A White Sand Christmas

This year, we decided to stay in the Philippines for the holidays. December is a perfect time to travel around as it is typically drier and cooler than at other times of the year. We concentrated on four main towns in Palawan, the western-most island of the Philippines.

Before our vacation could begin, however, it seemed we were destined to pay for our procrastination in packing by spending the remaining hours leading up to our flight stuck in traffic and at the hospital for Cory's split-open head. While he likes to tell his students that the scar on his forehead is from shaving his mono-brow, and while my parents like to joke that he got it from a night of heavy-drinking (which would usually not be far from the truth), the actuality is that Cory banged his head on the corner of a wall as he was retrieving the last of our vacation supplies in the dark: sunscreen. So marked the beginning of our break . . .

We flew into Puerto Princessa, a large city on the central-eastern part of Palawan, haggled for a van and drove two hours to Sabang, our first destination. Once we arrived at our little hut enveloped in jungle, we slept the entire day and night away, catching up on the lack of sleep from the stressful few days before holidays. That was just what we needed. We awoke the next day to clear blue skies and with a zest for adventure. After breakfast, we walked through the sleepy little village of Sabang en route to the Underground River, the main tourist attraction and a national heritage site. We hiked the Monkey Trail, a two-hour walk along the beach, through dense rainforest, up and down rotted and creaky steps. The day was perfect for hiking - not too hot and with a nice breeze. When we arrived at the site, there were swarms of people who had made the day trip from Puerto. We waited our turn and got in a little paddle boat for a 45-minute tour of the extensive cave system that had been carved by a river. The caverns were huge and adorned with stalactites and full of tiny bats flying all around. I was in charge of holding the flashlight and had to become attuned to the random commands "Right! Left! No, up! Down! Over there! Down, down!" When we finally got to turn out the lights, it was pure darkness, an eerie but very cool feeling. We traveled four km into the cave before turning around. Apparently, the cave system extended another three km, but we were not allowed to keep going. We shared a banca boat back to Sabang and then took a mangrove tour on a little paddle boat in the early evening. The cute paddlers even sang us a song about the importance of preserving the mangrove forests. After our busy day, we decided we'd spend the next day relaxing on the beach at a new resort we had discovered. Day Two consisted of lounging on, wait for it . . . padded chairs on the surprisingly-pleasant beach while reading, drinking San Migs and listening to the waves roll against the shore. It was another gorgeous day and we realized that Sabang was worthy of making the list of places to return.

Early the next morning, we boarded another banca boat for a two-hour trip to Cacnipa Island, where we would spend the next five nights at Coconut Garden, a small natural resort on an otherwise-uninhabited island. Time seemed to slow upon our arrival and every day, we took advantage of the hammocks in the shade of palm trees, reading our books, chatting, drinking the occasional cocktail or beer, taking a few photos of the beach or the waves or the turquoise blue waters surrounding the island. The food was shockingly good and we couldn't believe our luck in finding such a gem of a place. Often, in the Philippines, it is like searching for a diamond in the rough, as there are not many places which offer good food, clean accommodations, excellent service, peaceful surroundings and a flair for untacky Filipino-inspired decor. For $20 a night, our clean little fan room was nestled in the rainforest towards the back of the property. We slept soundly with the exception of the cocks who managed to wake us up each morning by 6 am. Nevermind, though - we became accustomed to "island time," waking early and going to bed early. We ended up spending Christmas at Coconut Garden and it was definitely the most quiet Christmas we have ever had. I was at least able to talk to my family, who had their first white Christmas in years! Although I must admit that I was jealous upon hearing this news, I was also very thankful for the white sand Christmas that we were having and for the opportunity to be able to enjoy such a spectacular place in a truly beautiful country.

December 26 marked our last day at Cacnipa Island and while we were sad to leave, we were looking forward to our next stop: El Nido, in the northern part of mainland Palawan. Had we known that we were in for such a terrible boat ride, I think Cory and I would have been content to stay put at Coconut Garden and leave Palawan the way we had come.

