Sibuyan Island Part 2

Before even arriving, we were pretty much set on what day we will be heading back to Manila.  But dealing with the somewhat unreliable transport system, better be prepared to get delayed a day or two.  It happened to us.  What to do in Sibuyan to pass time aside from going to the beach?  Well, how about doing a road trip of the entire island?  This would take a big chunk of time off your day.  Sibuyan is a small island composed of three municipalities.  Magdiwang (where we stayed), San Fernando and Cajidiocan.

Joining us with the trip are a couple of motorcycles with back rides.  We will be following them with our car.  The first leg will take us to the town of San Fernando.

Antoninus and Jose Luis (our Coke guy) joining us

As soon as you leave Magdiwang town boundary, dirt roads lay ahead.  Don't expect fast foods, restaurants, even gas station ahead so better pack food and have the tank full.  It was a few hours bumpy ride but nonetheless fun.  That's the joy of being in a place for the first time.  Everything you see is new.  Green fields of vegetation, driving along the foot of the mountain.

Did I mention bumpy?

But fun!

Sometimes it got so rough that I felt the rocks scraping the bottom of the car.  As seen from the picture above, my passengers have to alight the vehicle and take the bamboo bridge so I can safely cross the stream.  A couple of hours on the road, rain again threatened our little road trip.  It started to drizzle.  Since our companions are on motorcycles, we rested on on a shed and waited for the rain to stop.  By chance, the place we stopped by is also the site of a monument built for an anti-mining advocate slain during a protest.

Rain quickly abated, thank goodness!  Otherwise, the roads might have turned muddy and slow us more further.  We are just about midway San Fernando and made another rest stop this time on a small "sari-sari" store to get a much needed cold drinks.  According to our guide, we are just about a few minutes away from where a tragic accident occurred.  The sinking of the passenger vessel MV Princess of the Stars in 2008.  From the main road, it about half a mile away towards the beach and from there you can see the wreck.

So close and yet so far.  A lesson never learned.

Chatting with Philippine Coast Guard

From there, we were met by the Coast Guard's head of diving operations who was kind enough to tell stories and his experiences diving in the wreck.  He even offered us a guided dive tour of the wreck if we knew how to dive and have our equipment with us.  But after hearing the stories of how their equipment on the storage rack would suddenly act up and feel/hear moaning during dives even if we knew how to...... PASS!  Again, thank you Mr. Coast Guard (didn't get his name) for taking the time.  Considering that he was watching the Pacquio-Margarito when we arrived.

With the fight on AM radio, we hit the road again.  This time for the Cantingas River in Taclobo, San Fernando where water from mount G2 flows.  With Sibuyan encountering 12-hour long brownouts, World Bank funded a hydro-electric power plant to harness the rivers power.  Good thing this was already operational when we visited.  Although we did encounter some power outages due to heavy rains.

It's past noon and we haven't had our lunch.  We made do with some snacks, local sweets and cookies until we find something decent where we can sit and dine.  The fight was over, Pac-Man won and we were on the move again.  Nearing the end of San Fernando town, we began to see some paved roads.  Sight for a sore butt!  We briefly stopped at Brgy. Azagra (I think) to stretch our legs.

Old....

Some signs of civilization!

Road-wise, Cajidiocan is a far better than San Fernando.  It's a bit more progressive since they have a port where passenger and cargo vessels (from Manila) arrive in a regular basis.  There is also a growing number of German retirees that now call this place home.  I was able to talk to one of them, Hans.  Arrived here a couple of decades ago, he decided to stay and now encourages people he know from Europe to come over and visit.  He owns a pizza house in town where we finally got some decent food.  Pizza, burgers, pancit etc.

'Twas mid-afternoon and dark clouds loom across the horizon.  We hurried to finish up and be on the road again.  But before we could even move an inch, heavy downpour came upon us.  Everybody scampered for cover and waited for it to stop.  No sign of it came and it was getting late.  It was then decided that we have to move and the bikers agreed to tough it out!  Mind you, one of the back rider is a lady (hi Kessa!).

Slippery when wet...

It was now a race to get back to Magdiwang as quickly as possible.  Heavy rain=dangerous roads!  Good thing everybody arrived safely in one piece, wet and tired and all.  We were supposed to stop by a water falls but decided not to.  Since we didn't see it, another reason to go back! :D

No ferry was due until the day after next so we had another day to spend.  Dad brought over from the US some of his fishing gears and I brought mine as well.  While the rest will be enjoying the beach,  we will be fishing.  A boat was hired to pick us up around 5 in the morning and prepped our gears the night before.

We'll be out the sea for 12 hours so we packed coffee and sandwiches.  Came morning and a tiny boat anchored on the beach was waiting for us.  We loaded up and headed out.  A few miles out and we started casting while having breakfast on a really rocky boat.  There was a bit of a drizzle and I forgot to bring a rain gear.  All I had with me was a t-shirt and a bush hat for cover.  A few minutes later, I felt icky.  Then did something I dare not mention LOL.  Everyone on the boat, the pilot, Dad and Tito Boy was cool with it.  I guess it happens to anyone gone fishing from time to time.  By mid afternoon I was already sun burnt, cold and wet.  We were moving from one fishing spot to the next but the fish aren't biting.  Late afternoon we were hit by a squall and big waves I though the boat was going to capsize.   Half day fishing and all we got were lots of debris and one measly 2-pound grouper.

It was a great experience visiting Sibuyan.  Maybe next time I'll climb G2!