EnRoute Jomalig | Enduring the Maritime Boredome

Reaching Jomalig Island, off the coast of Quezon requires a specific amount of incredible patience and an insatiable appetite for discovery, to endure a voyage longer than even that of a traverse to Mindoro, nor the trip from Liloan Leyte to Surigao. On a good day, when waves are compliant enough to let vessels splice through without resistance, it will still take you 5 gruelling hours.

That Saturday, when I and my friend Jerwin arrived at the port of Real Quezon, a tricycle driver dropped us off to what he thought was the only boat to Jomalig: looking like a big, battered and old fishing vessel rather than a passenger ferry. And as more passengers started to trickle in, it was apparent that there ware 10 or 12 tourist aboard, along with 60 or more locals going back to the island. That fact doesn’t mean that we had the island for ourselves, as we initially thought but we would later find out, that there was another boat, leaving much earlier than we did, and was dedicated for passenger, specifically for tourist like us. And while there were fewer people on our part, our cargo contained pretty much every basic necessity you need when you live isolated on the middle of the sea. From basic food supplies by SariSari store retailers, livestock, construction materials such as hollow blocks, sacks of cement, plywood and reinforced  steel bars, and probably the most vital commodity for fishermen living on limited electric supply, ICE, and I mean blocks after blocks of ice that dominated the rear end of the ship. And just as I thought that they were done challenging the vessel’s capacity, they started loading a freaking ATV!! If it took 5 hours to reach Jomalig, there was no doubt in my mind then that ours would take longer – and it did.

You know the trip will be long when LUNCH is included in the Fare.
(Octopus Stew with egpplants, Freshly caught and cooked by the Bankeros.)

Where we unlucky? Maybe. If we boarded that other boat, we would have definitely reached the island an hour sooner, and the captain would have dropped us directly at our preferred campsite since he was already used to tourists. But knowing what we gained on that trip, if given a DO-OVER, I’d choose that slow sailing cargo boat again, even if we spent the next hours watching other fishing boats fly by us with superior speed.

For starters, we rode with locals from the island, that were surprisingly very warm, and was quickly inclined to humour. One of them caught our entire group’s attention when we initially thought he was telling a serious tale about one of the islands, but turned out to be a complete build up to one of his Jokes. I’d like to retell it but I’m afraid I won’t do it justice, so let’s just say that it was really funny.

Laughter breaks any inhibitions.

And since there were few of us tourist on that boat, it was only normal that we band together, creating an organic friendship that jelled for the entirety of that weekend. We decided to camp at the same spot, share our food and rent a boat together for the island hoping the next day, making our excursion much more fun, and much more cheaper! And with the collections of free spirited  individuals confined in a boat with nothing else to do, an exchange of stories, about different travels and experience was bound to happen. At one point, I felt we’ve all shared most of the more memorable shenanigans we could think of, but we still were just halfway on our journey!!

We eventually succumbed to boredom which prompted most of us to roam around the boat and fixate on something interesting. When my naps was interrupted by either noise, the ships unsteady advance, or the restless waves constantly drizzling over me, I tried to engage more conversation with the other islanders, squeezing stories from their lifestyle and culture. My favorite among them, was the Folklore and love story surrounding the origins of the name JOMALIG (which I would retell fully on the next post).

As the sun was steadily dropping from the heavens, we accepted our faith of watching the sunset on that boat, instead of the famed golden beach of Salibungot Bay,  and as the island’s Agoho trees are defining the horizon, and with light abandoning us, I sat on the nose of the ship, watching the flying fishes glide across the expanse.

Footnote:

*While it is true that the sea voyage to Jomalig takes longer than Batanggas to Mindoro, or Linloan Leyte to Surigao, it is worth noting the comparisons of the vessel to Jomalig which is a slow oversized fishing vessel compared to the Major Passenger Ferries that plies to Mindoro or Surigao.

*The major route going to Jomalig is via Real Quezon, because of it’s proximity to Metro Manila, but the Municipalities in Camarines Norte, such as Jose, and Vinzon, are considerably closer to the Island (3-hour travel), which, according to locals, also has boats going to Jomalig, but not on a regular basis.