Travel diaries: 'Luxury island cruise'
By Lala Rimando, abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak | 05/25/2009 2:23 PM
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I was in my bathing suit when I and a handful others watched Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao win the match against his British opponent last May 2.
Unlike millions glued to the match that fateful Sunday, my companions and I did it in style: We were in a private island surrounded by swaying coconut trees, a long stretch of white unspoiled sand, and crystal clear seawater.
The Pacquiao vs. Hatton match was scheduled on the third day of our 7-day cruise in a luxury boat aptly called 7107 Luxury Island Cruise. I was resigned to the fact that I would miss the fight since I initially thought it would be unlikely there would be a TV signal as we hopped from one of the Philippines’ 7,107 islands to the next. But in this day and age of technology-beyond-borders, I was proven wrong.
A satellite disk was set up and plugged into two flat screen TVs inside a nipa hut on the beach. Every time Hatton fell during the fight that only lasted two rounds, the cruise ship’s passengers cheered. Some were still dripping wet from swimming, the others were sipping sodas or beer after a sumptuous lunch. Our voices were drowned only by the waves.
We were in Malcapuya Island. It was the fourth island we had ‘stopped over’ as the cruise ship lingered in the Calamianes Group of Islands, north of Palawan province. I joined the cruise ship’s tour of a portion of the country’s ‘Tourism Triangle,’ which covers the islands of northern Palawan, Boracay in the Visayas region, and Puerto Galera in Mindoro.
Island hoppers choose from 5 to 14-day packages and island itinerary depends on the length of the cruise.
The weather, however, dictates if that itinerary is actually followed. A storm was brewing in the South China Sea during our tour, so instead of my original plan of getting off at El Nido, which was in the cruise ship’s itinerary, I had to improvise my plan.
Island-hopping
Joining the 7107 Luxury Island Cruise in early May this year again impressed on me that the Philippines is a country of a thousand islands.
While I’ve traveled to destinations from Luzon Island’s northernmost tip to Tawi-Tawi in the south, waking up to the sight of one or a group of islands every morning for five straight days during a cruise reminded me that being holed up in bustling Manila could make me forget I live in an archipelago.
From my cabin room or from the deck of the moving cruise ship, the sunset could be breathtaking in five different ways. Sometimes the sun would be blocked by thick clouds, but it could peek before it falls off the ocean cliff and burst into a bright orange with wide rays. Some rare moments could last for just a few seconds, like when the setting sun vanished behind a tall mountain then, as the ship continued on, reappeared in between two mountain cliffs with tips that curved almost like heart-shapes.
I was in so much awe of the sight I forgot to click my camera.
Being on the ship for days also taught me the islands could be tricky. Sometimes they looked like one long land mass to me, only to wonder why the public announcement system would say, "On your left are the islands of…" A, B, and C.
My companion and I actually made several trips to the captain’s deck to check their map. There we would learn, for example, that we just passed by three islands that were miles apart but, staring at them from the open sea, appeared connected with the tip on one island intersecting the next. Talk about perspective.
I’ve been to Palawan’s northern islands several times. But what made the cruise different was going to the islands not included in usual tourist boat trips. Our first stop since departing from the Manila Harbor, for example, was Debutunay Island, which sits on the western side of the more popular and bigger Busuanga Island. Both islands are part of the 687 islands of Calamianes that covers four towns—Busuanga, Coron, Cullion and Linapacan.
We had Debutunay’s long white sand beach all to ourselves. Not even a dog was in sight.
Despite the many islands we visited during the cruise, I would remember Debutunay for its colorful - almost untouched - coral gardens just a few meters from the shore. I snorkeled around that bunch in between trips back to the beach to rest and sip fresh coconut juice.
I also liked the elongated Maosonon Island, which had hills and trees on one end, and a long swirling white sandbar-like tip on the other end that was seemingly reaching out to a neighboring tiny island one short swim away.
