bell that was known as the heaviest in Asia and 3rd heaviest in the world.
We then went to the Capiz Bay Resort where we spent the day eating delicious food and swimming in the Jintotolo Channel off of Capiz Bay, that was just great. The next morning we caught the 6am bus to Kalibo and then transferred to a bus that took us to Caticlan; it was time to go to Boracay, probably the Philippines most famous beach island.
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