Thursday, March 24, 2011

[An Island Born of Fire] Stranded in Mantigue

If I had known we would be stranded on an island, I would have put it in my bucket list just for the heck of it.

Mantigue is a small island off the coast of Mambajao

The day was windy and the sun was barely peeking among the clouds as we had our breakfast. I sent a silent prayer for the clouds to clear. I wanted a sunny beach for the photos!

Off we went to the wharf. We were supposed to cross the Bohol Sea aboard a tiny motorized ferry to get to Mantigue Island. We carefully made our way along the pebbly beach and aboard the wooden boat, clueless of the upcoming delay. 

 All aboard! The waves are a little tricky, though. And yeah, that IS the first boat.

Our ferry's engine would not start. It was funny at first, watching one of our friends battle with nervous breakdown, what with the strong waves rocking our helpless ferry. We boarded another one after several futile attempts from the boatmen.

Surprise, surprise! The second ferry's engine died not even five minutes from the shore. The third ferry worked like a charm but by then, no one was laughing anymore.

To everyone's relief, we got to the island and had a chance to enjoy a few minutes of sunshine, which we totally took advantage of! And only to be stranded because of bad weather. 

 We made it! And the sun shone, albeit for a while.

We were about to go back when the boatman pointed at the very dark clouds approaching. "Mamaya na po tayo lumayag, may paparating na unos."

"UNOS???” and I could feel my expression mirrored in my friends' faces. “Hindi ba tayo magpapanic??"

We later learned that "unos" is just "ulan" to them.

We were stranded for three hours in Mantigue. And shelter wasn't that much. Just a small sari-sari store shed we shared with about twenty or more people. Believe it or not, it was quite fun!

No electricity, no running water, no restaurants - just this heaven-sent store.

So after a robinson-crusoe-lunch prepared by our new-found
Camiguingnon friends in the island (and some rain party), we crossed the sea again safely. 


 

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