Islands for sale
Malcapuya Island—which I had visited a year ago as part of a boat ride package I signed up for in Coron town—is still deserted.
The wild monkeys were still swinging overhead, and the wild pigs still roamed free. Its wide, white sand shore and long stretch of waist-deep calm waters is comparable to Boracay’s—before tourists and hundreds of resorts conquered it. Malcapuya’s isolated beach made me wish it will be kept a secret for a long time.
However, these islands have long been discovered. In fact, they’ve already been bought.
Except for the stunning lakes we’ve seen in Coron Island, which the government has awarded to the Tagbanua Tribe, most of the islands we visited during the cruise belong to the 7107 Islands Shipping Corporation’s owner, Esteban Tajanlangit.
The others, including Malcapuya, are owned by his friends or associates. On the walls of the cruise ship’s function rooms are the names and descriptions of the islands we passed by or set foot on. The posters described the islands as either "Open for Joint Venture," "Portions may be Leased," or "Portions for Sale."
I saw on YouTube, weeks after the trip, that one of the 2010 poll automation project bidders was signing papers in the Comelec’s toilet to purchase three islands in the vicinity of Coron. I wondered which of those we passed during the cruise now belong to private hands.
Back on the cruise ship, the issue of who owned which island was not the usual topic of conversations. After all, among the almost 200 passengers - mostly old and retired married couples who have been to different cruises around the world, a gang of senior-looking but definitely luxury-seeking women in their 50’s, a barkada of college kids, and vacationing families where some parents were actually teaching Philippine geography to their children - everyday was an adventure.
The cruise ship, called M/S 7107 Islands Cruise Ship, is a 5,113-ton vessel with some signages in English accompanied by what seemed like Russian or some Eastern European language. The137 cabins range from the standard or deluxe rooms in deck A, B, and C to the exquisite suites in the promenade and bridge levels. The ship is—for lack of a better word—sized for an intimate crowd.
Floating hotel
After a few days of cruising, it’s inevitable to make friends with the other passengers since you bump into them every day in any of the three function-cum-dining rooms, at the pool bar (the swimming pool is just probably three or four freestyle strokes from end-to-end), the sundeck spa (they offer massage, pedicure, body scrub, etc.). On day 3, we were even addressing the staff by their first names.
Seasoned cruise ship travelers with us, however, kept on complaining about the cabin’s small sizes and the lack of coordination among the staff members. For example, when we boarded the ship after our island hops, we were told to leave our wet and dripping lifejackets near the entrance.
The following day, we were told to always keep our lifejackets with us inside our cabins. (It was later explained that the cruise company is constantly training new staff since most eventually leave for jobs abroad.)
There was little or no complaints about the food, though. From breakfast to dinner, the food was abundant and the menu kept on changing, sometimes with seafood sourced from nearby island villages. Whenever lunch is served on the island we were visiting for the day, the drum-beating band joined the advance party and would be there greeting us with Caribbean-style numbers as we approached.
Island-hopping meant transferring onto a pontoon bridge support to waiting motor boats, which could accommodate 40 passengers each. Some opt to stay onboard the ship since these transfers could be daunting to the oldies, especially when waves pounded against the pontoon and waiting boats.
Onboard a motorized fishing boat, which brought me to the northern tip of mainland Palawan, I looked back at the cruise ship that was my ‘floating hotel’ for almost five days.
I was grateful to have been invited as part of the media group that traveled with the guests who then completed the tour that included Boracay. While I’m not likely to end up as an island buyer or investor, I was able to capture the sights, the sounds, and the sunsets in pictures.
I hope when I do get the chance to drop by these islands again, my first experience would not be vastly different by then.
For more information on tour dates and destinations, check http://www.7107islandscruise.net. Packages currently range from P2,750 to P10,000 per person per night depending on cabin types. Twin to quad cabins and full board to breakfast-only packages are available.
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