Carabao Island
Roaming Around Romblon
ZAMBALES | Food Trip ~ Where To Eat In Zambales 2024
8 months ago
After 12 months, I was back again in Looc Fish Sanctuary. This time with colleagues from Manila. Except for a few interesting species of fish that lurked under the floating raft and the view of stranded ship in the distance, nothing much has changed.
No, we can't make it. Yes, we can.
I was chanting these lines in my head on our way to Looc aboard a knotty motorcycle. Our driver understood how crucial it was for us to reach Looc before 4:30PM and so he went full throttle but his motorcycle could only do so much. Apparently, it wasn't meant for long-distance travel. He changed the vehicle into a more road-fit one, allowing us to keep up with the rest of the team whose motorcycles were kilometers ahead of us. Err - no, that wasn't exactly the case. They actually pulled over and waited for us to make sure we were all right. Then they let us go first, and after a few seconds we were at the tail end again.
With the rate we were going, I didn't think that we could reach Looc before the sanctuary closed for the day. But somehow we did. We arrived in town a few minutes past four. I told my travel mates to hurry since the sanctuary was about to close. Chop, chop, people! After throwing our stuff carelessly in a vacant room at Angelique Inn, we sprinted towards the port. The guys, who are called BayWatchers (watchers of the sanctuary), at the registration office told us we almost didn't make it. They were closing much earlier that day because there was an advice from their boss. I heaved a sigh of relief.
After paying 100 pesos (entrance fee), a Baywatch officer ushered us to a boat at the far end of the port. It's a big boat, one that can carry at most 15 people. The transfer to the sanctuary took less than 10 minutes.
No, we can't make it. Yes, we can.
I was chanting these lines in my head on our way to Looc aboard a knotty motorcycle. Our driver understood how crucial it was for us to reach Looc before 4:30PM and so he went full throttle but his motorcycle could only do so much. Apparently, it wasn't meant for long-distance travel. He changed the vehicle into a more road-fit one, allowing us to keep up with the rest of the team whose motorcycles were kilometers ahead of us. Err - no, that wasn't exactly the case. They actually pulled over and waited for us to make sure we were all right. Then they let us go first, and after a few seconds we were at the tail end again.
With the rate we were going, I didn't think that we could reach Looc before the sanctuary closed for the day. But somehow we did. We arrived in town a few minutes past four. I told my travel mates to hurry since the sanctuary was about to close. Chop, chop, people! After throwing our stuff carelessly in a vacant room at Angelique Inn, we sprinted towards the port. The guys, who are called BayWatchers (watchers of the sanctuary), at the registration office told us we almost didn't make it. They were closing much earlier that day because there was an advice from their boss. I heaved a sigh of relief.
Dodging the risk of getting mainstream as far as creating my top 15 blog list is concerned, I initially crossed a few outstanding travel sites off my poll. A rather unfair move because most of those blogs deserve a spot in the Top 15 but they've been at the top of the totem pole for quite some time now so excluding them from my list won't even hurt their standing. But I still ended up adding them to the list. I had to!
Most blogs in my list are considered as the underdogs - blogs that are quite unheard of but feature interesting travel stories and insights. In a sea of travel sites, blogs that capture both the heart and imagination can be sparse. When you find one, you consider it a gem, so you bookmark it and subscribe to their feeds. I'm hoping readers to discover these outstanding travel blogs.
Without further ado, here's my personal Top Travel Blogs for 2013.
Most blogs in my list are considered as the underdogs - blogs that are quite unheard of but feature interesting travel stories and insights. In a sea of travel sites, blogs that capture both the heart and imagination can be sparse. When you find one, you consider it a gem, so you bookmark it and subscribe to their feeds. I'm hoping readers to discover these outstanding travel blogs.
It's Day 4 of our Romblon Backpacking Trip and it was going to be a long day. A two-hour jeepney ride to the port of Magdiwang, another 3 hours aboard a ferry to Tablas and almost two hours on motorcycle to Looc. We were hoping to be in Looc before 4pm.
THE SUN WAS HALF-HIDDEN BEHIND a bank of grey clouds when we emerged from the ankle-deep stream to find a small clearing before us with the intimidating panorama of Mt. Guiting-Guiting in the distance. The famous mountain refused to reveal herself to us, always veiled in mist and fog which never quite left her. Like an elusive but proud maiden, she only let herself be glimpsed and admired from afar.
Roaming Around Romblon
Romblon
Sibuyan
Romblon | Toploading in Sibuyan
Thursday, May 02, 2013Ryan Mach
Precariously perched atop a crowded jeepney on a beautiful Saturday morning, we traversed our way from the sleepy town of Cantingas to the scenic village of Espana in Sibuyan, Romblon toploading style.
[Local teenager helping my friends to get on top]
Getting to the roof of the vehicle already full to the brim, so to speak, was no mean feat as we had to scramble our way up, dodging passengers whose heads and arms peeked outside the window and ultimately settling our butts in on the hard metal, sharing cramped space with local passengers, bags and sacks of fruits and vegetables. When the engine started to rev up, we anticipated a bumpy yet exhilarating ride while holding on for our dear lives.
Getting to the roof of the vehicle already full to the brim, so to speak, was no mean feat as we had to scramble our way up, dodging passengers whose heads and arms peeked outside the window and ultimately settling our butts in on the hard metal, sharing cramped space with local passengers, bags and sacks of fruits and vegetables. When the engine started to rev up, we anticipated a bumpy yet exhilarating ride while holding on for our dear lives.
