After shooting the impressive Cathedral in Boac, we just walked down the main street and bought some arrow root pasalubong at Boac Hotel just across the church. Hired a tricycle to take us back to Gasan. The mid day ride seems long and I was dozing off through the ride. It took at least 40 minutes until we reached Barangay Pinggan. Finally we arrived in Club Marinduque Resort.
Waking up early and taking pictures during the break of light at Gaspar Island made us famished. Hunger beckoned around 7am that we no longer explored the other 2 islands nearby and decided to head back for our much awaited breakfast. Food at the resort was so-so. After resting a bit we headed north. Had a short stop at Amoingan for an errand and then headed further up north to the island capital of Boac.
We woke up about 3:30am to prepare for our trip in Gaspar island. It’s great to have fellow photographers like Oggie and Allan on a trip since they understand the importance of capturing the best light in a scenery. Most locals would have wondered why we would want to sail to the island at 4am in the morning not understanding the photographer’s view of things. Maybe one reason why our boatman missed our target departure of 4am. Or he just probably overslept. Still we managed to arrive before the sun rises on Gaspar Island, Marinduque.
Our jeep raced through the major highway of Marinduque coming from Sta Cruz. It was already late and we were hoping to get back at the resort by sun down. We sped through the Island capital of Boac and soon crossed the borders to Gasan. Our driver may have miscalculated the time or it took use quite some time taking pictures of each area as it was already pass 5pm. The sun was going down fast and I knew we won’t make it in time.
It took us almost an hour to reach the town of Sta Cruz coming from Torrijos. We headed into the market area where we also passed by the main Jac Liner station there. We saw the bus we rode already parked. We had a hearty lunch of sinigang with fresh fish and good ol’ home cooked pork chop and calamares at one of the carinderias there. Followed by a serving of ice cream nearby. With afternoon closing midway, we moved on to explore some of the town’s attractions.
Shot with red-eyes from so little sleep while in transit to Marindque, we were dead sleepy when the bus rolled-off from the Cawit Port that we overslept our drop off point in Boac. Fairly waking at a road sign saying Boac is 7km behind us now we realized our bus is heading down south already. It was actually fortunate that it will pass by our destination in Gasan. A lady who was going home back there after 5 years was noting the town they were passing through with her companion. We chatted with her a bit and told her where we’re heading. She helped us point where we would alight and soon we were on foot the main highway at Baranggay Pinggan in Gasan, Marinduque.
The Philippines has a longer coastline even that of the USA and its geography is composed of many separate islands. To visit other islands, sea travel is one of the most common and cheap way to travel. The Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH) or commonly known as the RORO (Roll-on, Roll-off) Highway was opened by the government. It’s a transportation structure spanning 919 kilometers of land and 137 nautical miles connecting the islands through a virtual highway via RORO-capable sea vessels. Even though air travel is getting affordable nowadays, land-and-sea travel is still popular amongst common people and to destinations with very little air traffic. In my recent visit to Marinduque with friends Oggie and Allan, we took the RORO Highway and here’s my first hand experience on going this route.
Ferdz is a Backpack Photographer and Adventure Traveler based in the Philippines. Ironwulf.net: En Route is a travel blog accounting his adventures travels, travel and lifestyle photography. It's all about the journey and experience.