The boat (I'm not even sure you can classify bancas as boats, really) we were scheduled to take arrived to pick us up at 9:45 the morning of the 26th. We thought we were leaving straight from our resort to El Nido, supposedly a 4-6 hour ride, depending on the seas. Cory and I sat in the front of the boat for 45 minutes, getting splashed from all sides but taking it in stride, until we arrived in Port Barton, the closest town. Immediately, Cory felt glad that he had not persuaded me to come to Port Barton for the day "just to see what it was like." Turns out, it's a craphole. The drivers of the boat told us we had a half an hour for lunch. Cory and I meandered along the beach and took exactly 30 minutes to eat before jumping back on the boat, in anticipation of leaving before it got too windy. Another 30 minutes went by and there was no sign of the other 9 passengers. After an hour and a half, they finally decided to make their way back to the boat and one gal had the gall to ask for her seat back (which I had moved into near the back in hopes of staying slightly more dry). I told her that I had not seen any name tags on the seats and we didn't budge. It was 12:30 before we were finally ready to depart for El Nido. About three hours later, we started hitting some pretty rough seas and the snot who had been complaining about me to other passengers on the boat for taking "her" seat and who kept making comments such as, "More! More!" (in reference to the waves) and "You don't go to El Nido to stay dry! You go there to swim!" promptly started to shut up as we rocked wildly back and forth and as the sun started to go down. I was sure that we were getting close to El Nido by the time the sun had set. I had never been in this small a boat on such an open part of the sea and for such a long time and I was starting to get a bit nervous about traveling in the dark. My fears became justified when we were still an hour out from El Nido and the wind started to pick up on a massive scale. The boat was being pounded by the waves from the front and we were getting drenched. The little wooden vessel was trying to manage the huge swells at the same time. The sky darkened further and when there was no longer a moon in the sky, we had to rely on flashlights or lights from faraway beach huts to see anything. By this time, all of us began to stress out a bit and some guys scrambled to make sure everyone had life jackets. As the boat continued to seesaw violently from side to side, we were sure we were going in. The whole time, Cory and I were thinking of things we should have done differently: should have put our important documents all in the dry bag, should have made certain we knew what the name of the boat was, should have had the number for the coast guard (because Lord knows our crew didn't), should have secured our life jackets before we ever left. Finally, above the crashing waves and the whistling wind, we heard that the engine was only spluttering. Furthermore, we noticed that we were taking on water and the crew was desperately bailing it out of the engine space with a little plastic pail. We knew that if they didn't get the engine going soon, we would start drifting and that drifting would mean aligning the wrong way with the waves and would guarantee a flip. We must have sat there clinging to the boat, trying to shelter ourselves from the water coming in from all angles, silently worrying to ourselves for at least another hour. Finally, my emotions caught up with me and I became upset. Tears were streaming down and I couldn't stop them and I kept thinking that this was a really, really stupid way to go. Cory was my saving grace. He looked me in the eyes and made me take deep breaths, reassuring me that we would be fine and instructing me on what to do should we capsize. There were many frantic phone calls from those of us with mobiles, each of us trying to dial or text the one contact we might have of a hotel in El Nido. We soon realized that even if the coast guard was informed, they would most likely not rescue us. Their boats were probably no better than ours and they were probably used to bancas being tossed around by the sea on a frequent basis. Around 10 pm, the crew finally managed to get the engine going again, and we slowly made our choppy way to the bay of El Nido, where we were so grateful to be on land again. Our hosts at Greenviews retrieved us from the beach soaking wet, rattled and cold and presented us with hot ginger tea that couldn't have been more welcome. The owner of Greenviews was relieved to see us as his phone number was the one I had been texting for help. He told me how frantic he had been and the entire resort, and later the entire town, seemed to have heard of our story that night. Just before bedtime, I called home to hear some comforting familiar voices and we went to sleep, our bodies still rocking with the motion of the sea.

