Blast From The Past: Romblon in 2008 (Part 5)

Write up of my travel to Romblon in October 2008:

Day 3: Cobrador Island: A Small Piece of Paradise

October 22, 2008. I would describe the 30 minute boat ride to Cobrador Island in one word: scary. I am not used to travelling by sea (which may sound weird to some as I live in a country with 7100 or so islands). More so, I am not used to riding a bangka (local term for a small boat). And I will never get used to big waves.

We used the bangka owned by SIKAT, the organization who hired me to write stories for their website. Along with 5 community leaders, and 3 SIKAT staff, we headed to Alad island first where we dropped off the community leaders, for their meeting with the Alad community. Then we headed for Cobrador.

It was the perfect sight: blue waters, green mountains and reefs. Except that the waves got bigger on our way from Alad to Cobrador. I had to hold as tight as I can, as my companions, who are so used to travelling by sea, were laughing at me :-(.

But, the sight of Cobrador made me lose whatever fear I had. Cobrador can easily be one of the beautiful islands in the country. I cannot believe tourists havent discovered this yet.

Cobrador Island..view from the boat

The island can boast of its fine, white sand, and very clean water comparable with Boracay, or even more beautiful in the sense that it is not crowded and they do not face waste problems as Boracay does. It is blessed with reefs, and beautiful rock formations on one side of the island. It is more like a combination of Palawan and Boracay. It was breath-taking.

Cobrador Island -up close

More importantly,the place is blessed with happy, welcoming and forever smiling people.We went to meet with the officers of the organization and the baranggay officials. The head of a baranggay and the council was then in a meeting with another non government organization and they asked my brother to join in. While waiting for him, I roamed the island.

What can I say. I loved the view.Wind was blowing in my face. The sound of the waves almost lulled me to sleep.

Loving the sand and the wind.

White sand, mountains, cloud and the boat.

Me. Cobrador. 2008/

One thing caught my attention, though, as I was walking around. The big jars.  Most of the houses have this really big jars outside their houses, with a pipe connected to the gutter of the house. And they call this rain collector.

The rain collector.

Apparently, the people of Cobrador, had to depend on the rain even for their drinking water. They do not have water system. They even only have a generator for their electricity at night. And this Rain Collector is a big help to them as it helps them gather rain water. It is the first time I have seen such a thing. It is the first time I have been to a place where people have no access to basic thing such as water. It's a good thing a non-government organization gave them a grant to have Rain Collectors built.

We had lunch there together with the leaders of the community. It was fun, just interacting with them. And the grilled pork was good.

I had the interview afterwards. And then it was time to leave the island.

As much as I would love for Cobrador to be just the way it is, and not become another Boracay, I wish there is a way to bring some kind of progress in the community especially in the delivery of the basic services. I wish there is a way to balance progress and environmental conservation.

But more importantly, I wish to be back :-).

This boat will get me back to Cobrador!

Blast From The Past: Romblon in 2008 (Part 1)

An old write up about my travel to Romblon in October 2008.

Romblon, Philippine Islands: The Trip

"It's all worth it!" That was all I could say about my Romblon trip.

I went to Romblon 3 weeks ago on an assignment for a contract I got from an environmentalist group, headed by my brother. I had to interview people and write articles for their website. Thought its going to be an easy job, but I nearly backed out when I realized how long I had to travel by boat, what with all the sea mishaps I have been hearing from the news. But then again, the sense of adventure comes first, as always.

The Trip

It was a very tedious trip, and my brother and I took almost all the means of transportation there could possibly be (except air plane). From Quezon City, we took Jam Transit for a 2 hour bus ride to Batangas Pier. We were at the port early to make sure we get tickets, or suffer waiting for the next day for the next trip. And we spent four hours (!) waiting to be boarded the boat to Odiongan, since there was no boat going directly to Romblon Island that day.

At 5 PM, we were finally on-board a Montenegro Shipping Line boat. I was expecting an airconditioned cruise boat, with upholstered seats. Wrong. What we had was a big boat with rows and rows of double-decked beds, and with a kaputt aircon. It was, however, clean. It was a very long, uncomfortable trip, and i wondered how it can be so humid, even with the breeze coming from the ocean, and i slept badly. It felt uncomfortable sleeping at the top of a double bed, in a huge place, with hundreds of people you dont know. Nonetheless, it was a safe trip, with my lack of sleep as the only bad thing that happened (Thank God! and thanks to Montenegro Lines too.).

We reached Odiongan at 2 am, and with my brother's prodding, i had to run, half asleep, to the exit of the boat, before everybody wakes up. Upon docking, we were among the first ones who had to run to where the buses and jeepneys were parked. We boarded an old mini-bus, with around 50 passenger capacity. I was glad we got there ahead of most, because that's the only bus going to San Agustin, where we will take another boat, and if we missed it, we would have to wait for many hours for the next bus, and we would miss the boat to Romblon Island too. But I tell you, it wasnt at all fun running half asleep. Not at all.

Another 2 hours bus trip, and we reached San Agustin, where we had to line up for ticket for the boat going to Romblon Island. At 4:30, with me still half asleep, we boarded MV Querubin which left at 5 am. It was a 45min to 1 hour trip but from the boat, you can see the really nice view of San Agustin. It was very refreshing to see really green mountains, and very clear water, amidst a backdrop of sunrise. It was simply beautiful and my headache from the lack of sleep almost disappeared. But I didnt know it was only a preview of how beautiful Romblon is.

Romblon Island, Finally

We reached Romblon at around 6am. We walked took the tricycle to SIKAT (the environmentalist organization, which is into marine conservation) office/staff house. I chatted briefly with the SIKAT staff before I passed out into a really deep sleep.

I woke up at 1 o'clock, just in time for lunch. After lunch, I was completely up and running, like a newly overhauled machine.

I was ready to work.

Romblon!