Ironwulf.net Ver 6: En Route - Philippines, Travel, Photography

Ooops! I just realized I still have a lot of back log from my travels. So in Between the China posts, I’ll be posting entries from those recent local travels as well. I thought it would add variety and hope not to cause confusion on continuity. This entry is another one of my favorite places in our country, Batanes. Same trip brought to you by the cool guys at Geiser Maclang and Epson Philippines. And probably one of the most memorable series as well.

One of the places I missed last time I went to Batanes was the Fundacion Pacita Abad in Tukon Hills. So after our half day stay in Sabtang Island, I asked our guide Magn Roger to take us to Pacita Abad’s place in Tukon. Tukon is one of the elevated portions of Batan Island where you can actually have a good view of the surrounding landscapes of Batan Island as well as both the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. So those who are still have enough energy to tour ventured this hill, which became one of my favorite places in Batanes.

It’s been 4 years since I have been here and since then I’ve always wanted to go back. My first trip to Batanes has been one of my most memorable travels since then. And when the chance to go back there came knocking in, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Batanes has this long lasting charm that holds you once you have stepped up on its land. And now thanks to Epson Philippines, Geiser Maclang and fellow bloggers Juned as well for the referral, the dream of going back has been fulfilled. And the charm of Batanes is still there.

Marooned four. That is what we have become. We didn’t plan on staying on this island since our flight is the day after tomorrow. But that is the reality of traveling, expect the unexpected. You could either react badly when something goes wrong or simply accept what have become. Still, we thought we were fortunate enough to be stranded here in Sabtang as the people of Batanes are known for their kindness and pride themselves for having virtually no crime. Though there were isolated crimes of passion, I doubt it if those who committed these crimes are natives of the region. Other than that, their jail cells have become a stock house since there’s no one inside. It seems hard to believe though that place such as this still exist.

Sidenote: Thank you very much to all those who gave their congratulatory remarks on my blog being a finalist on two categories at this year’s Philippine Blog Awards. Indeed being a finalist is honor enough. I promise I’ll blog more on this next week, but for the meantime, I got my last two segments for the Batanes series. Thank you all dear readers as you inspire me to continue sharing on this blog. Salamat po!

Itbayat Island is actually a giant uplifted coral reef, and research claims it’s one of the world’s largest. Knowing this first time around made me think how this was possible. I guess that explains how the island doesn’t have a shoreline and the texture of the cliffs does resemble a giant coral. Interesting isn’t it? So how is it like living on a giant coral reef?

Batanes is made up of 3 major islands, Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat. Batan, the easier and safer place to go around Batanes has the main city of Basco, the gateway to the region. Sabtang, the island we were supposed to go to earlier but was put on hold because of the weather is one of the closer islands to Batan and can be reached in less than an hour from the port of Ivana. The other island, Itbayat is one of the farther islands up north and can be reached by boat in 3-4 hours or by a small plane in an hour. Since the plane’s schedule is unpredictable and fare is very expensive we opted to take a boat. No this isn’t a big boat but a tug cargo boat and I can’t imagine we’re crossing the seas where the Pacific Ocean and the China Seas meet on it.