The next morning, we awoke and spent the whole day doing nothing. The next five days in El Nido were similarly relaxing. Although I had vowed not to, Cory convinced me to venture out in a boat again for some island-hopping to some gorgeous lagoons and white sand beaches among a fantastic seascape of limestone cliffs jutting out of brilliant shades of green water where we ate barbecue lunches. We ate our meals in town almost everyday as the food at Greenviews left much to be desired. The town of El Nido itself is a ramshackled bunch of restaurants and hotels with little charm. Its redeeming quality is its breath-taking limestone cliff island scenery. We ended up meeting a couple who teach in Hong Kong with a friend of ours that we met in Egypt, who also happen to be from Vancouver. Small world. We hung out with them often, eating out and playing cards. One afternoon, well into our fifth or sixth round of drinks on the balcony of a seaside restaurant, there was fury of excitement as everyone peered over the railing to watch as a sea turtle made its way close to shore. She swam for about an hour, back and forth along the coast, her huge silhouette clearly visible in the light green of the ocean. We were mesmerized by her. But then we realized that she must have been lost because there would be no way she would choose to venture out onto the beach of El Nido with all the people and boats so close. We also met another pair of couples, one from Switzerland and one from England, who we took some day trips and ate meals with. It was great fun meeting new people and hanging out, as El Nido really is a small place and you tend to run into the same travelers again and again. We were pretty lame on New Year's and after enjoying the only decent meal at Greenviews, a beach barbecue, listening to a local family group play some tunes and watching a few fireworks, we headed off for a 10 pm trip to dreamland. We should have known better, though. We stayed up well after 1 am with all the noise that was not too dissimilar from a combat zone (it seems that fireworks have the same effect on Filipinos as they do on star spangled spandex-wearing trashers styled with the latest trend in mullets who recently escaped from the local trailer park on the Fourth of July!) All we could do was to try and read our books like the old farts we have become.

On January 2, we reluctantly made our way to yet another banca (albeit a larger one) at the pier for the trip to Coron, our last stop and the northern-most point on our tour of Palawan. Once again, we ended up waiting for a couple of idiots who either overslept or didn't realize the departure time of the vessel. And once again, about halfway there, our engine stopped in the middle of the open sea. We were anchored for over five hours in large swells. About half of the 19 passengers on board got seasick, including myself. There wasn't much to do as we waited for another boat to arrive from El Nido with a guy who could fix the problem. Now you would think they would be well-prepared for instances such as these. But, I continually have to remind myself that we are in the Philippines and that there are no safety regulations, no common-sense and most frustratingly, no cares. Our 8-hour trip turned into a 16-hour ordeal, getting us into Coron well past dark yet again. We stayed outside the town and while the food was horrible, the setting was the most quiet we had had all trip. Best yet, no roosters. We ate often in town and met up with the two couples we met in El Nido. One day, we hired a boat to take us to a freshwater lake amidst the saltwater lagoons and similar scenery of green-covered hills and limestone cliffs. The lake was super refreshing after swimming in saltwater for so many days and unlike the buoyant saltwater, you would sink like a rock. We hiked over a hill to reach the lake, a clear and gorgeous blue with a bamboo raft, which Cory and I paddled out to the middle of the lake. We basked in the remaining afternoon sunlight and when we emerged from the lukewarm water, our skin felt clean and smooth, no saltiness to scratch away. I think it was the first and only day of our trip that we did not feel the need to take a shower! Another day, we hired a guy to take us to Malcapuya, a white sand beach about an hour and a half away, which came highly-recommended by a local at our hotel and some of her American guests. While we enjoyed lazing the day away at the beach, Cory and I realized that we must be really spoiled with the beaches we've seen because it felt like an ordinary relaxation spot to us, nothing particularly special. We toasted our last evening with our new friends over dinner and arranged for a transfer to the airport in the morning.

We arrived back in Manila on Monday, started school on Tuesday and welcomed the kids back on Wednesday. I gained two new students while two of Cory's classes switched for the semester. It felt good to be back home and we couldn't have had a more restful and rejuvenating holiday, save for the banca nightmare. It was wonderful to spend quality time with just us two and we managed to do it within the budget, without capsizing and without getting sunburned. Cory came back with a scar and a zillion mosquito bites, but he's a trooper.

Happy 2009 all. We send our love.