The long road to Sabang

Smooth and comfortable ferry ride to Sabang Beach.

I only got about an hour of sleep the night before. Waking up I felt extremely tired. Oh boy, I thought, it was going to be a long day. To add to that, it was raining heavy outside with no respite in sight. I took some time to cover myself and my bags with plastic trash bags to protect them from the rain because I had to drive on my motorbike to Alona Beach. I needed to go there to pack my scuba gear and drag it along the beach to the car that was taking me to Tagbilaran airport.

The drive to Alona Beach was miserable from the large raindrops pounding against my eyes and skin -making it hard to see and having the feeling of pins and needles all over my skin. I got to Alona safely, with only my face and feet soaking wet. My travel plans for the day included taking a car, airplane, bus, ferry and walking across a beach - from Alona Beach to Little Lalaguna, Puerto Galera.

The car ride to Tagbilaran was chilly. I was wet and at the same the driver turned on the air conditioning. My shoes were soaked and my feet were cold. Not surprisingly, at Tagbilaran airport, my ticket needed to be validated. I was slightly upset about this because the airline told me before that I didn’t have to validate the ticket. This though, was after they asked me to drive all the way to the Tagbilaran airport from Alona Beach to validate it; It’s really stupid actually, and highly inefficient. So, to validate the ticket I had to go to the airline office, wait around, and they had to look at my ticket. It was easy to do and I don’t know why they wanted me before to take a side trip up to do it when I did it an hour before my flight left.

The flight was fine except my feet were really cold. There wasn’t much I could do as my shoes were soaking wet. After the hour long flight, we landed at Manila which was a nice warm experience. There, I found a brand new taxi that didn’t try to rip me off with a fixed rate. He took me to the bus terminal so I can get a ride down to a ferry in Batangas.

At the bus terminal, once the taxi trunk opened, touts grabbed my bags and asked me where I was going. Once I told them, they led the way to the right bus. Of course, when they stowed the bags, they demanded a tip. I really don’t like this, especially when I have no chance of getting to my bags before them. I’m fine carrying my own bags and can find where to go. On the bus, I tried to find a seat with plenty of leg room and one most likely where someone wouldn’t sit next to me.

The 3 hour bus ride was only 150 pesos ($3.50 USD) and left just 15 minutes after I sat down. It was a fairly comfortable ride and nobody sat next to me until after about 2 hours of travel. I was just hoping the bus could arrive in time to the pier before the last ferry left.

At the pier, touts bothered me for my bags but I didn’t let them carry it. I was glad to find that there was still a ferry leaving in 45 minutes to Sabang Beach (200 pesos) - exactly where I needed to go. Knowing I could catch a ferry was a big relief. I don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t get a ferry; well, actually, I did, but didn’t want to stay over. The ferry ride was smooth, relaxing, and only one hour. Of course, when we docked, touts boarded the boat and offered to carry my luggage. In fact, a small boy, probably no older than 10, offered to carry my big heavy scuba bag. Um, no thanks!

It was about 6 PM by the time I dragged my luggage across Sabang Beach in the rain to El Galleon Resort (where I was taking my instructor course) in Little Lalaguna beach. Now, I needed to find a place to stay. The receptionist at El Galleon said my instructor recommended a room at Sha-Che, down the beach a little.

Sha-Che consists of a bunch of different style bungalows which are clean, with hot fresh running water, a bed, kitchen a living area and free electricity and water. They are nice actually, and I settled in one for 10,000 pesos/month ($244 USD). The landlord was a little pushy in trying to get me to commit to a 1.5 month lease. I told her I’d let her know the next day. I was tired and cold with soggy feet. I decided I needed a break and ate dinner at El Galleon.

Fish special with potatoes and mango juice. Prices here are at least twice that of Alona Beach. Back at my room, I was so exhausted I couldn’t stay awake to do anything... so I passed out.


- jason