travelogue 2007.3a

the trip was a go. naturally, there were eleventh-hour jitters, most especially of our technical wunderkind when word got around that the director (one of the original trip proponents) would be pulling out due to other pressing concerns.

however, a few words from me (okay, maybe not so few (",) ), may have tipped him into the committed camp.

in the interim, while we were polling final numbers, i was on the phone to the accommodations, and the integrated bus/ferry round trip service to and from puerto galera. ultimately, seven of us signed on to the trip. so, seven seats on the bus, and 4 budget rooms reserved.

now, the original plan was monday to thursday, but the resort told me that the adventists had booked the place to the rafters on the 18th and 19th, so our schedule moved from tuesday to friday -- which, for me, gave rise to a very stressful monday indeed.

that had everything to do with sequentially-revealed-edit-related issues which saw me getting to the apartment at 11:30pm; packed and then slept at 1:30am; and an assembly time of 5:00am at the pilar 7-eleven for pickup by a van arranged by one of our number.

that last one was deemed necessary because the bus/ferry service set out from ermita -- so we had to go there. and early enough for breakfast before the estimated four-odd hour total travel time. got there, we did. breakfast, we did: i, in the hotel lobby; they, at the local nearby chowking.

the breakfast called "continental" was essentially a collection of bread (french baguette, croissant, dinner rolls, and plain toasted white sandwich bread) with butter, a slice of mango, and brewed coffee. odd, but i was ravenous -- and the croissant and rolls were good, though.

the bus/ferry service, called "SiKat", was something that i'd been using (with my makati housemate) times in the past when there were comets in the sky and the time to chase them to puerto galera's white beach. the service consisted of a tourist bus and a dedicated ferry boat to the puerto galera pier at muelle bay.

that ferry used to be (i say "used to," because the time previously, when the china crew came back and wanted to go to galera, the ferry was replaced by a "fast boat" called the blue eagle, i think) a catamaran style boat, with large-ish areas to walk around, and an integral bar/dining nook. i actually have no pictures of the boat itself, but i'll see if i can get one sometime.

anyway, the trip to batangas pier was a slumberous one as fatigue set in almost as soon as i sat on the bus seat. when we got to the port building, the line i was expecting at the baggage check was nowhere to be seen. hmm. then i saw it. x-ray machine! progress! at least it was quick.

i was expecting the blue eagle again -- and it was nowhere to be seen. in it's place was the blue penguin. hmm. all the "blue" monickers: blue eagle, blue pelican, blue penguin... what's that say? i have no idea.

the blue penguin was, in the mode of the other non-roro/supercat/seacat boats that ply the batangas to puerto galera route, a scaled up twin-outrigger banca. okaay...

one of their primary benefits, though, is the capability to make beach landings (something the SiKat itself could not do) -- and the other; speed. batangas pier to puerto galera in under an hour and a half. the SiKat would do that in two hours, a similar pace to the roro boats.

off we went then, blue penguin style.