It was a lovely day. The sun's out. The sky's bright and clear. The sea was calm. What could possibly go wrong? The boat ride from Sta. Fe in Tablas to Carabao Island doesn't take more than an hour. This I know too well because I've taken the same trip a year ago when I went to San Jose with a friend. The only difference was we took...

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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...

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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...

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HAVING WOKEN UP QUITE EARLY the day before, getting up right after the break of dawn the next day had become a relatively easy affair for most of us. No one whined as we packed our stuff and hit the shower one by one (two toilets for the eight of us, no hot water). Jarold, the jeepney that took us to San Fernando two days ago, was going...

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"THAT LEDGE DOESN'T LOOK high enough," I thought to myself while looking at the 35-40 feet diving platform where young boys jumped off bravely, doing various stunts mid-air before hitting the water below. From afar, at least where I was standing that time, it didn't look scarily high but once I got to the top, with the clear water a few feet below, I found myself weak in...

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[Mt. Guiting-Guiting in the background] 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...

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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,...

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