Hundreds of Islands

There is a national park on Luzon Island of the Philippines. Ironically, for a nation that consists of more than 7100 islands, they call this the Hundred Islands Park. These islands are located off the western coast, and when you see them silhouetted against the backdrop of the mountains on the mainland, you can be forgiven for thinking that they are just underwater foothills. In fact, these numerous small islands are made entirely of coral. It is amazing that trees and bushes could grow on the jagged, dark rock. A person certainly can’t walk on any of these undeveloped islands without risking serious harm to oneself. The sharp, crevassed rocks can be merely the ceiling of an unseen underground cave, and a hole could open up anywhere. Only three of the islands appeared to have any development on them. One was merely a set of stairs leading to an overlook where you could get a view of the area. Of course, it had its prerequisite venders to sell you anything from ice cream to a bottle of water after you ascended the 120 steps. A second island that had a lovely sand beach was walled and cemented to allow picnic shelters and walkways.

  We were able to hire a boat man and his “crew”: a 16 year old boy, who only looked 12, who used a long, heavy bamboo pole to move us into landings and jumped off the boat unto the coral in his bare feet. They piloted us around the islands and pointed out the interesting features. And they patiently put up with my decidedly ungraceful boarding of their narrow boat.







 The boat, or “bangka”, was only wide enough to sit one person in front of the other, and long, which meant the tiny diesel engine could move it along quite fast. To keep such a thin craft stable, it had outriggers made of bamboo. I could have used an outrigger for myself.

In among the islands were two that are unique. One is called Monkey Island, and is inhabited by monkeys in the trees. We weren’t allowed close enough to see what kind of monkey they were, and we couldn’t see any because our guide said that at 10:30 it was too late in the morning. Since we left the resort at 7:30 and it was only 34 kms away, I was disheartened.  It seems the monkeys come to the tops of the trees in the early mornings and evenings when it is cooler. Once the sun is out they take shelter in among the shade.

 The other unique island was Bat Island, and again, the name describes the inhabitants. These we could see very clearly although we were a good 200 meters off shore. The huge bats hung by the dozens off the branches of the trees, frequently flapping their wings to cool themselves. At 10:30, it was already hot. If they hadn't been flapping, it would have been hard to distinguish them from dark, dead leaves hanging straight down from the branches.

We bypassed the busy picnic island to find a small but private cove for our lunch. The beach was not made of sand, but of tiny sharp pieces of coral, which is probably why no one else wanted it. We loved the privacy, though, and enjoyed a dip and lunch with our guides in the shade of the rocks. The water was clear and warm and we enjoyed a swim even though we had to wear flipflops to protect our feet. We explored as far as we could walk, wading a little around outcroppings and crouching to get into small caves. Coral pieces and shells were everywhere, but our young crewman still walked around in his bare feet.

We headed home early, tired from the fresh sea air and the 120 step climb. We had a new destination in mind for the next day.

Only a half hour walk from our resort was an attraction called “The Enchanted Cave”. The promotions promised everything from stress relief to skin whitening – a famous claim in the Philippines. After walking a half hour, one needs stress relief. Every empty tricycle going by slowed down prepared to pick us up, erroneously assuming we were not walking for pleasure, because nobody here does. All other fuel powered vehicles thundered by at speeds not recommended for the very narrow road we were on. We were more than ready to stop when we arrived at the gate, paid our entrance fee, and were escorted into the grounds.

We hadn’t known what to expect. We were told to be prepared to swim, but hey, we were on the beach. But instead our guide led us to a large coral formation, up several cemented stairs, and then down a very narrow, very steep stairway to the cave.

 At the bottom of the cave was a pool, a beautiful blue green colour, with clear, clean water.  We were surrounded by coral. The guide told us we could swim, but first we had to go back up the steep stairway to get to the changerooms. Already hot and sweaty from the walk, we eagerly went up the stairs. Our guide then followed us back to the pool and watched us as we frolicked in the cool water. We were amazed at the depth and clarity. We could swim right into smaller niches and under the overhanging coral. Even better, after our swim we could get lunch and a beer at the concession stand, and relax in their hammocks for the afternoon. Our skin wasn’t any less tanned than before, but the stress was undoubtedly gone.

Good thing, because we were back on the bus system the next day headed to Baguio for New Years.

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